Prince George’s Community College Lanham Hall Project Underway
PGCC Lanham Hall Aerial Rendering
Last month, Forrester and its partners at Prince George’s Community College broke ground on the $26 million Lanham Hall project. Located on the campus’ northeast quadrant, the existing 1970’s era building will be renovated and expanded by nearly 19,000 square feet. The completed 92,500 square foot facility will add capacity, consolidate services, and eliminate programmatic space issues for the college’s workforce development and continuing education programs. The additional square footage will also grow the print shop, support the Middle College High School Partnership, and add a needed lecture hall.
A first time client, Prince George’s Community College awarded Forrester this contract based on a strong technical proposal that overcame several of the renovation’s complex challenges. “Our great builders developed an approach that uses 3D modeling to fully integrate the completely new conical roof treatment with the existing cubic elements below,” says Forrester Project Executive Don Free. Because of this, Forrester will have the building water tight in early 2017. Forrester differentiated itself through a teaming approach founded on open communication to satisfy all of the sometimes disparate project requirements.
During construction, Forrester will make site improvements to incorporate the updated building into the open courtyard and plaza that is the heart of the Largo campus.
Community college construction will include demolition and reuse of most of the main structure within the existing building as well as installation of curtain wall and aluminum cladding on the exterior. New steel frame additions will be built to the west, north, northeast, and east of the original structure. Landscaping and site improvements will also be made to incorporate the updated building into the open courtyard and plaza at the campus’ core. Onsite operations began last month and will be completed in mid-December 2017. The completed Lanham Hall project is expected to achieve LEED Silver certification. Check other new college buildings in Maryland that Forrester built.
Forrester has also initiated a multi-faceted plan to engage with the campus community, including hiring student interns interested in construction careers, participating in career fairs to help with job placement, and contributing articles about campus events via a quarterly newsletter. The project team will also conduct a series of onsite “Hard Hat Tours” open to all students and faculty throughout the course of the project.
Forrester will team with several other firms to deliver the project including project lead architect Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineer James Posey Associates, Inc.; structural engineer Restl Designers; civil engineer Triad Engineering; landscape architect Mahan-Rykial Associates; and low voltage systems designers Convergent Technologies and Flux Studio.
Click here to read the first edition of the Prince George’s Community College Construction Update. The publication was compiled in partnership with the college and another firm working on campus at another site to keep students, faculty and staff informed of progress.
Forrester Keeps Small Businesses Building with BLocal BUILD College
Apply to join Forrester Construction, Hopkins Local and other industry experts at the BLocal BUILD College training sessions for small businesses.
Forrester Keeps Local Small Businesses Building
Forrester Construction has partnered with Hopkins Local’s to participate in the BLocal BUILD College, a thirteen session program that provides training for small, local, minority, woman-owned and disadvantaged Baltimore-based design and construction businesses. Participants will develop key competencies and relationships to drive future growth.
Join Forrester for a training series focused on growing small businesses.
Each session will be led by experienced professionals and industry experts, including two sessions from Forrester Team Members. Topics will include:
- Reading drawings and specifications
- Bonding
- Insurance
- Bidding
- Legal and contract considerations
- Project management
- Safety and quality assurance
- Change order administration
- Financial planning
- Human resources
- Business development
The program also has a strong focus on relationship building and will include networking opportunities to connect with industry experts. Sessions will be held Wednesday evenings from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm June 8 through September 14, 2016.
Local business partners are invited to keep building with Forrester by applying today. Click here for more information.
Forrester Receives ABC National Excellence In Construction Award
JC Richards (middle) of Strategic Real Property Advisors, LLC, the owner’s representative, and Project Executive Jamie Hart (right) accept an ABC National Excellence in Construction Pyramid Award for the United Arab Emirates Chancery project.
Forrester Receives ABC National Excellence In Construction Award. Forrester Construction Company today announced that its work on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Chancery in Washington, DC has earned the company a National Excellence in Construction (EIC) Pyramid Award from Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) in the Historical Restoration or Renovation – Over $10 million category. Forrester’s project team and the United Arab Emirates’ representative accepted the honor March 2 during ABC’s 26th annual EIC Awards celebration in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A construction industry top honor, this EIC award is the Forrester’s 20th received since 1998.
