Sections of the concrete dock were in different conditions and angles. There were only hand-drawn drawings of the timber dock beneath it—found after extensive research at a local museum—and practically zero visibility in the water within which lurked dangerous chunks of steel and wood. “We did not know how the structure would react when we started breaking it apart,” Wood recalls.

But by working closely with Lanier & Associates Consulting Engineers and the port, the team devised customized demolition tools that were dropped onto various sections so that the dock could be broken up into manageable pieces and hauled out of the water. That required constant pivoting and problem-solving. “The key in my mind was fostering that creative environment to keep the team confident, and shepherd them through this daunting unknown. I had to help the team understand that it’s okay—no idea is a bad idea. Let’s figure it out together.”

Kevin Drouet, engineering manager at Lanier, credits McCarthy’s creation of a contingency playbook for the multitude of unknowns so that crews could keep working without re-engineering or new approvals within parameters for keeping the job going. “McCarthy being reasonable and meticulous about what was added work and what their base scope was allowed the project to proceed and not get bogged down into client-versus-owner on change orders.”

Brandon Bergeron, the Port of Beaumont’s director of engineering, praises Wood’s management for successfully delivering what he describes as “the most challenging project we’ve tackled since I’ve been at the port.”

Noting that the port revamp came in ahead of schedule and under budget, Bergeron credits the expertise and overall makeup of the McCarthy team for delivering “a tremendous flow of information” that kept the project moving forward. “Robert was key to making it work,” he says.

Building Together

Wood says he gravitates toward these high-risk challenges. “I’ve always loved building and designing and coming up with stuff,” he says. “In high school, my summer jobs were in construction.” He helped build homes starting at age 15 and got into surveying. 

After earning undergraduate and masters’ civil engineering degrees with a focus on sustainable infrastructure, he worked in Haiti on a water project, on terminal canopies at the Atlanta airport and on a solar field in rural Virginia before joining McCarthy’s Houston-based marine group. “It motivates me to overcome challenges together and see people grow. Beaumont was the pinnacle of what you can do together,” he adds.

“Robert really seemed to foster a sense of camaraderie among the project team, and was really adamant about the port team participating in that,” Bergeron says. “They were always ready to celebrate certain milestones; they would set them up and then celebrate them. The culture that they fostered was really evident.”