Da Schedule
Monster job more than midway complete, but it took long weeks and bearing down
by Jeffrey Steele

Because the construction team working on the new Soldier Field was handed an exceptionally tight time frame of just 20 months in which to complete the mammoth $606 million project, the schedule has loomed large over every phase of the project.

That has meant early materials ordering, careful attention to phasing and logistics and long work for the construction teams.

"It was wave after wave," said Alice Hoffman, president of Hoffman Management Partners LLC, the developer's representative for the Chicago Bears. "As we were finishing demolition, we were starting structural steel, but at the opposite end of the stadium. We started at the south, and moved everything in phases toward the north, so as we were finishing demolition on the north, we had already started structural steel on the south."

An Urgent Start

The Bears' last game in the old stadium took place on Jan. 20, 2002, and construction began at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 21. But even before then, several other project phases had already begun, Hoffman said.

The infrastructure work began in July 2001 - months before that last game - when sewers and water were rerouted and additional power was brought to the site so work could begin on time.

That head start was essential, added Mark Simonides, project executive for TBMK, the joint venture of Turner Construction Co., Barton Malow Co. and Kenny Construction Co. serving as general contractor on the project.

"When it came time to shut the power down after the last game to allow demolition to proceed, we were able to reroute power through new underground utilities we had previously installed," he said.

Because the building was so old, asbestos was another concern for the contractors, Hoffman said. "We began removal of asbestos in the building in September and did that between the games in the last season," she added. "We had it all cleaned up before every game, having tested the air to make sure it was clean. So that was pretty tricky phasing."

In addition to asbestos removal, lead also had to be abated from the old Soldier Field. The ancient stadium had once featured a firing range in its basement, and lead had to be removed from that area.

Another early project component was the demolition of the 1950s-era five-story Chicago Park District building that had stood across McFetridge Drive from the Field Museum.

That building had to be torn down to accommodate the creation of the new 2,500-car North Parking Garage, as well as north parkland sitting atop the garage. Excavation of the garage actually began between Bears games toward the end of the 2001 season, Hoffman added.

Demolition of the existing stadium began the night of the last game, with Environmental Turner and Brandenburg handling the work.

"They had 40 days to tear down the old stadium completely," Hoffman said. "And they worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Within two weeks of starting demolition, we were able to start pile driving in the south end zone. And we worked two shifts and had several pile driving machines to complete the foundations by April."

Immediately after the piles were finished and an area large enough to allow a concrete crew to enter had been created, the pile caps, grade beams and foundations were started. Structural steel came next.

Steel Helps Accelerate Project

Critical to meeting the schedule was the choice to build the new stadium's skeleton out of structural steel, Simonides said. Typically, the above-grade structure of stadiums consists of both structural steel and cast-in-place concrete.

"We felt it was imperative we have structural steel from the pile caps on up," Simonides added. "It's a lot more conducive to constructing in Chicago weather and [to] the schedule we had in front of us. It's faster, and you're able to have the materials in front of you."

To that end, the structural steel was purchased 12 months before the Bears' last game at the old stadium. "We were able to fabricate and have material wait on us, rather than us having to wait on the material," Simonides said.

Hoffman said purchasing the steel early meant obtaining in plenty of time the large steel members that had to be fabricated outside the United States. These pieces, manufactured in Great Britain, were used as vertical columns and rakers holding up the seating bowls.

Also helping to speed the project was that when steel and plumbing were purchased, "we also bought six-day work weeks," Hoffman said.

She said all subcontractors had a provision placed in their bid packages that they would work six-day weeks and 10-hour days. When bad weather intervened, the outdoor trades had to make up time on Sundays. "It was mostly Monday through Sunday, because you'd always lose one day a week to rain, so the big outdoor trades would work most Sundays," Hoffman said.

She added that it has been important to stay "on top of the subcontractors" to ensure they have sufficient manpower. But the project is on schedule. Milestone dates for the beginning of scoreboard construction and completing the enclosure of seats already have been met this year.

Major milestone dates yet to come include completing installation of stadium seats by July 1, installation of the playing field by July 30 and installation of the Bears' locker room by Aug. 6. "We figured if we got the suites enclosed by January, we would be able to make opening day, and we did, in fact, do that," Hoffman said.

"We're not out of the woods yet. But we feel much more confident that we can open on time, [more] than we did before all the structure was up, the windows were on and the building was dry."