Safety Luncheon Held at Siemens Jobsite

The Siemens Energy, Inc. project hosted a safety luncheon on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at its Hutchinson, Kansas jobsite. Gray Construction hosts a safety luncheon on each jobsite to show appreciation to the many subcontractors and Gray team members who help put safety and quality of life first. Safety is a top priority at Gray. In fact, it’s our No. 1 Core Value.

The Siemens Energy, Inc. project is a 277,000 s.f. wind energy Nacelle production facility which will produce approximately 650 nacelles or 1,500 megawatts per year when operational. Gray will be aiming for LEED Gold Certification on this project. If you have manufacturing plant construction needs or are interested in additional Siemens project information, please contact Phil Seale, Vice President, Manufacturing at pseale@gray.com.

Please see below for an article that appeared in The Hutchinson News on September 16, 2010 by John Green.

Wind plant takes shape

Walls are up, and flooring new to the US is under way.

U.S. crews completed walls Wednesday for the main manufacturing area of Siemens Energy’s plant in Hutchinson. A Scandinavian company continued installing a concrete floor that’s purportedly the first of its kind in the U.S. And Siemens itself installed its first crane.

As the project moved ever closer to completion, the project’s general contractor, Gray Construction of Lexington, Ky., marked another milestone – 130,000 man hours with only two accidents resulting in lost time.

In the 290 days of construction, there have been three reportable accidents, said Project Manager Patrick McCowan, resulting in two days off for one worker and seven days for a second person.

McCowan said the plant was completely closed in with roof and walls. Crews were in the final stages of closing in the administrative offices.

“We lack another three or four days of roof. By the end of this week, we’ll curtain in the administration area with a wall of glass,” McCowan said.

Siemens Energy installed a 25-ton crane Wednesday and received its first truckload of racks, which it will also install, McCowan said.

“What we’re shooting for is issuing a temporary certificate of occupancy on Oct. 1, essentially handing over that portion of the building to Siemens,” he said. “We’re working diligently to get wrapped up by the end of the year.”

Denmark-based Teqton Inc. has been installing its patented concrete floor over the past four weeks.

“It’s a European-type floor system,” McCowan said. “Siemens has used it on many other projects, but it’s the first in the U.S.”

The floor begins with a dry-mix concrete that is put down by 10-wheel dump trucks and then rolled out with box-graders, similar to how asphalt is laid out, McCowan said.

Once the dense 10- to 12-inch base is installed, the company installs its “Teqplan” covering.

“It’s a top coating that ranges from a half inch to an inch. It’s mixed on site in a small mixer and spread out by a front loader; then they use a razor screeter to get a good surface. Mechanical machines burn the top coat in and give it levelness. There’s no reinforcing rods and no cuts in the concrete, eliminating maintenance as far as re-caulking.”

A traditional concrete slab would have to be about 15 inches thick to give the same structural stability, McCowan said, and it would have required double-matted rebar for reinforcement.

It takes four employees about 10 hours to install 900 cubic feet of Teqton floor, McCowan aid. The entire plant floor is 250,000 square feet.

“They’ve been on the project a little over a month and should be wrapping it up next week,” he said.

While Teqton has opened an office in Maryland, most of the equipment used on the Hutchinson project was brought over from Denmark, McCowan said.