Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Hygiene
Job Facts
Tons of steel: 123 tons
Owner: Rhodes Development Company
Architect: Gaudreau, Inc. Professional Corp.
Engineer: Faisant Associates, Inc.
Contractor: A.R. Marani
Sub Contractor: B&B Welding Company, Inc.
Erector: LR Willson & Sons, Inc.
People ask us all the time what B&B stands for. Dennis McCartney has a quick answer: “B&B — It’s more bang for your buck.”
Over the years, we determined that investing in technology was the best way to add value to our jobs. From our early experimentation with robots in the late eighties to our heavy investments in CNC machinery to our quality control bar coding systems — it’s safe to say we don’t simply embrace technology; we body hug it.
Our most recent early adaptation is EDI, or Electronic Data Interface, which lets us work across a 3-D model with the architect, engineer and contractor.
We wrapped our technologically savvy hands around EDI at the same time as A.R. Marani approached us to bid on the new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Hygiene building in downtown Baltimore. For this bid, we did more than send an itemized paper estimate. We took our laptop, shanghaied the AISC regional engineer and called for a meeting with the builder, the architect and the engineer. During our presentation, we gave them not only a competitive bid, but we showed them their job in 3-D. “With this model, you can practically fly through the new building,” says Dennis. “You can go up the stairs, rotate the building and view it from all angles.”
EDI works like this: we take the engineer’s design model, import it into our EDI software and create the connections for the job. “EDI let’s us expeditiously depict what the architect and the engineer have in mind,” says Dennis. “By putting it in a 3-D model, we can create accurate estimates with down to the last details, including precise lists for bolts, surface painting and welds.”
A. R. Marani was impressed with the technology, but what they really liked was the substantial cost savings our model brought to the job. For the new Johns Hopkins Public Health building — a straightforward beam and column job — we took a look at the model and saw an opportunity to build the stair package as a structural member. Normally, of course, the contractor stick builds the stairs from inside the building after the steel goes up. “We put in the stairs like a beam or a column,” says Dennis. “Doing so gave the trades safe access up the whole height of the building, eliminating the usual wooden ladders or expensive scaffolding.” It also saved the concrete man from making multiple trips; instead, he made one monolithic pour.
What would have taken days, took just one afternoon to construct. “The north and south 4-story stairs literally took 4 hours to build,” says Dennis. “And they both went in just like they were supposed to.”
On this job, we weren’t just saving money; we were fabricating steel, some 123 tons of structural framing, 286 squares of floor and roof deck and 6 tons of joist. In addition, we designed some fancy curved handrails (with a gate opening) for the building’s handicapped ramp.
You could say it was just another beam and column job delivered on or ahead of schedule. But it was more. It was one more example of B&B using the latest technology to bring more bang for the buck to our clients.