Forrester Receives ABC National Excellence In Construction Award in the Historical Restoration or Renovation – Over $10 million category
“Forrester earned this Excellence in Construction Pyramid Award through their dedication to safety, quality craftsmanship and teamwork and Associated Builders and Contractors is pleased to honor them,” said 2016 ABC National Chair David Chapin, president of Willmar Electric Service, Lincoln, Neb. “From start to finish, Forrester’s team demonstrated a commitment to innovation and high quality construction in their work on UAE Chancery renovation and expansion, a commitment that is clearly evident in the finished product.”
The Embassy Row chancery is located on Massachusetts Avenue, NW in Washington, DC. To support the nation’s diplomatic mission in the United States, Forrester completed an 18,000 square foot, multi-story historic renovation and restoration of the UAE’s existing embassy and constructed an annex facility to provide additional space for administrative functions. The annex includes an underground parking garage, with auto lifts and a sky bridge to connect it to the original structure. Nicknamed the “ship-in-a-bottle” project, unusually tight site conditions and proximity to neighbors, including another embassy, required careful logistical coordination and sequencing of work. Construction involved significant structural modifications including installation of new structural steel and concrete systems, substantial sheeting, shoring, underpinning and micropiles and concrete foundations and slabs.
United Arab Emirates Chancery Street View. Learn more about this project.
ABC’s EIC Awards program recognizes the very best construction projects from around the nation. Projects are judged on complexity, attractiveness, technical approach, completion time, workmanship, innovation, safety and cost. A panel of industry experts served as the competition’s judges this year with representatives from the Design-Build Institute of America, Engineering News-Record, Construction Users Roundtable, the National Association of Women in Construction and among other leading organizations.
Founded in 1988, Forrester Construction Company is an award-winning Engineering News Record Top 400 and Washington Business Journal Top 25 general contractor offering clients construction management, preconstruction and design build services. A locally-owned leader in the Washington DC Metropolitan market, Forrester has a proven record of construction excellence, client satisfaction and efficient project delivery. This has led to work on such landmark projects at the United States Supreme Court, Arlington National Cemetery, National Institutes of Health, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian National Zoo. Since its inception, the firm has been recognized with over 200 construction industry awards and has built many solid, ongoing relationships with its high percentage of repeat clients and long-term subcontractor partners.
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national construction industry trade association representing nearly 21,000 chapter members. Founded on the merit shop philosophy, ABC and its 70 chapters help members develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically, profitably and for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work. Visit at abc.org.
Forrester Wins 2015 ABC Platinum STEP Award
It has been another outstanding year for safety at Forrester Construction Company.
The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) National Chapter has honored the firm with it’s 11th Platinum STEP Safety Award. The award recognizes Forrester’s ongoing commitment to jobsite safety and exemplary safety performance and programs. As a Platinum level winner, Forrester is rated among the safest general contractors in the nation with a total incident rate at least 25 percent below the industry average, a very low Experience Modification Rating, zero reportable incidences and a high marks on ABC’s 20 Key Safety Components score card.
The firm attributes its ongoing outstanding performance to a “Total Safety Culture” that engages every Team Member people-based safety. Learn more about Forrester’s best-in-class program.
Forrester Wins Three Trade Association Awards
Forrester Wins Three Trade Association Awards. In the past month, two area trade association groups recognized some of Forrester Construction Company’s recent work as among the best local construction projects of the year. In September, Forrester accepted two 2015 Excellence in Construction Awards from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Metro Washington for work on the Coastal Flats Restaurant in Gaithersburg, Maryland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Chancery Annex in Washington, District of Columbia. Last week the UAE Chancery Annex project also received a 2015 Award of Merit from NAIOP’s DC | MD Chapter. Both associations’ awards celebrate outstanding DC Metro area construction projects, and as ABC Metro noted, “raise the level of construction standards throughout the industry by recognizing the workmanship of those who contribute and by showcasing the results of their dedication”.
