2024 Craftsmen’s skills shine

BC&E News | December 13, 2024

From building a massive, high-tech manufacturing plant, grand staircases in corporate offices and expansive wetlands on a school site to perfectly restoring historic churches, schools and Baltimore’s iconic Penn Station, the winners of the 2024 Craftsmanship Awards delivered the extraordinary.

Ambitious new-builds

Moving a manufacturing plant to a new location is an enormous, complex and intensely time-sensitive process.

For the Hughes Network project, craftsmen from Windsor Electric completed all the electrical components of the ground-up construction and fitout of a 155,000-square-foot, high-tech manufacturing facility in Germantown. That included installing a 4,000-amperage utility service, a 1,000-kilowatt generator and 250-kilowatt UPS system. The manufacturing floor included 5,000 feet of cable tray, 38 busduct systems, more than 25,000 pieces of hardware and more than 700 equipment connections.

The most challenging part of the project, however, occurred during the final phase when Windsor’s team had to provide power, data pathways, equipment terminations and commissioning support as Hughes Network moved its manufacturing lines from its old plant to the new one.

The manufacturer, which had to continue supplying products to its customers during the transition, had worked out a plan with the project team to begin moving a production line a day to the new site.

“There were 37 lines plus a few major, specialty [manufacturing] rooms and a lot of people involved with each line,” said Kristopher Parker, Vice President and Director of Field Operations at Windsor Electric.

Each transfer would involve large and complex rigging operations, correct sequencing to ensure that the installation of one production line did not block the installation of another line, and close coordination with “equipment manufacturing reps, which Hughes brought in from across the country, to break down the systems, set them back up and recalibrate them because a lot of this equipment is laser driven,” Parker said.

It also required workers to adjust to sudden changes in the plan.

Manufacturing and installing large, custom ceiling clouds in the nave, organ loft and gathering space of The Church of the Resurrection was the most extensive, custom system Snap-Wall had ever been asked to deliver. Photo courtesy of Snap-Wall.

“Sometimes, it was an hour-by-hour adventure,” Parker said. “Our team leaders had to know everything about all the lines so when they had to suddenly pivot and move a different line, they knew what to do. They would not have time to figure it out.”

For the construction of The Church of the Resurrection, Snap-Wall was tasked with manufacturing and installing very large, custom ceiling clouds in the nave, organ loft and gathering space. It was the most extensive, custom system the company had ever been asked to deliver. And that opportunity came with a problem.

“The original specifications called for specific, prefabricated systems,” said Shane Wilson, Vice President. “We reached out to all our manufacturers who do that type of system or something similar. No one said they could put together the product specified or a solution.”

So, Snap-Wall partnered with Walls & Ceilings to develop their own solution. Working on scaffolding 30 to 40 feet above the floor, Walls & Ceilings built the support structure for the acoustic clouds, including the huge, barrel-shaped installations in the sanctuary. Snap-Wall’s crew then stretched custom-printed, acoustical fabric over them.

That custom solution, Wilson said, actually lowered the price of the installation and delivered a superior product that had fewer visible seams and was constructed onsite to perfectly match as-built conditions.

The stairway at CareFirst’s new headquarters in Canton seamlessly blended glass panels, wood treads, metal rails and stringers to create the illusion that the treads were floating. Photo courtesy of Baltimore Fabrication.

On two office projects, the team at Baltimore Fabrication channeled their expertise into creating complex, custom, feature staircases.

At CareFirst’s new headquarters in Canton, the stairway from the 15th to 17th levels was to be the focal point of the space. The design seamlessly blended glass panels, wood treads, metal rails and stringers to create the illusion that the treads were floating.

To execute that vision and ensure the stairway was constructible and safe, the Baltimore Fabrication team coordinated with the engineer, design team, general contractor, glass and wood tread manufacturers, and the existing structure. That process showed that a custom cover plate would be essential to create the floating stairs.

The Bank of America – Merrill facility included a main staircase with stand-out metal features. The design included a landing that was curved to match the stairway opening, handrails made of solid steel and a unique rail design with large, square pickets, thick posts and spherical ends. After researching pre-made materials, the team concluded the rail would have to be fabricated from custom-cut plates and some plates would have to be crafted to look like rolled channel steel.

For both stairways, the size and weight of components made installation challenging. At CareFirst, craftsmen craned components through a 15th-story window with minimal clearances then used chain falls and carts to move each piece into place. The team employed the same process at Bank of America – Merrill, but had to cut stair rails into sections in order to bring them up in an elevator.

On an eight-week schedule and with zero time for rework, the Gray & Son team created more than 12,000 square feet of stormwater management facilities at Red House Run Elementary School. Photo courtesy of Gray & Son.

At Red House Run Elementary School, the team from Gray & Son faced a very different challenge. With less than eight weeks to complete their work and zero time for rework, craftsmen converted six bioretention ponds and a submerged gravel wetland to create more than 12,000 square feet of stormwater management facilities. The submerged gravel wetlands were especially difficult as crews had to use wooden forms to install 270 feet of pea gravel then immediately install wetland plantings.

However, Gray & Son’s work at Red House Run, which also included grading, helped Baltimore County create a highly sustainable school with beautiful wetlands and outdoor sports facilities.

