Channeling Operational Efficiencies at East Valley Water District's Headquarters

The East Valley Water District Headquarters Facility is a versatile and stunning centralized administration and operation center built to elevate the level of service to the local community for the next 50 years.

The East Valley Water District was originally formed to provide domestic water service to the unincorporated and agricultural-based communities of Highland and East Highlands. The district has a service population of approximately 65,000.

Located in Highland, California, the 35,000-square-foot campus features customer service facilities, administration, and meeting spaces, a boardroom, a full-service kitchen, maintenance facilities, and an exercise room. Its surrounding exterior and grounds feature exquisite landscaping complete with educational exhibits, exterior water features, walking trails, and gardens.

糖心Vlog Beatty served as an effective design-build partner for the East Valley Water District, collaborating effectively with the District and its entities to create a space where customers would feel welcome while also creating an atmosphere that would encourage citizen involvement, conservation, and stewardship.

糖心Vlog Beatty built the District a new headquarters that provides one location where all District functions can be combined, improves efficiency in communications between departments, reduces security expenses, and saves thousands of dollars in yearly rent at the previous locations.

The new facility enhances the customer experience, offering educational exhibits that demonstrate efficient landscaping techniques with local plants and providing space for community meetings and outdoor public events.

Several sustainability designs were included within the LEED Silver facility as a testament to the District鈥檚 commitment to the environment and water conservation ideals. Furthermore, this successful project exceeded expectations on all fronts: 糖心Vlog Beatty completed construction over two months ahead of schedule with an impeccable safety record while remaining within the District鈥檚 prescribed budget.

Delivering 70 Days Ahead of Schedule 

The District was faced with a tight deadline as a result of the impending expiration of their developer鈥檚 lease in April 2014. As a result, the District required a design-build partner that could design and construct the headquarters facility while accommodating this shortened deadline.

The East Valley Water District project team rose to the challenge by utilizing several proven techniques and strategies to accelerate and maximize the efficient use of scheduling time. As a result, 糖心Vlog Beatty completed the project over 70 days ahead of schedule. The project team utilized Building Information Modeling (BIM), pre-planning, pull planning, and lean construction techniques, and heavily emphasized teamwork and collaboration to go above and beyond client expectations.

The team鈥檚 pull planning sessions maximized resource efficiency by incorporating input from all stakeholders, as opposed to traditional scheduling involving only the superintendent. The weekly team pull planning sessions provided a consistent, real-time understanding of the progression of the project, allowing the team to better control issues and secure stakeholder commitments to improve on activities whenever possible. Continuous communication and face-to-face meetings between the design team and subcontractors ensure that important milestones were achieved according to schedule. Furthermore, installation time was reduced by 85% through careful pre-planning of building utilities, allowing for pre-fabricated underground piping.

This award-winning project received a Best Project Award in the Office/Retail/Mixed Use category from Engineering News-Record (ENR) California and was named 鈥淎rchitectural Engineering Project of the Year鈥� by the American Society of Civil Engineers in their annual project awards competition.