Photo courtesy Merck

Best Industrial/Manufacturing Project: Merck Vaccine Bulk Manufacturing Facility

Merck VBF

Durham, N.C.  Region ENR Southeast

Project Team

Owner Merck, Whitehouse Station, N.J.

Architect/Engineer Jacobs Engineering, Conshohocken, Pa.

General Contractor Jacobs Field Services North America, Pasadena, Calif.

Civil Engineer John R. McAdams Co., Durham, N.C.

Project owner Merck challenged its Jacobs-led contractor team to deliver the $315-million, 214,000-sq-ft Vaccine Bulk Manufacturing Facility faster than any other large-scale structure of its type had been delivered. Although its analysis gave little hope of beating the target, Merck's Global Engineering Group organized the project as an integrated partnership in a "hypertracked" engineer-procure-construction management, design-build execution. Jacobs used lean construction principles and modular construction to beat the schedule challenge, delivering the VBF buildings in less than 18 months. The project recorded more than 1.4-million work hours without a lost-time accident. Judges cited the "amazing planning and benchmarking."