APRIL 2015ISSUE 57 SPRING

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“Team 303” Earns First Place in Sustainable Design Competition

The first ever sustainable design competition in the Pacific Northwest, Tacoma Green Infrastructure Challenge (TGIC), was hosted by the City of Tacoma, in Tacoma, Washington, on 5 March 2015. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Seattle Sustainability Committee “Team 303,” won first place for their sustainable design for the Port of Tacoma’s Industrial Redevelopment site. Team 303 included six BergerABAM staff, as well as colleagues from Basalite, Conestoga-Rovers & Associates, Jacobs, Paladino and Company, Ridolfi, and graduate students from the University of Washington and Colorado State University.

The competition began in November 2014 with tours of the three project sites that included Industrial Redevelopment at the Port of Tacoma, Urban Redevelopment at Metro Parks Tacoma, and a Green Roadway on South Tacoma Way. The first part of the competition was anonymous, with all teams being assigned a team number. The judges reviewed a design narrative, site plans, and hydrologic model. The judges were part of Metro Parks Tacoma, Port of Tacoma, Greenroads Foundation, Miles Resources, Point Defiance Zoo, U.S. Geological Survey Washington Water Science Center, Environmental Services at the City of Tacoma, and Washington State Department of Transportation’s Department of Ecology (Ecology). The second part of the competition was by invitation only and the teams were selected by the top scores from the judges. The ASCE Seattle Sustainability Committee put together a presentation board of their design and a presentation that

they gave at the University of Washington – Tacoma at the awards ceremony in front of a jury made up of six different members from the City of Tacoma, Metro Parks Tacoma, Ecology, Master Builders Association, Port of Tacoma, and South Tacoma Way Business District.

The TGIC brought together BergerABAM volunteers— Amanda Schweickert, PE, ENV SP; Connie Linden, PE; Shawna Lenn, PE; Brett Ozolin, PE; Kimberly Crow; and Brian Strandberg—who volunteered their industry skills of graphic design, project management, civil engineering, waterfront design, sustainability, and construction expertise to the team. The guidelines for the 20-acre Industrial Redevelopment site were to provide a leasable space with a 50,000- to 100,000-square-foot building and transportation-dependent operations. The concept had to consider

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stormwater runoff, a failing shoreline bank, and soil contamination. Besides providing a sustainable design, the Port of Tacoma wanted to know what the construction and maintenance costs would be for the site using traditional versus green infrastructure.

The team’s design goals were to maximize the functionality of the site while increasing marketability for the Port of Tacoma. Although the site was encumbered by utilities and existing structures, the design integrated sustainable features that met treatment and drainage design requirements while providing attractive site amenities. The design also minimized site disturbance to address soil contamination concerns. The resulting proposal provided an efficient site design with redundant water quality benefits to fortify ecological connectivity and function in this industrial environment.

The building design incorporated a green roof with native grasses selected for their hardiness and a soil mix appropriate for project goals. Rainwater harvesting was proposed as a stormwater strategy to help offset the need for added site interventions and provide water for building uses, such as wash-down or periodic green roof irrigation. The site layout maximized space available for port operations and screened it from the roadway with a constructed wetland. Site grading was minimized so that contaminated soils could be capped with concrete pavement and serve as a materials laydown area. The proposed bulkhead provided water access while serving as a “cut-off” to soil contamination leaching into the waterway. A perforated underdrain was designed to collect groundwater blocked by the bulkhead and treat the water for high pH via a cartridge filter manhole before discharging to the waterway. Riprap was proposed to be removed and replaced with a stabilization mat. The vegetated stabilization mat of articulated concrete blocks was planned along the shoreline to mitigate shoreline degradation, as well as enhance fish habitat at the slope toe.

Along with the sustainable features and design that were submitted to TGIC, the team wanted to provide a way for the jury to realize how sustainable the proposed team’s design was. The team introduced Envision, the sustainable infrastructure rating tool, as a way to measure the design. BergerABAM has been applying Envision to projects since its inception in 2012 by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. Envision regards Tacoma’s forward thinking, encouragement of sustainable design, and engagement of the public as important measures of sustainable design.

