Miron builds
an education
By
Chris Thompson
|
Project
fact
Miron
signed a partnership agreement with the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration for the Wausau East High School
project, allowing OSHA more involvement on the job site
in exchange for a teamwork approach to safety matters.
|
There's
something to be said for an uneventful work site.
Subs
work smoothly with the general. The general and architect understand
each other. The owner is pleased. The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration is involved and helpful after signing a
partnership agreement with the general.
Does
it sound too good to be true? Not on the Wausau East High School
project.
"It's
been a job where the subs, the owner's rep, the architect and
the engineer all got along," said Guy Kiser, the project's
manager for general contractor Miron Construction Co. Inc., Neenah.
"There's been good cohesiveness. It's been a very friendly
job site to deal with, and it's going to be a pretty building."
The
Wausau School District netted referendum approval for the 330,000-square-foot,
$40 million project two years ago. When completed, the School
District will have a new high school with athletic facility and
fine arts wings on a 100-acre site.
Smooth
as it may be, every project has challenges. The site was riddled
with blasted rock and cobbles when Miron arrived for grading work
in April 2002. But that was about 15 months ago, and, after all,
rough sites shouldn't be too surprising in the Wausau region,
where granite beds sit just beneath the surface.
"When
we got there, the building pad was level and ready, but there
was an immense amount of blasted rock below grade that had to
be removed before grading," Kiser said. "That slowed
up the process where we needed to get the foundation poured before
winter."
But
despite the setback, the project is on time and on budget, which
means it should be completely enclosed by October and should beat
the June 1, 2004, completion target, said Berland Meyer, deputy
superintendent of schools for the Wausau School District.
"We're
very pleased with the progress, and we couldn't be more proud
of the workers," he said. "They're people who look beyond
their trades to be problem-solvers."
