This project is a 12-building complex in Hopewell Township, New Jersey, built for Merrill Lynch, one of the nation's top financial service companies. The three-and four-story office and service buildings house various departments of Merrill Lynch. The company was previously leasing space for these functions, and expressed the need for a consolidated campus under their ownership.
Precast concrete wall panels produced by Universal were used on the building to better manage the project and provide a durable base. The 12-building project represents the single largest job in Universal's 34-year history, as well as in the history of contractor Hunt Construction Group.
According to Donald Faust Jr., President of Universal, precast was chosen by Merrill Lynch and Hunt Construction for a variety of reasons, from durability to convenience to the general appearance. "The most notable advantage was the logistics of the site," Faust explains. "With multiple buildings under construction simultaneously, having the brickclad panels produced off-site helped to reduce the on-site work required." That, he says, helped reduce the amount of people, equipment and materials on the job and ultimately created a more manageable, cleaner and safer worksite.
The
intent of the architects, TVS Architecture of Atlanta, Georgia, was to create
a campus of buildings which look and feel like hand-laid brick, while respecting
the contractor's goal of keeping site activities manageable. By using precast
concrete panels incorporating cast-in brick, the building's exterior could be
produced under controlled factory conditions while the foundations were poured
and structural steel frame was erected on site.The panels are a combination of brick clad and buff colored sandblasted precast bands, installed to meet the owner's desire for a brick appearance.
Universal estimates their production hours on this project to be: 213,500 hours.
There were 6,882 pieces of architectural precast produced.
There was a total of 548,623 square feet produced.