360 Market Square is a $121 million, 28-story, luxury residential tower. Mixed-use retail includes a Whole Foods Market and a 525-space parking garage. This was a unique opportunity for ERMCO and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 481 to be a part of the first high-rise built in Indianapolis in almost 10 years.
ERMCO and IBEW Local 481 have partnered on Central Indiana projects for 55 years. This long-standing, positive relationship was the basis for a successful collaboration to pursue the 360 Market Square project.
FOCUSED ON MAXIMIZING EFFICIENCIES
The project plan included several innovative approaches that contributed to improved project efficiencies. These included pre-fabrication of conduit bends and racks and a creative “room-in-a-box” approach.
Each room-in-a-box contains items pre-fabricated for individual apartment units. Boxes are labelled by unit number and items are tagged to indicate a specific location within the apartment. As boxes arrive on site, the materials manager delivers each one to its designated destination. Electricians remove the tagged items and set them next to their installation location. Within a few minutes, everything is laid out and installation can be done. This streamlines movement and management of materials, which is a challenge on an urban site like this one with minimal room for materials storage.
All pre-fabrication is done off-site in the controlled environment of ERMCO’s Service Center. Successful execution requires detailed materials planning and comprehensive scheduling of fabrication, delivery and installation – so the right items are on site at the right time.
“This is a tight, downtown site and prefabrication has definitely been beneficial. We’ve been able to reduce on-site storage needed and expedite materials directly to the appropriate apartment unit as it arrives. In fact, it’s gone so well, we collaborated with the lighting provider on a similar room-in-a-box approach .”
- David Kessler, ERMCO Account Manager
COLLABORATION RESULTS IN EXPANDED SCOPE
As the project nears completion, it is evident that the ERMCO-IBEW Local 481 labor-management collaboration has been successful. The innovative project delivery approach enabled ERMCO’s electricians to quickly set up and complete installation in repetitive spaces such as the apartment units, allowing ERMCO to expedite schedule and provide more access for other on-site trades.
ERMCO’s Construction Services team was asked to manage the construction BIM model and clash detection for ALL project trades. ERMCO was also awarded additional scope - all low voltage systems for the tower which includes data drops for all 292 apartment units and cameras and door security for the entire project.
INDUSTRY RECOGNITION FOR PROJECT TEAM
ERMCO and IBEW Local 481 were the winners of the Top Notch 2017 Labor Management Foundation Award for their collaboration on this project. The award is in recognition of labor and management creatively working together to enhance the success of a project and of the construction industry.
“We have a great crew. They take genuine pride in their work and are excited to know they are a part of this significant project that will forever change the skyline of downtown Indianapolis."
- Greg Cullison, ERMCO Project Foreman
"The ERMCO team has been proactive throughout the entire 360 Market Square project. For example, their use of a consistent prefabrication approach for all 292 apartment units required less people on site to meet the schedule commitment. They find ways to work as efficiently as possible without sacrificing quality or safety and without negatively impacting budget. ERMCO has been a valuable partner and has been instrumental in a successful project completion.”
- David Nief, Senior Project Manager, Project Management & Construction, Lendlease