Coordinating design and construction between a small local client and the largest greenhouse builder in the world required an international team of partners to help define project scope, to work through complex pricing and procurement issues and to deliver a facility that maximizes production, all within a firm budget.

Facing global cost drivers and long-lead pieces of equipment manufactured and shipped from multiple countries, the team worked with trade partners to manage each detail of the supply chain process.

Photo by Quentin Penn-Hollar, courtesy Clark Construction

Through weekly schedule and lead-time reviews, the project team tracked international shipping routes and checked port logs and railways to verify arrivals and departures, monitoring each major component of the growing and packing system as it made its way to the rural site.

When arrival of the robotic transplanting arm was delayed, the team creatively removed and re-installed walls to make space for installation of the critical piece of equipment while keeping the project on track for an on-schedule, at-budget completion.

Despite the facility’s exacting demands, agricultural exemptions required the typical system of inspections and quality checks to be self-imposed by the team rather than required by outside entities. This made the participants’ experience and accountability to each other of utmost importance because it was their responsibility to ensure mechanical processes met the client’s strict operating standards and that the greenhouse structure was properly designed and constructed to meet local and national best practices.