BB&T Point
High Point, N.C.
BEST PROJECT

Owner: City of High Point, N.C.
Contractor: Samet Corp.
Lead Design Firm: Odell Associates
Structural Engineer: Bennett & Pless

Designed and constructed on an aggressive 21-month schedule, the $38.3-million multi-use BB&T Point stadium is a fitting catalyst to jump-start economic development in downtown High Point. Clad in brick, metal panels and exposed steel to match the aesthetics of the city’s history of  textile and furniture manufacturing, the stadium seats approximately 5,000 for baseball games and 7,500 for concerts and events. The seating bowl geometry provides flexibility to properly accommodate rectangular-field sports such as soccer and lacrosse. Other features include six private suites and two owner suites, multiple concession stands, a club house, full-kitchen restaurant and a host of area-themed fan amenities.

Creating this venue out of a seven-acre brownfield site first required implementing a complex groundwater piping, collection and treatment system, along with passive and active vapor mitigation measures. The project team also had to contend with a region-wide construction boom that resulted in rapidly escalating construction costs. Capitalizing on design-build’s communication fundamentals, the team collaborated to craft design and value engineering decisions that helped keep the project within the established budget and schedule. Although construction of a second-level stadium club was deferred to the future, the project team was directed to erect that space’s structural frame with a temporary roof as well as make provisions for an elevator and stairs.

Accurate and detailed written scopes of work and project schedule were incorporated into bid packages so that trade partners were fully aware of their responsibilities while also eliminating unnecessary change orders during construction. Assigning superintendents to oversee specific trade partners allowed the field team to become more intimate with project details, thus driving quality and keeping the stadium on track for on-time, on-budget completion.

Nature was hardly a friend to the project team, however, with nearly one-third of the schedule lost to record-breaking rainfall, a hurricane and a winter storm that dumped nearly a foot of snow on the area. The project’s safety plan was adapted to address near-constant wet site conditions as well as deep excavations and fall prevention at all levels.

Appropriately for a sports-related construction project, the contractor also conducted daily two-minute drills to identify individual hazards, and recognized Most Valuable Associates who exceeded normal working procedures to achieve safety excellence. By the time the last tools were packed and the stadium ready to host its first game, the project team had logged nearly 387,500 staff hours with no recordable incidents or lost-time injuries.

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