new prek-8 gilmartin school...morganti was concerned that run‐off from the site would contaminate...

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100 Mill Plain Road Danbury, CT 06810

Phone: (203) 743‐2675 Fax: (203) 830‐4478

Website: www.morganti.com

Construction Management / General Contractor: New Large Construction The Morganti Group, Inc. – New PreK-8 Gilmartin School

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. AGC/CT Build Connecticut Award Application

2. Summary

3. Judging Criteria Narrative

4. Project Photographs

5. Press Clippings

Application Fee Check – Separate Sealed Envelope


2 | SUMMARY

Why does the New PreK‐8 Gilmartin School merit a Build Connecticut Award?

The New PreK‐8 Gilmartin School merits an Associated General Contractors Build Connecticut Award

for three simple reasons. The first being Morganti’s leadership which lead to returning ninety‐five

percent of the construction contingency fund to the Owner. Secondly, the sheer complexity of the

building layout resulted in precise coordination. And lastly, we had success of using a relatively new

product manufactured over‐seas, glass‐fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) panels.

During the pre‐construction phase of the project, Morganti’s thorough review of the documents and

attention to detail when writing our subcontractor scopes of work significantly minimized the use of

construction contingency funds. In turn, the Owner was able to use those monies for various

enhancements toward the latter stages of the project. Three of the higher‐dollar improvements

included providing sod in lieu of seed at the play field, installing a multi colored rubberized play surface

at the playground in lieu of mulch and new boys’ and girls’ toilet rooms built after project completion.

The Architect, The S/L/A/M Collaborative, envisioned a child lying on the ground with their arms

spread looking up into the future as the inspiration of the building layout. That inspiration lead to

significant layout and coordination challenges. Just a few of the complex building features included

numerous radii walls, both interior and exterior. The focal exterior wall at the main entrance of the

school was not only on a radius, but also leaning out seven degrees. There were also multiple exterior

facades; face and glazed brick, composite wall panels, metal wall tiles, GFRC panels and EIFS.

At the end of the day, the installation of the GFRC panel façade was the project’s showcase.

Swisspearl®, the manufacturer of the panels based in Switzerland, featured Gilmartin School in their

international edition of architectural high profile buildings issued earlier this year. In addition, because

of the success on this project, The S/L/A/M Collaborative brought a high profile client, ESPN, to the site

in order to visualize how the GFRC panels would look installed on their proposed building.


3 | JUDGING CRITERIA NARRATIVE

State of‐the‐art advancement

The New PreK‐8 Gilmartin School included a state‐of‐the art photovoltaic (PV) system to supplement

the buildings’ energy system. During building construction, Morganti installed the entire infrastructure

necessary to support the new photovoltaic system. Although the panel installation was not in our

contract, nor were they installed until a year after substantial completion, we returned to the project

to coordinate the installation of the panels with the City of Waterbury’s contractor. This system allows

the Owner to use the energy from the PV system when there is a need and also returns energy to the

utility in times of low building demand.

Excellence in project management

Beginning in pre‐construction Morganti’s ability to manage the entire building process led to many

advantages throughout the project. Our thorough review of the contract documents and attention to

detail when writing the subcontractor scopes of work minimized the use of construction contingency

on the project. The Owner was able to add many enhancements to the project because of this. These

improvements, again, included additional boys’ and girls’ lavatories, installing sod on the play field in

lieu of seed, which allowed for immediate use during the first school year and installing a rubberized

play‐scape surface at the playground in lieu of mulch.

Through Morganti’s proactive approach to project management, the team was continually monitoring

and updating the project schedule and how subcontractor deliveries were affecting the production in

the field. This allows us to identify when a contractor is falling behind and take the necessary steps to

keep the project on schedule. A good example of this is when the structural steel subcontractor began

to fall behind on their shop drawings. A red flag was raised and the issues were addressed and

corrected. The project schedule was updated; the steel deliveries re‐sequenced all while maintaining

the overall project schedule.



Project team effectiveness

Late in construction there was a change to the location of an array of photovoltaic (PV) panels on the

building. The project team came together to analyze the impact and come up with a plan which would

not delay the completion of the project. Because of all the team members’ attention to this matter,

the additional work which was required in nearly completed areas was performed with minimal impact

to the previously installed finishes and again did not impact the overall project schedule.

Another example to the project team coming together to resolve an issue was the discovery of

unsuitable materials below one corner of the proposed building. Within two days the material was

deemed unsuitable by the geotechnical engineer and the design team, a meeting was held to

determine the best way to quantify and track the material removal and fill installation and the

appropriate change order directives were issued. Because of the team’s swift action the site

contractor and concrete contractor incurred no delays in completing their respective work.

Innovation in construction techniques, materials or design

One of the first construction materials that immediately stood out in the early stages of design was the

glass‐fiber‐reinforced concrete (GFRC) panels located on the south face of the classroom wing. The

locations and specific patterns of the four different colored panels, the two radii walls they were to be

installed on (one being tilted) and the window layout with the panel joints all presented unique

coordination challenges.