The majority of the winnings that the team received were donated to Adopt A Family and the ASCE Sustainability Committee. The money will help support the activities to promote sustainability in the community. In the past, the committee has hosted events at local schools and will continue providing a scholarship to students to attend conferences.

For more information on TGIC, visit http://www.cityoftacoma.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=68259

To learn about participating with the ASCE Seattle Sustainability Committee, visit https://sites.google.com/site/asceseattlesustainability/home.

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Part of Team 303 included six BergerABAM employees.

As awareness of environmental sustainability has grown, more building projects have required Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The LEED system, developed in 1998 by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides standards for environmentally sustainable construction and promotes performance in five areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. Buildings that are LEED certified use resources more efficiently when compared to conventional buildings, offer healthier working and living conditions, and often reduce operating costs.

For the last 10 years, BergerABAM has incorporated LEED principles, and their LEED-accredited professionals have worked on building and architecture projects. At the same time, the design and LEED professionals must meet their clients’ unique needs, from military blast protection criteria to pier replacements and historical renovations with a goal of achieving at least a LEED Gold certification.

One such project was the historical renovation and upgrade of the John L. O’Brien building in Olympia, Washington. The building houses the offices for Washington State’s House of Representatives and staff and was recently awarded the LEED Gold certification.

Completed in 1940 and one of the original six structures built on the Capitol Campus in Olympia, the challenges in renovating the O’Brien building included compliance with LEED standards and modern technology while at the same time preserving the historic character of the building, providing major seismic upgrades, and replacing aging and failing infrastructure.

To achieve Washington State’s sustainability goals for the renovation, more than 97 percent of the construction debris was recycled during

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the demolition work, saving $40,000 in landfill costs. Floor plans for the upper three floors and basement level of the building were revised to improve building efficiency. Temperature controls were linked to lighting occupancy sensors to reduce energy spent while spaces were unoccupied. In addition, carbon dioxide sensors were used to adjust the quantity of outside air ventilation based on the number of occupants.

Great care was taken to integrate repairs and modern upgrades with the historic nature of the O’Brien building. An insulated glazing system was retrofitted to existing historic bronze windows and a new more energy-efficient roofing system was installed. The existing exterior was cleaned, repainted, and repaired, and horizontal joints were sealed. Interior work also included new partitions, replacement of nonhistorically correct doors, hardware, and finishes throughout the building. A new underground basement was added to accommodate the upgraded replacement of the aging and failing mechanical and electrical systems without impacting the overall exterior’s historic appearance.

The successful historic renovation of the John L. O’Brien building is an excellent example of bringing a project from the past into the future, while addressing energy-efficient technologies and sustainable building practices.

“LEEDing” Modern Improvementsfor Old Buildings

Designed in the late 1930s, the O’Brien building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Editors / Writers

Jana Roy

Dee Young

Amanda Schweickert

Karen Harbaugh

Nora Bretaña

Diann Scherer

Design and Production

Jana Roy

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BergerABAM was an early adopter of SiteOps Site Optimization Software, the latest innovation in site civil engineering. Created to aid in the swift identification of cost-effective solutions for site development, SiteOps enables civil engineers to review multiple site plans and associated grading schemes in a few hours instead of weeks or months.

The SiteOps design process can begin with as little as a proposed site. Using the provided geographic information system topographic information or imported AutoCAD-surveyed topography, the designer can begin to build parking areas, buildings, storm drainage features, and access roads in minutes. Because parking areas are laid out by SiteOps, complete with landscaping areas, accurate parking counts can be determined as quickly as the parking area extents can be drawn. Likewise, buildings can be introduced from the SiteOps import library or drawn on screen. Buildings immediately work with the drawn parking areas with transition areas shown with sidewalks, drive-aisles, or other user-chosen amenities. All site plan elements are editable and movable to allow the review of various site plans in a matter of a few hours.

Each site plan can also be graded based on predefined grading requirements to show cut and fill areas and quantities of material for each scenario. As the grading routine is running, users can view the cost of the site preparation changing based on the thousands of grading scenarios tested. Construction costs are determined based on unit costs preloaded into SiteOps and fully editable by the design team. As quantities of materials change with each site plan and grading scenario, construction costs are constantly updated.

The use of SiteOps provides immeasurable benefits to clients by providing a smarter way to identify site design solutions.

