Image Credit U.S. Resiliency Council: Oregon Treasury Resiliency Building
The Northwest Wall and Ceiling Bureau recognizes excellence in wall and ceiling construction by presenting its Outstanding Project of the Year awards. The awards are given to the best projects in commercial and residential categories for interior, exterior and renovation/restoration construction. During their spring 2022 conference, 18 awards were presented, including three projects featuring light-gauge steel framing.
Steel Framed Projects Receive Awards
Nominations for annual NWCB awards are judged on design, jobsite innovation and/or conditions, quality of workmanship, use of materials and overall effect, says the NWCB website. The following steel framed projects received awards in 2022:
Climate Pledge Arena (Seattle, WA)
Category: Washington, Light-Gauge Steel Framing (over $1 million)
Climate Pledge Arena, home to the Kraken (NHL) and Storm (WNBA), is the first ever zero-carbon arena in the world. From 2018 to 2021, the arena underwent a $1.15 billion renovation which preserved the original exterior and roof.
The construction project team had the difficult task of building the entire arena from the inside out, without the use of multiple tower cranes, says the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.
Firstline Systems successfully stocked over 1.86 million pounds of cold-formed steel (CFS) framing into the multi levels of the arena without the use of cranes – using 70 aluminum material carts to transport the CFS. The use of building information modeling was vital to the accuracy of the layout and for scheduling all of the trades within hours of the framing installation.
Oregon State Treasury Resiliency Building (Salem, Oregon)
Category: Oregon, Light-Gauge Steel Framing (under $1 million)
As part of its emergency planning work, the Oregon State Treasury identified a need for a resilient workplace. The result was the construction of a steel framed building able to withstand a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, allowing the Treasury to continue to meet the state’s financial needs even after a major catastrophe.
The 35,000 sq. ft. 2-story CFS framed building, which received a platinum rating from the U.S. Resiliency Council, features:
- Seismic base isolation to help make the building usable immediately after a 9.0 earthquake
- On-site solar energy production with back-up emergency power
- Emergency water and septic systems and water conservation features
- Energy conservation and efficiency measures to reduce overall electric load
- Advanced ventilation and air filtration features
- Data and telecommunications redundancies to support connectivity after a catastrophic event
“Ensuring that money still flows through the state government in the event of a major emergency is what we call no-fail work,” says the Oregon State Treasury website. “It’s our responsibility to make sure it gets done, no matter what.”
Gardiner Middle School (Oregon City, Oregon)
Category: Oregon, Light-Gauge Steel Framing (over $1 million)
In 2020, the Oregon City School district broke ground for the construction of the new Gardiner Middle School – replacing a featureless beige box with a state-of-the-art $90 million learning environment, according to the Clackamas Review.
The main challenge for the project was a strict deadline – completing the project in time for the start of the new school year. To meet this challenge, design-build contractor Fred Shearer & Sons created a flow to the schedule to eliminate excessive trade stacking and unnecessary manpower loading, says the Seattle Daily Journal. 3D scanning technology and prefabricated CFS framing, for the exterior and interior assemblies, were also used to accelerate the project schedule.
All stakeholders were committed to keeping the lines of communication open and listening to each other to understand the needs of the project, which resulted in the successful completion of this school, says the Seattle Daily Journal.
About the Northwest Wall and Ceiling Bureau
The Northwest Wall and Ceiling Bureau is an international, nonproprietary trade association for the wall and ceiling industry. It is a proactive organization that encompasses all the wall and ceiling industry products, including steel framing.
The membership of the NWCB consists of subcontractors, manufacturers, suppliers, labor organizations and other professionals in the wall and ceiling industry in the United States and Canada.
For more information, visit nwcb.org.
Additional Resources
- Steel-Framed Projects Receive Awards from the Modular Building Institute
- Steel Framing Helps Schools See the Light
- Recycled Steel Frames New L.A. Middle School Gym