The manufacturer of the GFRC panels, Swisspearl®, featured the Gilmartin School in their international

edition of architectural high profile buildings issued earlier this year. In addition, because of the

success and the end product, The S/L/A/M Collaborative brought a high profile client, ESPN, to the site

to in order to visualize how the GFRC panels would look installed on their building.



Excellence in client services

Initially when this project went out to bid in July of 2008, a phasing plan was in place to use the

existing school and portables. The respective bids pushed the project over budget. During the review

of the bids and the subsequent value engineering sessions which followed, it was determined that by

eliminating the phasing on the project the necessary monies could be saved. The solution was to

move the entire school off site to a nearby vacant parochial school. This allowed for efficiency in

construction of the new building and a reduction of construction time on the overall schedule of nearly

seven months. Morganti’s attention to detail during pre‐construction and subsequent construction,

and notification to the owner that funds were available, allowed the Owner to repurpose the saved

contingency for beneficial use on the project.

Contribution to the community

Morganti had the opportunity to contribute to the community in a number of ways. During the course

of the project Morganti personal participated in mentoring programs and job fairs in the City of

Waterbury. Of particular note was the ACE 2007/2008 Mentoring Program. This program brought

together various professionals who went out to schools in the city and spoke about career

opportunities in their fields. In Morganti’s case, our Director of Pre‐Construction visited with students

at one of the local high schools and discussed topics related to the construction field. The students

were very engaged and asked numerous questions regarding the construction industry.

With regards to construction, again because of our extensive pre‐construction review and scoping, we

were able to return ninety‐five percent of the contingency funds to the Owner who in turn used those

funds for various enhancements. One of the larger improvements contributing to the community was

placing sod at the new play field and walking track in lieu of planting seed. This allowed us to make the

area available to the public a year earlier than originally planned. Because the school is located in a



residential neighborhood, neighbors are frequently on school grounds taking advantage of what the

school has to offer.

Also, as part of our contract we were required to comply with the Waterbury Good Jobs! Ordinance

with the intention of putting Waterbury residents, apprentices and minorities to work. We were able

to meet and/or exceed all categories of this ordinance providing employment opportunities to the

local residents of Waterbury.

Meeting the challenge of a difficult job

There is no question that layout alone of this building was a challenge, the configuration of the

classroom wing itself with walls being on radii and being tilted out from a vertical plane presented

many challenges. These challenges we not only confined to the foundation and structural steel, but

also included the interior wall and ceiling layouts. The exterior walls, especially the one section that

leans out, was particularly complex. Allowances had to be made not only for the curve of the building,

but also the growth of the horizontal dimensions as the construction moved up vertically from grade.

One particular piece of the construction was the coordination of the punched window openings and

the GFRC panel layout. Meticulous care had to be taken to ensure that the window not only matched

the vertical panel seams but also the horizontal seams. Allowances also had to be made for panel

dimension reductions due to the lean of the building. This lean shortened the vertical distance each

panel covered and thus the window layout had to adjust for this reduction.

Sensitivity to the environment and the surroundings

Early on in preconstruction it was identified that the erosion controls called out in the documents may

not be adequate for the site which lies above a stream channel that empties into the Naugatuck River.



Morganti was concerned that run‐off from the site would contaminate the waterway and additional

erosion control measures were incorporated into the documents. We are glad to report there was not

one incident of run‐off contaminating the adjacent waterways.

Another example of the projects sensitivity to the environment was the saving of a large established

oak tree which bordered the project. There was to be a retaining wall installed in close proximity to

the oak. The arborist and landscape architect were called, a meeting was set up and the conclusion to

move the retaining wall to save the tree was made. There were also numerous instances where the

arborist made determinations with the landscape architect to save trees scheduled for removal and to

trim back and clean out the tree canopy to enhance not only the site but also the health of the

surrounding trees.


5 | PRESS CLIPPINGS

The Morganti Group would like to highlight the following articles featuring the New PreK‐8 Gilmartin School; “School’s ‘modern’ now ‘quaint’ featured in the Republican‐American newspaper – March 2009 “Gilmartin School Groundbreaking Ceremony” featured in High Profile magazine – May 2009 “Waterbury students make a fresh start… a new school year in a brand new school…” featured in the Republican‐American newspaper – September 2010 “Waterbury Public Schools – Action Plan” featured in Education Executive magazine – Fall 2011 The articles listed above follows this page respectively.

1 - COVER-22 - TOC3 - APPLICATION4 - SUMMARY5 - JUDGING CRITERIA NARRATIVE5 - PRESS CLIPPINGS6 - PHOTO 16 - PHOTO 26 - PHOTO 36 - PHOTO 46 - PHOTO 56 - PHOTO 66 - PHOTO 87 - PRESS CLIPPINGS8 -ARTICLES 18 -ARTICLES 28 -ARTICLES 3

new prek-8 gilmartin school...morganti was concerned that run‐off from the site would contaminate...

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