Boston – Over an aggressive nine-month construction schedule, Structure Tone successfully completed the fit-out of MFS Investment Management’s new LEED Silver certified corporate headquarters. The premier asset management firm has relocated 1,300 employees to a 280,000sf, 11-floor office space. MFS now occupies floors 2-3, 21-24 and 30-35.
For seven months the Structure Tone team provided extensive preconstruction services to develop a comprehensive approach to achieve MSF’s move-in date. The multi-shift construction schedule accelerated the date by three-months.
These services included a conceptual budget which was updated routinely as the design progressed. As scope was added to the project, the team analyzed the design and sought ways to keep the project in line with the budget parameters.
One of the most critical elements to the success of the project was the logistics planning and sequencing of the work— manpower, vertical transportation, material storage, subcontractor availability and workloads, etc. A unique plan was developed to achieve the schedule and ensure quality work scheduled 24-hours a day, six-days a week. Noisy work and work completed on each tenants floor was completed off-hours with MEP shutdown incorporated into planned building shutdowns.
The project team utilized a dedicated freight elevator to move men and materials through the project during the day, with access to a second freight elevator for the second and third shifts. With all floors under construction there was no room for storage on-site. Materials and equipment were loaded onto the floors in the evenings and overnight. Structure Tone worked with Childs Bertman TseckaresArchitects to guarantee that the construction met LEED guidelines.
The design featured high efficiency equipment and systems, floor to ceiling windows for day lighting, LED lighting with motion sensors when required, occupancy sensors and personal environmental/thermostat controls throughout, low flow fixtures and water efficiency controls.
The general office floors feature a standardized floor layout and furniture. A demountable partition system was utilized for maximum flexibility, as floor layout changes and re – stacks are common.
A central corridor or boulevard divides each floor in half. Centralized along the corridor are the public amenity spaces including the elevator lobby, pantries and conference rooms. The consistent layout assists with orientation and wayfinding. The conference rooms feature the latest technology and communication systems, including video conferencing, VOIP, plasma monitors and a wireless network. Extensive coordination was required of the subcontractors to install the extensive MEP systems.
New infrastructure was installed throughout the floors, except the life safety emergency power which remained. During preconstruction the team developed fully coordinated MEP shop drawings to accommodate the installation. Precise measurements and layouts were completed to ensure the new infrastructure would fit within the existing shafts and the MEP connections were in exactly the right place on the floors.
Dual generators and air-cooled chillers were added to support the additional power and cooling requirements of the trading floor, conference center, communications/computer room and IDF closets (two per floor), along with a new UPS system.