Builder of the Year

Gilbane’s work speaks for itself

Gilbane Building Co. Milwaukee

The signs say it all.

Drive through the greater Milwaukee area, and the Gilbane Building Co. name is posted outside job site after job site. And just beyond those signs, crews are erecting and expanding some of the most significant building projects in the area.

“The best way to describe their reputation is to look for their signs around the jobs,” said Geoff Hurtado, senior vice president of Wauwatosa-based Irgens Development Partners LLC. “You see quite a few Gilbane job signs out there.”

Irgens, as an owner’s representative, is working with Gilbane construction management teams on two projects: the $182 million expansion of Potawatomi Bingo Casino and the Convent Hill high-rise housing complex being built by The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee.

The construction management firm is instrumental in keeping the large-scale projects on time and within budget, and the company performs one of its most important functions before ground is broken.

“They can help you manage that schedule and budget before the bids are taken,” Hurtado said. “You don’t want to open the bids and go, ‘Uh oh.’”

The Potawatomi project also takes advantage of another of Gilbane’s strengths, which is its Urban Trades Partnership Initiative, a program that offers training in building and construction trades to Milwaukee residents from underrepresented ethnic groups.

Through a public-private partnership, workers are supported with training, tutoring and apprenticeship test preparation as well as placement assistance with trade contractors.

At Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa, Gilbane is managing a complex expansion and renovation of the emergency department, set to wrap up in late November. The company was chosen based on its past experience working with health-care settings and because of the individuals assigned to the project, said Neil Jensen, project manager for Froedtert and Community Health.

“In my mind, you’re hiring a team, not so much the company,” Jensen said.

“The company provides the expertise and resources. But it’s the guys at 3 o’clock on Friday, when all heck breaks loose, who will be there to help you out who make the difference.”

The emergency department was expanded from 21 to 34 beds by infilling a roof area and putting up curtain walls. The department’s layout was altered for a new team approach in treating emergency room patients.

Careful scheduling was critical, as the hospital could not lose access to any existing trauma rooms, the Flight for Life helicopter pad or other essential service areas at any point during the yearlong project, Jensen said. Losing such access would have jeopardized the center’s status as a Level III trauma center.

Another aspect of Gilbane’s health-care experience attracted the Medical College of Wisconsin to hire the construction management firm to coordinate the construction of a 300,000-square-foot research facility, said Jim Hopp, director of facilities for the Medical College of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa. The $100 million-plus project took two years to complete.

“They had just completed a similar project in Michigan,” Hopp said. “They have a wealth of resources to draw from with all the projects they have going on throughout the area.”

The laboratory had heightened building requirements, from air-filtration standards to the need to minimize vibrations.

Like Jensen, Hopp said the quality of the individuals at Gilbane made the project a success.

“Gilbane believes in educating and training their people,” he said. “There were two- to three-day time periods where their people would be gone because they were pursuing additional education. That’s always a good thing because they aren’t stagnant.”

By Jennifer Pfaff