Bell Helicopter’s newest world-class aerospace assembly facility was built on a 14.5-acre site at Lafayette Regional Airport using a design-assist strategy that enabled the project team to bring the facility quickly on line to meet growing back orders for the Bell’s newest commercial helicopter, the 505 Jet Ranger X.
One of this year’s judges commented that he “liked everything to do with the project. It was a well-thought out, well-constructed project.”
Record-breaking rainfall added to the job’s complexity. Teams were faced with more than 19 in. of rain during the final two months of an aggressive 10-month schedule. Additionally, while work was underway, the original contract value increased by more than 15% without a schedule extension, which required extraordinary cooperation among the owner, architect and contractor to tackle the additional scope. In the end, the project was completed within budget and obtained its certificate of occupancy almost one week early.
Bell Helicopter Aircraft Assembly Facility
Lafayette, La.region Texas & Louisiana
Project Team
Owner Bell Helicopter
LEAD DESIGN FIRM Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford Architects
GENERAL CONTRACTOR BE&K Building Group
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER L.A. Fuess Partners Inc.
CIVIL ENGINEER Domingue, Szabo & Associates
MEP ENGINEER Summit Consultants
ASSOCIATE ARCHITECT Architects Southwest PC
SECURITY CONSULTING MSB Security Consulting
