Mission impossible

Military regulations make strategy key for Boson

Imagine the pressure of this situation.

You’re on a military base and you’ve just been advised of the current threat level. As you look around, you see the men and women of the U.S. National Guard training for the moment they will be called to fight for those in need.

You’re job is simple: dig down and relocate the utilities — gas, power, water, sanitary and storm sewer. You’re about to build a new 47,000-square-foot training center that can accommodate 300 servicemen.

Too bad you don’t have a clue where those utilities are, and a wrong move can shut down the base completely.

Also, there is no help available from Digger’s Hotline. The utilities are military owned and outside the nonprofit’s scope of services.

Joe Dolezal, director of construction for The Boson Co. Inc., doesn’t need to imagine the pressure of that situation anymore. He felt it firsthand as the Marshfield firm began its role as general contractor for the Camp Douglas Readiness Center project on the Camp Williams military base in Camp Douglas.

“The underground utilities for Camp Williams all enter[ed] through our site,” Dolezal said. “Here’s this nice, grassy field, but under it is this maze of utilities that we can’t disturb or it will shut the base down.”

The Boson Co. spent the first 30 days of the project just relocating those utilities, found with the aid of old plans, the U.S. Department of Military Affairs and a private contractor.

The process was successful, Dolezal said, and no disruptions to the base occurred.

A state-of-the-art training facility featuring a classroom auditorium, kitchen, vehicle maintenance bay, large assembly hall, concrete-reinforced arms vault and a host of regular classrooms and offices now stands on that grassy field.

Natural lighting is available in almost every room, allowing for energy conservation. Tubular skylights illuminate the main corridor of the readiness center on a sunny day, but installation of the fixtures brought to light another maze for contractors to navigate.

Mechanical systems above the ceilings had to be carefully mapped out and avoided.

“You really had to think things through before anyone went ahead with anything,” Dolezal said.

To complete the project, Boson brought an army of 275 workers on site each day. The problem was each worker, from truck drivers dropping off materials to project leaders, required a background check and military clearance.

“It made for some scheduling nightmares,” Dolezal said.

Intense pre-installation meetings eased some of the stress of the job, helping push the schedule and ensuring top-of-the-line quality.

— Jennifer Pfaff