Smarter Site Designwith SiteOps

On 12 March 2015, BergerABAM’s Vancouver, Washington, office held an open house for friends, clients, partners, and community members to visit the new office location at 210 East 13th Street, Suite 300.

As the Vancouver office grew, it became apparent that the way the department worked across the planning, environmental, landscape architecture and urban design, engineering, and strategic communications disciplines was very collaborative. When the lease became due, the needs of the staff and how the office functioned were evaluated, and it was determined that an

open-concept work environment would more effectively foster the collaboration that was already happening.

In addition, the new location was chosen because the firm is committed to downtown Vancouver. The Vancouver office has long been associated with industry connections to the city, and feels connected to what used to be the City Hall building and wanted to be a part of the reuse and vision for the facility. The space fit well with the office’s industry identity in Vancouver, how they work internally, and their commitment to the community.

Expanding Vancouver OfficeRelocates to Downtown Area

Office relocates to former City Hall building.

On 2 April 2015, the Port of Tacoma’s Pier 3 Upgrade project was awarded the American Public Works Association’s Project of the Year Award for Structures between $5 million and $25 million. The Public Works Project of the Year Award promotes excellence in public works projects by recognizing the partnership between the managing agency; the consultant, architect, and engineer team; and the contractor, who work together to successfully complete public works projects.

The Port of Tacoma plays a major role in the Pacific Northwest, ranking third on the West Coast for U.S. exports to the rest of the world. More than $25 billion of commerce in foreign and domestic shipments and more than 70 percent of the containers land at the Port to markets in the Midwest and East Coast of the United States. In the last decade, competition has increased with ports worldwide, and the expansion of the Panama Canal to accommodate large super post-Panamax container ships is expected to negatively affect ports without increased maritime capabilities. In response, the Port planned and executed facility expansions to maintain its position as a major West Coast commerce hub and to accommodate its clients’ lease requirements.

As part of this competitive program, the Port selected BergerABAM to upgrade Pier 3, a part of its Husky Container Terminal. This pier, initially constructed in 1987 and lengthened in 2004, was originally designed for 70,000-long-ton container vessels and 64-foot-gage cranes, with capacity to add 100-foot-gage cranes. In 2012, BergerABAM began the design of the Pier 3 upgrade to accommodate modern 100-foot-gage cranes capable of serving the super post-Panamax container vessels. Because the Pier 3 upgrade was the first phase of a larger terminal upgrade, including the adjacent Pier 4s’ upgrade, the Pier 3 upgrade had to consider terminal operations during Pier 4’s rebuild and integration.

Though Pier 3 had been designed for the 100-foot-gage older cranes, the pier’s capacity was not sufficient for modern cranes that work with 24-container-wide super post-Panamax container ships. Therefore, substantial structural improvements to the pier had to be made for the larger crane loads, while accommodating the Port’s current maritime functions.

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Pier 3 Upgrade Wins APWA Washington Public Works Project of the Year

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The 1987 structure’s 14-foot outboard—including the outboard crane beam—had to be demolished and strengthened, and a larger crane beam added. In addition, the existing pier bulkhead had to be structurally supplemented to support the inboard 100-foot-gage rail. New crane appurtenances, including new tie-downs, pin sockets, and crane stops were incorporated in the new outboard crane beam and existing bulkhead.

The Port desired both 100-foot-gage and 64-foot-gage cranes operate on the pier simultaneously; all infrastructure for 64-foot-gage cranes needed to remain functional, and infrastructure that the pier upgrade affected needed to be replaced.

One design challenge was the need to pay particular attention to how the existing 16-inch precast, prestressed concrete piles and existing deck structure would behave when integrated with new crane rail beams to ensure the existing structural elements were not overstressed. Accommodating the larger vessels also meant that a new, upgraded unit fender system had to be provided along the full length of the pier, as well as larger mooring hardware. Future dredging of the berth and the addition of a future toe-wall had to be considered in the upgrade. Complete replacement of the electrical system was needed for the pier. Other bullrail-mounted utilities, such as potable water, had to be replaced in the rebuilding of the wharf bullrail.

Smarter Site Design

The John L. O’Brien Building is located in

The Pier 3 upgrade project allows the wharf to support larger container cranes.