SCOPE
The Kensington Cryogenic Processing and Fractionation Facility was one of the first projects of its kind in the Utica Shale energy industry in Eastern Ohio. While safety, cost control and quality of work are very important, Speed-to-Market is the driving motivation behind projects of this type. The frantic pace of work in the shale energy industry required no adjustment on the part of E.S. Wagner since this is a mentality long embraced.
The initial scope of the Kensington facility was the preparation of an approximately 55 acre site. With the owner driven by operational deadlines, construction had to begin prior to the plans for the site being finalized. While constantly adapting to changing conditions and designs may have presented an opportunity for other contractors to stop production or inundate the owner with change order requests, E.S. Wagner Company was able to use its staff of construction specialists and Professional Engineers, employing the latest in industry technology, to assist in the development of the final site plan, offer sound engineering alternatives and accommodate a constantly evolving situation all while continuing to perform grading operations that consistently exceeded 18,000 cubic yards in a single shift.
E.S. Wagner mobilized to the site immediately after being awarded the contract and was able to adapt to all of the design revisions, completing the mass grading of the site on the owners original schedule. Only then did they indicate that they never really expected the work to be completed on time. E.S. Wagners response: You gave us a schedule. We intended to meet it.
The initial sitework package required sediment control, underground drainage, structure demolition, aggregate placement, and permanent and temporary seeding. The critical operation was the grading of the site to facilitate the next phases of construction. In order to meet the owners demanding schedule, E.S. Wagner mobilized a total of nineteen pieces of heavy grading equipment in less than two weeks from the projects bid date and completed over 440,000 cubic yards of earthwork in six weeks.
SAFETY
E.S. Wagner's culture of safety was evident on site on a daily basis. Not only were there no accidents, injuries or incidents of avoidable equipment damage, the site was inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in April of 2013 with E.S. Wagner receiving an exemplary evaluation.
VALUE
E.S. Wagner believes that pointing out ways in which the owner might save money or time will produce a better project for all involved. On this site, the geotechnical recommendation was to install an extremely expensive method of slope stability protection and groundwater control. Drawing on extensive experience in the region, E.S. Wagner recognized that the proposed method was likely unnecessary and incredibly expensive with the possibility to increase the cost of construction as much as 20%. Although the contract was to be lump sum, E.S. Wagner provided the price for this design alternative on a unit basis. This allowed the owner to limit their financial exposure to only that which was absolutely necessary.
As a result of E.S. Wagners precise control and monitoring of project quantities, it was determined early on that the initial site grading plan would not produce a balanced site condition whereby the planned excavation would complete the planned embankments. E.S. Wagner assisted the design engineers in the development of an additional eight acre site that could be utilized in the future by the owner and could be situated in such a way to provide the necessary excavation material to complete the initial site construction. This additional graded area was constructed with no impact to the original project schedule through a seamless extension of contract unit prices.
ONGOING PRESENCE
E.S. Wagner has been an almost constant presence on site since completing the original scope in late September of 2012. Since that time, E.S. Wagner has performed a variety of services to assist both the owner and contractors responsible for other phases of construction. Most recently, E.S. Wagner completed the development of another pad necessary for the next phase of site expansion which required the excavation of approximately 125,000 cubic yards. As always, with Speed-to-Market as the motivation, E.S. Wagner responded immediately to the owners request and exceeded expectations, delivering the completed scope more than a week ahead of schedule.
