percent of the structures offsite and then assemble them on site,” he said. “Tis enabled huge advantages to worker safety as well, with most of the fabrication done in a controlled environment offsite.” Although the project was subject


to the same global supply chain issues that have impacted all major projects over the past year or so—limiting what Woodbury said would otherwise have been significant schedule savings—the use of Prescient avoided skyrocketing price spikes in the lumber market that have negatively impacted wood framed building projects.


Overcoming Additional Challenges


As with any construction project,


challenges are the norm. On a project of this scale, the Blach/Cahill team has had to overcome a host of additional


challenges to date, including: ■ COVID-19 Impacts.Te onset of a global pandemic required the team to pivot to virtual project management and communication efforts in order to stay on track. Deemed an essential project, Gateway at Millbrae Station experienced only a single day of shutdown in March 2020 when the local shutdown mandates were announced. Te team quickly switched from in-person to Zoom meetings and used other virtual tools to keep the project moving forward and workers safe. “Leveraging technology already in place and more than we had before, we quickly learned that we could be extremely productive and keep the project moving forward, regardless of who was on-site face-to-face,” commented Blach Construction


Marketing Director Kate Blocker. ■ Coordination with multiple stakeholders. Te team has engaged in multi-agency coordination efforts with project stakeholders, working to minimize construction impacts. Key stakeholders include BART, the City of Millbrae, SFO, PG&E, SamTrans and regional shuttle services for nearby businesses including Genentech,


Amazon, Google, and Facebook. ■ Major Logistical issues. From


www.AGC-CA.org


managing the work involved with building four separate vertical building projects on a single jobsite that is adjacent to an active BART Station and major airport, to successfully maintaining traffic control during utility installation and sitework improvements, the project has faced myriad high-level logistical challenges. Vastly reduced traffic through the BART Station during Shelter in Place and increased work from home proved to be a “silver lining” of sorts in the earlier months of the pandemic. Fast forward 18 months and activity has picked up again, posing ongoing challenges as the team manages construction amidst a busy, fully opera- tional transit center.


High Degree of Synergy and Collaboration


Te Gateway at Millbrae Station


structures topped out this July, and construction has now hit the halfway mark. Te project has engaged well over 100 subcontractors and suppliers and will hit its peak workforce of between 500-700 workers this fall, according to Woodbury.


THIS WAS THE


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Trench Shoring Company’s inventory of multiple slide shoring configurations makes us the best choice when you have a challenging pipeline or pit excavation. For example, our SBH®


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We know every project is different and we’ll be there for your challenge too!


Te project team has widely


embraced a highly collaborative, synergistic approach to address the many challenges of building a mega- project, keeping a collective focus on the significant impact that this iconic development will have on the local and Bay Area-wide community. “A real bright spot for this project


is the Blach/Cahill JV. Our teams are very united and have established a highly collaborative environment on site, where they continue to learn from and support each other, while driving toward common goals,” Woodbury said. “Tis has been a very successful project, not only for our client, which sees the progress and our ability to execute an extremely challenging project at a very high level, but also for the partnership forged by our JV team.” Woodbury added, “For many


involved, Gateway at Millbrae Station is a career-defining milestone—a project each of us will remember for the rest of our lives as being one of the most rewarding and significant projects in our portfolios.” 


Safely and cost-effectively shore up a range of pipeline or pit excavations up to 35 feet deep, while maintaining required vertical clearances


TrenchShoring.com Associated General Contractors of California 9


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