For electric vehicle technology manufacturer Proterra’s facility to assemble large batteries, Harper General Contractors returned to a tilt-wall warehouse shell it constructed for the company in 2019 to make improvements including an enclosure for the battery production line, dedicated chiller, research and development labs, Class A employee spaces and more.

The $20.3-million project completed in December 2022 with Harper meeting the original budget and returning savings back to the owner despite $1.6 million in change orders for additional scope and major equipment delivery delays in the elevator and rooftop units due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harper cut in new windows, trenched concrete utilities while maintaining the polished floor surface and readied the roof for solar panels and solar tubes to bring more daylight into the facility. The work included the latest in corporate design features like flexible office space, informal collaboration spaces and hoteling desks.

The central concept for the building was to have office and production space connected by a “spine.” That core is a centralized space where office and production employees meet, helping to create unity between departments within the company.

Harper says working with architect McMillan Pazdan Smith as a design-build team allowed them to save $600,000 through value engineering efforts and deliver the project on time after 12 months of construction, even amid the equipment delays.