Campbell Heights Manufacturing Expansion

Synergistix was engaged during design on a fee basis and priced the work as the documents developed, so the owner saw cost movement while decisions were still cheap to change. Cost plans were reissued at each design stage, constructability and value engineering reviews tested what was drawn against what could be built around a running plant, and trade packages were tendered as each became genuinely biddable. Bids were opened with the owner, and the guaranteed maximum price was assembled from awarded values, remaining allowances, general conditions, contingency and fee.

Building the schedule backwards from the shutdown windows

The plant’s scheduled shutdown windows were the fixed points on the programme, and every other activity was arranged around them. Work that required the plant to be down was identified early, priced as its own package, and rehearsed in detail before the window opened. Work that could proceed alongside production was sequenced to stay behind hoarding and outside production traffic routes. Anything that slipped out of its window waited for the next one rather than borrowing time from the operation.

1. 01Scope every activity as either shutdown-dependent or production-parallel, and hold that classification under change.
2. 02Fix the shutdown dates with plant management, then build the construction programme backwards from them.
3. 03Pre-stage materials, equipment, crews and tools so the window is spent installing rather than mobilizing.
4. 04Write a task-by-task plan for each window with hour-by-hour sequencing, hold points and named responsibilities.
5. 05Define the abort criteria and the restoration steps that return the plant to production if a task cannot finish.
6. 06Test, energize and hand back each system before the window closes, with sign-off from plant operations.
7. 07Debrief after each window and apply the findings to the next one.

Separating the construction site from the plant

The work area was physically separated from production with dust-tight hoarding and controlled access points, and the boundary was treated as a permanent site condition rather than a temporary courtesy. Construction traffic used a dedicated route away from shipping and staff parking. Negative air and dust control protected production areas from grinding, cutting and concrete work. Hot work ran under permit with fire watch, and any activity that affected sprinkler coverage, fire alarm zones or egress was scheduled, permitted and restored the same day. Site orientation covered both the construction crew and the plant staff whose routes crossed the boundary.

Under the at-risk model the owner saw what the trades actually charged. Each month brought a cost report reconciling committed, incurred and forecast cost against the guaranteed maximum price, a contingency register showing every draw and its authority, and a change log carrying both cost and schedule impact. The treatment of unspent contingency and buyout savings was agreed in writing before construction started, because that clause changes the incentives on a job more than any other commercial term.

The expansion was completed and handed over with the plant having operated throughout construction. All process and utility tie-ins were taken inside the agreed shutdown windows, each system was tested and returned to plant operations before the window closed, and no unplanned production stoppage was attributed to construction activity. The final cost landed within the guaranteed maximum price and the owner-approved changes recorded against it.

Where the delivery model earned its fee

• Early procurement of the electrical service and distribution equipment removed the longest lead item from the critical path.
• Foundation and structural packages proceeded while equipment selection was still being resolved.
• Open-book pricing meant scope changes were argued over drawings and quotations rather than over a contingency the owner could not see.
• Shutdown rehearsals turned three high-risk cutovers into planned, documented tasks with defined abort criteria.

Closeout delivered as-built drawings, operation and maintenance manuals, electrical commissioning results, slab test data, permit sign-offs and equipment warranties, with training for the maintenance staff who would carry the new systems. The warranty period and after-hours response were set out in writing at handover, and routine maintenance of the expanded area was folded into a single service relationship so warranty and upkeep run through one accountable party.