The largest brewery to be constructed in the U.S. in decades relied on early communication and intensive collaboration between the Clayco crew and the team at Mark Anthony Brewing. The project kicked off with a week-long, in-person conference in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, where almost 150 stakeholder representatives hammered out the project’s sequencing and priorities.

Speed to market was imperative for the brewery, which produces 80 million cases of beverages per year, and the project team was able to deliver the massive, 1.3-million-sq-ft brewing facility less than 10 months after the design phase began. The massive output of popular beverages like White Claw Hard Seltzer and Mike’s Hard Lemonade required a hefty amount of infrastructure, including more than 14 miles of process piping, three miles of underground plumbing, 17 miles of utility piping and nearly 1,000 tanks.

The project was delivered on budget and ahead of schedule in July 2022 thanks to coordination and teamwork among the design-build team and owner, which included two more in-person conferences before equipment installation and prior to startup and commissioning. That collaboration proved beneficial beyond speed-to-market goals to include addressing challenges as they arose, like late design changes to wastewater treatment facilities that threatened the schedule as well as equipment deliveries delayed due to supply chain bottlenecks.

Photo courtesy Matt McFarland

Accommodating the super fast-track schedule required some other outside-the-box thinking on Clayco’s part, including a red/yellow/green system for tilt-up panel drawings that were used to release pours for panels not subject to design changes as well as overlays and orthographic survey drawings that were used to coordinate the six to eight cranes constantly working at the site. Drone scans quantified dirt balances and mitigated risks associated with unsuitable soils, while micro-scheduling multiple times per week kept the project on track during critical structural work installations.

Building information modeling ensured all items were incorporated for “reality-based” clash detection, and Clayco’s virtual design and construction group laser-scanned the site regularly, overlaying it on BIM to validate drawings. As a result, clash detections were quickly caught, which made a big impact in the team’s efforts to stay on schedule.

The team also incorporated 360-degree photos used to create a 360-degree interface anywhere on the project that could be pulled up by the team at any time, which helped with documentation and as-built information during the pandemic’s travel restrictions, with many preliminary punch lists performed remotely.

Photo courtesy Sam Fentress

But that speed didn’t curtail quality. Mark Anthony Brewing doesn’t fit the mold of most industrial facilities in its design, featuring composite architectural metal panel accents on the building exterior and high-end signage denoting each production area. The control room at the brewery’s center features expansive glass windows affording visual access of the entire operations. Heavy investment went into employee amenities as well, including a 20-acre onsite park with pavilion, bocce ball court and nine-hole disc golf course, constructed with the community in mind.