Exquisite restorations

Craftsmen from Worcester Eisenbrandt were tasked with addressing widespread damage from a thunderstorm that uprooted a large tree and brought it crashing down on the Little Sanctuary at St. Albans School. Photo courtesy of Worcester Eisenbrandt.

Other Craftsmanship Award winners delivered stunning restorations of historic buildings.

When a thunderstorm rolled through Washington, DC in 2023, strong winds and torrential rain uprooted a large tree and brought it crashing down onto the Little Sanctuary at St. Albans School.

Craftsmen from Worcester Eisenbrandt were tasked with addressing widespread damage to the building and restoring multiple components, including the historic roof structure, interior roof purlins, tongue-and-grove roof sheathing, structural masonry on the tower, decorative stucco on the parapets, and metal copings and cornices. In addition, the fallen tree had damaged only portions of the building so all repairs had to closely match existing materials.

One material, in particular, presented the craftsmen with an intricate challenge. The building’s exterior was covered with an exposed-aggregate, pebble-dash-style stucco that had been heavily textured by exposure to the elements.

After carefully cleaning the façade to reveal its true color, craftsmen took samples of the broken stucco back to the Worcester Eisenbrandt workshop to figure out how to replicate it. They analyzed the color and texture of the cement and the color, size, shape and composition of the embedded pebbles. They collected zip lock bags of stone samples from various suppliers and began testing.

“They did about four weeks of trial and error, mixing up many different batches of stucco and making small sample boards until they got a good match,” said Peter Gambardella, Project Manager.

Worcester Eisenbrandt completed sweeping restoration work at St. Ignatius, repairing and restoring 2,000 linear feet of historic materials and replicating another 2,500 linear feet of components to match historic profiles. Photo courtesy of Worcester Eisenbrandt.

But that was only half of the stucco challenge.

“Next, they had to figure out how to apply that material onto the walls so that it would blend seamlessly with the historic material,” Gambardella said. “They tried different application tools and different steps to get the right amount of the outer layer of cement to wash away so that the right amount of aggregate was showing. They came up with a unique process just for this project.”

Meanwhile at St. Ignatius, Worcester Eisenbrandt craftsmen tackled major structural and restoration challenges. Failed maintenance, wood rot and insects had caused extensive damage, including deterioration of framing members, structural columns, sill plates and exterior paint. Furthermore, the bell tower was pulling away from the church building.

Working carefully with their scaffolding/shoring subcontractor, the team shored the tower and inserted needle beams to support each floor. Worcester Eisenbrandt carpenters removed portions of the sheathing and secured new sill plates, columns and beams to correct the tower’s lean.

Meanwhile in the workshop, craftsmen painstakingly rebuilt and restored salvaged components from the church’s exterior by utilizing epoxy and dutchmen repair methods. In total, they repaired and restored 2,000 linear feet of historic materials and replicated another 2,500 linear feet of components to match historic profiles.

Coastal Exteriors restored the facade of Baltimore’s Penn Station paying close attention to both historic restoration and modern commuters. Photo courtesy of Coastal Exteriors.

At Baltimore’s Penn Station, the team from Coastal Exteriors tackled a project that required close attention to both historic restoration and modern commuters. Their scope of work on the six-story, 1911 building included cleaning and point-up of the granite façade and brick masonry walls, resetting granite stones and restoring terra cotta.

At 7 East Redwood Street in Baltimore, craftsmen from Structural executed an urgent and massive repair when pieces of terra cotta began falling from the building. Photo courtesy of Structural.

Midway through the project, the team was also tasked with “bringing in a crane and pulling 1,200-pound pieces of stone from the building 80 feet above ground,” said Ted Wolf, President.

Scaffolding, netting and overhead barriers protected the public from construction debris. However, those measures couldn’t keep pedestrians dry when crews washed down the façade.

To provide that protection and to safely dispose of cleaning chemicals, “we had to build ponds at the base of the building which were basically wood frame boxes with plastic liners, to capture all the water running down the building,” Wolf said. “We would then pump that wastewater into holding tanks to be treated.”

In total, the Coastal Exteriors team worked more than 13,000 hours to restore 50,000 square feet of façade.

At 7 East Redwood Street in Baltimore, craftsmen from Structural executed an urgent and massive repair when pieces of terra cotta began falling from the building. Correcting the problem required removing and replacing all structural steel supporting the terra cotta façade.

Replacing the roof on the domed bell tower at Booker T. Washington Middle School required the Ruff Roofers team to hand cut each piece of field slate. Photo courtesy of Ruff Roofers.

John Hooper of Structural generated measurements for more than 200 linear feet of replacement steel and a plan to anchor the new steel to the building at more than 800 locations. Hooper helped create shop drawings to replace the damaged terra cotta with cast cotta. He then managed an 18-person crew that replaced more than 600 square feet of terra cotta 20 stories above the street and completed the job with zero quality issues.

At Booker T. Washington Middle School, Ruff Roofers was challenged to replace a complex roof on an 1896 building.

The roof measured 26,000 square feet, contained 50,000 pieces of field slate and included multiple steep plains. A four-sided turret had a 30/12 pitch and the bell tower was topped with a tall, domed roof.

The Ruff Roofers team hand cut each piece of field slate that went on top of the bell tower to perfectly fit its curves. In addition to installing the slate roof, they replaced 550 linear feet of gutter with new, 20-ounce copper gutter liner and fabricated the new system in 10-foot lengths to match the shape of the historic building.