Taking it inside: winter construction work: building projects continue despite weather.

• Author: Lavrakas, Dimitra
• Position: CONSTRUCTION

Hands down, the biggest challenge to Alaska contractors is building during the winter months. Alaska Carpenters Local 1281 salutes that with its slogan, "When hell freezes over, we will build it. We are the Frozen Chosen."

Last fall, Anchorage and other parts of Alaska were spared early snowstorms or freezing temperatures, with thirty days in October hitting 7.4 degrees higher than normal. That's been a good thing for the large, multi-year projects in Anchorage and Juneau. But by mid-November, winter entered with a cyclone in the Bering Sea, freezing rain in the Kuskokwim Delta, a blizzard along the Arctic Coast packing 50 mph winds, similar blasts in the Brooks Range, and a blanket of snow in Anchorage and surrounding areas. Alaska officially entered its second season: winter construction.

UAA School of Engineering Expands

The University of Alaska Anchorage's School of Engineering prepares students in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, project management, and geomatics, which includes surveying and mapping. Its new building, addition, and renovation house all of those disciplines, and they are in high demand in Alaska. The university reports that enrollment in the School of Engineering's seventeen degree and certificate programs has more than quadrupled since 2000. Certainly, the building requires more room to meet that need.

This project, with an estimated cost of $78.25 million and consisting of a new four-story, seventy-five -thousand-square foot laboratory and classroom building, renovation of the existing three-story, forty-thousand-square foot engineering building, and design for a parking structure, is under construction this winter.

Livingston Slone, Inc. is the architect/prime design firm and Neeser Construction, Inc. (NCI) is building it.

The project team was aware that the timing of the award of the CM/GC contract to NCI, and the subsequent design collaboration and permitting effort, would mean that much of the structure and building shell would likely be impacted by winter weather.

NCI's Owner and President Jerry Neeser says a little about the nuances of winter construction in Anchorage.

"Constructing and maintaining temporary weather protection is a necessity when building in Alaska's harsh climate," Neeser says. "Many activities can't be done in bitter cold temperatures so creating 'warm' environments is necessary. This means 'tenting and heating.' Plastic envelopes are built to surround various areas, which are...