By KERRY SMITH, EDITOR, ST. LOUIS CONSTRUCTION NEWS AND REVIEW MAGAZINE
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Agency’s labor force projections for constructing its $1.75 billion St. Louis headquarters call for a peak of as many as 1,300 workers on-site daily during the project’s midway point in 2022.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Next NGA West (N2W) Program Manager Stephanie Hall said that while the exact number of required trades will be determined by the construction joint venture when the winning entity is awarded the contract in March, the USACE is estimating that on average more than 500 workers per day will be at the 97-acre site at North Jefferson and Cass Avenues in St. Louis during year 2020, at least 1,000 workers daily on site from 2021 through 2023, an average of 500 trades workers on site in 2024 and 100 per day working as the project wraps up during 2025.
The USACE projects an average daily peak of 800 workers during 2020, 1,200 to 1,300 daily on site from 2021 through 2023, a peak of 900 tradespersons working on site daily in 2024 and up to 300 per day as the project nears its anticipated completion in 2025.
“Whoever gets awarded the (construction) contract will have their own means and methods of projecting the size and composition of the construction workforce,” said Hall. “This is the federal government’s idea of what it might take.”
Assumed trades required to build the more than 850,000-square-foot project, according to the USACE, are: carpenters, laborers, electricians, iron workers, elevator constructors, cement masons, bricklayers, operating engineers, teamsters, roofers, sheet metal workers, sprinkler fitters, plumbers, pipefitters, insulators, plasterers, glaziers and tile-marble setters.
The three finalist joint venture entities – one of which will be awarded the project in approximately 90 days – are: Clark-JE Dunn N2W, McCarthy HITT and Mortenson-Alberici.
The land upon which the new headquarters will be located represents the largest investment ever made by the federal government within the City of St. Louis. The USACE will coordinate construction of the project on behalf of the NGA.
Graphic Above courtesy of the US Army Corps of Engineers
