C.D. Smith goes under the microscope

Images
The Microbial Sciences project team is working its way up from more than 50 feet below grade.

Photos by Chris Thompson

C.D. Smith Construction has caught a lot of attention at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

When a contractor digs a 140-foot-by-140-foot hole that's more than 50 feet deep in the middle of the state's largest campus, people are bound to notice. When that same contractor intends to fill the hole with the Microbial Sciences Building, the second project of the $300 million BioStar Initiative, then people tend to stop and stare.

"It's a really high-profile job," said Gerald Wheaton, C.D. Smith's project manager. "Is there extra pressure? No. We're set to do quality work, and it doesn't bother us a bit being under the microscope."

At least a few members of the project team, Wheaton included, are used to being under the microscope. When C.D. Smith won its $67.8 million portion of the project in October, a group of people who had been working for the contractor on the Camp Randall renovation moved over to the Microbial Sciences job.

When C.D. Smith arrived on site, the first step required digging out a footprint for the new structure's four levels of underground parking. Working with Terra Engineering & Construction Corp., Madison, the project team stuck its first shovels in the ground in January, not the best time for earthwork.

"It's wintertime in Wisconsin, you know," Wheaton said. "You just have to deal with it. When they got dug down deep enough, we started bringing it back up."

PROJECT SPECS

Project Name: Microbial Sciences Building
Location: Madison
General Contractor: C.D. Smith Construction Inc., Fond du Lac
Architect: Plunkett Raysich Architects LLP, Milwaukee
Owner: University of Wisconsin-Madison and state of Wisconsin
Estimated Construction Cost: $104 million
Start Date: January 2005
Scheduled Completion: May 2007

PROJECT FACT

For it's Microbial Sciences Building project, C.D. Smith removed 200,000 cubic yards of dirt and plans to use 31,000 cubic yards of concrete.

Wheaton said the project should reach the surface by early June, at which point C.D. Smith will start to focus on the seven above-grade stories of the structure.

But it won't be easy. The project sits on a tight spot, and Wheaton said he's already preparing for the challenges that such a site creates.

"The scheduling and sequencing will be difficult tasks," he said. "There's no room to store anything, so we'll have to bring it in and use it up."

When the project reaches completion in 2007, the 400,000-square-foot building will let the university consolidate its microbial sciences facilities under one roof. That finished product is already a major factor in the project, Wheaton said.

"This is early in the game, and I fully believe with any project, if you can plan and make good judgments in the beginning, you can save the project in the end," he said.

- Chris Thompson