Forrester Wins Three Trade Association Awards For Local Construction Projects
To win ABC Metro Washington’s Excellence in Construction Awards, Forrester’s Coastal Flats and UAE Chancery Annex projects competed against more than 130 projects across all categories to take home top prizes in the Restaurant Interiors and Historic Renovation respectively. Over 100 judges reviewed entry submittals and visited each project site judging them on attractiveness, complexity, unique challenges overcome, completion time, workmanship, innovation, cost and safety. For the UAE Chancery Annex project, taking home the prize in NAIOP DC | MD Chapter’s Award of Merit for Best Renovation / Adaptive Re-Use involved meeting similar stringent judging criteria.
To learn more about the award winners and see photos of these projects, please visit the Coastal Flats restaurant and UAE Chancery Annex renovation and expansion pages is Forrester’s web portfolio.
Established in 1988, Forrester Construction Company is an award winning general contractor offering clients preconstruction, general contracting, construction management and design build services. A Washington Business Journal top 25 local general contractor and an Engineering News Record top 400 nationwide contractor, Forrester is committed client satisfaction, construction excellence and community involvement. The firm specializes in building technically challenging projects in the commercial, public sector, healthcare, science and technology, education and cultural markets. During its 27 years in business, Forrester has been recognized with nearly 200 construction industry awards and has worked on many landmark projects including those at the United States Supreme Court, Arlington National Cemetery, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian National Zoo.
Forrester Wins 10th ABC Platinum STEP Safety Award
Forrester Construction Company is proud to announce that the firm has recently received its tenth Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Platinum Level STEP Safety Award. Through these awards, ABC recognizes companies who exhibit a continued commitment to jobsite safety and whose safety performance and programs are judged to be exemplary by the ABC National Environment, Health & Safety Committee. To earn Platinum level distinction, Forrester demonstrated a total reportable incident rate at least 25% below the firm’s NAICS code industry average, maintaining a low Experience Modification Rating, having zero reportable incidences and achieving a high score on ABC’s 20 Key Safety Components rating system.
Director of Safety John Shumar attributes Forrester’s reputation for being an industry leader in site safety to the company’s Total Safety Culture and People-Based Safety programs. “At Forrester, safety isn’t the responsibility of any single person or committee. Every Team Member plays an important role, which is why receiving our tenth Platinum STEP Safety Award is so meaningful. It is recognition of a long term, sustained commitment to safety by every member of our team,” says Shumar.
Forrester Construction Earns ABC National Excellence in Construction Award
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) has announced that Forrester Construction Company’s work on the Smithsonian National Zoological Park Seal and Sea Lion Exhibit project in Washington, D.C. has earned the company an Eagle Award in the Other Construction – $4-100 Million category of ABC’s Excellence in Construction Awards. Forrester Construction representatives received the award Feb. 11 during the 24th annual Excellence in Construction Awards celebration at the Grand Wailea in Maui, Hawaii.
Forrester constructed a new seal and sea lion exhibit that includes six pools, ADA-compliant pathways, above- and below-ground water viewing areas, an amphitheater and a maintenance building that houses a life support system.
“I am very proud to recognize Forrester Construction for winning one of our Excellence in Construction Awards and contributing to the overall advancement of ABC and the construction industry,” said 2014 ABC National Chairman Dan Brodbeck, president and CEO of Compass Partners, LLC. “Their project was a great example of innovation, quality and commitment to safety.”
The Excellence in Construction awards program is the industry’s leading competition, developed to honor innovative and high-quality merit shop construction projects. The award honors all construction team members, including the contractor, owner, architect and engineer. The winning projects, selected from entries submitted from across the nation, were judged on complexity, attractiveness, unique challenges overcome, completion time, workmanship, innovation, safety and cost.
A panel of industry experts served as the competition’s judges. This year’s panel included representatives from the Design-Build Institute of America, Engineering News-Record, the American Institute of Architects, and the National Association of Women in Construction, and representatives from higher education, among others.