The terrorist attack on the Pentagon that occurred 11 September 2001 presented the team members of the Pentagon Renovation Program (PENREN) with a significant challenge. The effort to renovate the above-ground Pentagon had required almost three years of constant work to accomplish design and demolition, remediation of asbestos and other harmful materials, construction of a renovated wedge built to modern standards, and movement of personnel to complete the first one-fifth of the building, an area called “Wedge One.” Because of the attack, in the midst of an ongoing program to renovate the 60-year-old facility, there now existed over 400,000 square feet of badly damaged building structure along with another 1,600,000 square feet which had experienced moderate damage. That Pentagon Renovation work to that point had been strenuous and difficult, but the challenge now to be faced was monumental.
Almost every American can remember the time and place when they learned of the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia. Suddenly the Pentagon’s Wedge One had gained the unfortunate distinction of being the only facility in the mainland United States, modified and specifically designed to resist the effects of a terrorist attack, which had undergone an actual attack.
I was out of the building that day, about six hours away by automobile, when I learned by phone of the damage. Talking with my deputy at the time, Mike Sullivan, I listened with dread as he catalogued the scene he was witnessing. The starboard engine and wing of the Boeing 757 had impacted a large mobile generator positioned outside the building; the result eliminated backup electrical power to Wedge One. The outer wall of the building had collapsed near the heliport, a flat concrete landing pad located mid-way along the west side of the building. Rescue workers had been forced from the building by the heat and flames. There were concerns that additional collapse might occur as the building structure was further weakened by the heat of fuel-fed fires that followed the explosion that accompanied the penetration of the aircraft through the building.
There are many stories of the heroism and sacrifice that happened on 11 September 2001. Those of you who attended this summer’s DBIA Federal Facilities Conference had the opportunity to hear Steve Vogel of The Washington Post, author of the recently published book, The Pentagon, a History, as he recounted some of those tales. Some of the unsung heroes included the building’s operations and maintenance workers, led by Steve Carter, who were at their posts manning the Building Operations Command Center, a new facility constructed by the Pentagon Renovation as part of the renovation effort. The BOCC provided unprecedented real-time insight into the condition of building systems and an unparalleled ability to exercise control.
It took real courage to split that operations and maintenance team up into different parts and to send them into different areas of the remaining building. It was believed at the time that another aircraft was headed toward the Pentagon; it was hoped that there would be enough survivors from the Operation & Maintenance Team after the next impact that they would still be able to operate the building and facilitate its survival. In the midst of a maelstrom of chaos there was a small team of individuals, working in choking blinding smoke, deep within the tunnels beneath the Pentagon, turning the valves needed to keep up water pressure and provided badly needed water to the fire fighting teams. “Turn the green valves off!” was the command Carter shouted to his team as they accompanied him down into the tunnels beneath the burning building.
In addition to the challenge posed by thousands of displaced workers who were suddenly without offices, desks, or support facilities, there were challenges created by shredded communications systems, water soaked rooms soon attacked by rampant and unchecked mold growth, contaminated HVAC systems, and a worksite designated as a “crime scene” and patrolled by gun-wielding military police and the FBI. This was hardly an environment from which to expect a highly successful reconstruction program to emerge. Yet one year later, within the badly damaged area, the fabled “Phoenix Project” had succeeded, the damaged areas had been entirely rebuilt, and Pentagon personnel were being moved back into their building ahead of an ambitious (some had said impossible) schedule. Led by individuals such as Allyn Kilsheimer of KCE Structural Engineers, Staci Condrell of DMJM, Will Colston of the Pentagon Renovation, and companies such as AMEC and Hensel Phelps, the impossible had become reality. The design-build way of doing business had been handed a final exam of unprecedented proportions. Design-build passed with flying colors.
There is much to be learned from the Phoenix Project and related efforts which took place in the Pentagon after 11 September 2001. There are lessons about how to improve the security design and construction of our buildings and how to plan for the events which occur subsequent to such disasters. The most important learning, however, concerns how to make the most of the single most important resource available to the design and construction industry: its people. Design-build has rightfully gained a reputation as being the product delivery approach for high-performance design and construction. High performance means lower cost, faster performance, higher quality, a more satisfied customer, and reduced litigation. Whether the challenge you face is one of life and death involving instantaneous decisions or something more mundane involving decisions having dramatic impact on schedule, cost, and quality, design-build is the obvious method of choice.
It is worth noting that much of the success of the Phoenix Project must be attributed to changes which occurred within PENREN long before the terrorist attack. Indeed, popular characterizations that, “PENREN succeeded because of a highly motivated workforce which emerged after the terrorist attack,” fail to recognize important, even revolutionary, changes had occurred within the program prior to 11 September which set the stage for later success. These changes were wide ranging and involved many aspects of the PENREN program, including organizational restructuring, effective team building and partnering, a dramatic combination of acquisition improvements, use of innovative design-build techniques, “pure” performance specifications, build-to-budget, and other innovations which together formed a cohesive, success-oriented way of doing business. The key to these innovations, and the driving philosophy which underlay all of the future successes achieved by PENREN, was the creation of an environment to allow government and contractor teams to maximize cooperation and teaming and to provide an environment which rewarded creativity and ingenuity in solving problems. These changes could only have taken place within a design-build environment.
This month’s DATELINE addresses design-build in the security environment. The articles contain a wealth of information that will assist you in your efforts to improve your personal performance as well as your company’s performance in the modern, post-9/11, environment. I recommend you read them closely, that you learn from them, and that you use that learning. You can never tell when your project may receive its final exam.
INFO: www.DBIA.org