Major renovations designed to make Kellog Arena a more attractive destination.

In This Arena, Timing is Everything

Location: Battle Creek, Michigan

The show must go on. And so must another 6-ton rooftop compressor. Timing is critical when construction occurs in and around occupied facilities. No one knows that better than Bill Cox. Bill is CSM Group's Project Manager charged with overseeing renovations at Battle Creek's Kellogg Arena. One day, he may be juggling construction work around setup for Larry the Cable Guy. On another, working around the schedules of a couple dozen cowboys and some of the nastiest, snot-throwin' bulls this side of the Mississippi (yes, that's how they're billed) when the Man vs. Beast rodeo comes to town. Through the course of the project, he's been planning and managing construction around RV shows, concerts, conventions, seminars, basketball games, monster truck shows, wrestling matches and a three-ring circus-not to mention accommodating the safety and convenience of thousands of spectators, performers, and employees.

A more 'attractive' facility by every definition.

When completed, Battle Creek's 30,000-square-foot downtown entertainment anchor will sport over $4 million in renovations and improvements. Changes to the Arena are designed to make the facility more attractive for multi-purpose utilization and convention-friendly to attract more meeting, convention, and trade show business. Designed by URS, the Arena entrance and box office will be relocated, directing foot traffic to and from the heart of downtown. A new exterior wall with lighted, diamond-shaped panels will greet visitors with a fabulous light show. Entire heating and cooling mechanical systems are being replaced, along with concrete flooring, ceilings, and siding on parts of the structure.

Occupied site construction requires foresight.

Phase I pre-construction planning was essential to successfully pull off the ten-month long construction phase. Once the City of Battle Creek awarded its best value pre-construction management contract, CSM Group began its formal pre-construction process called ForeSite"!, working with the architect, URS, to finalize design plans. CSM Group reviewed sub-contractor candidates for qualifications, presented project and bid specifications to ensure competitive bidding, and awarded contracts to the best candidates for each component of the project.

At the Arena, it's a juggling act.

With the project now in Phase II, Bill says, "It's a logistical challenge. Any given booking may have several tractor-trailers full of their own sound, lighting, or stage equipment, exotic show animals, truckloads of dirt-or in the case of the RV Show-require shuttling dozens of vehicles in and out. You name it, I think we've seen it! It's not only the show schedule. Many of these events require 12, 24, even 36 hours of setup and teardown.

"Of course, flexibility is essential. The Arena schedule is constantly evolving, booking new shows, acts, and meetings. And with the arrival of heavy equipment, cranes, and so forth, there is considerable coordination with outside concerns, too, arranging for barricading streets and redirecting vehicular and pedestrian traffic. So you really have to be on top of things." To do so, CSM Group is on top of the agenda every week, attending staff meetings with the Arena's management, the Cereal City Development Corporation. CSM Group presents weekly progress reports and coordinates the upcoming week's construction with entertainment schedules.

To minimize disruption, avoid congestion, and keep the site clean, CSM Group also set up an off-site construction office and staging area about a block away from the Arena. Equipment, materials, and supplies are shuttled back and forth to the job site daily on only an as-needed basis. Of course, while flexibility within the construction timetable is essential, the deadline for commissioning of the renovated Arena is firm. It must be completed in time to host the W. K. Kellogg Foundation's anniversary celebration.

Meeting deadlines requires meeting-often.

Certainly, managing construction around a fluctuating schedule, like that of the Arena, presents special challenges. Even so, there are some situations where the luxury of downtime doesn't exist at all-at facilities that never close. Prior to the Arena project, Bill was assigned to managing the expansion and renovation for a major retailer open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Bill says, "Pre-construction planning, and then weekly meetings with store directors and daily briefs with department managers during the construction process helped ensure a safe and convenient environment for shoppers and 'business as usual' for the store. Entire departments would be taken down, moved, and set up and restocked overnight."

In other situations, even daily communications aren't enough. In the case of one hospital's Emergency Department renovation, capacity could not be decreased at any time during the project. So CSM Group met weekly with hospital leadership to forecast construction activity three weeks out. Meetings were also conducted twice daily with the project directors and hour-by-hour with Emergency Room staff to coordinate construction with emergency demands and ensure compliance with health, safety, occupancy, and privacy regulations.

Meeting the construction challenges at occupied sites requires just that-meeting. Often. So the project manager knows your business as well as he knows his own. It's all in the timing. "Beep. Beep." That was Bill's handheld Blackberry. He just got a text message. "Gotta go," says Bill. "There's a truckload of pool tables on the way to the Arena." The Valley National 8-Ball League Association is in town for Michigan's state championship tournament.