Taking down 47 excess Army family housing units at Moffett Field, Calif., paves the way for the Army Reserve and National Guard to build a new joint center and a park.
The nearly $2.6 million Huntsville Facilities Reduction Program project took only 70 days from start to finish, with standard demolition work performed by Bhate Associates and Ferma Corporation.
Thad Stripling, FRP program manager, said, Aca,!A"To date, this is the largest project executed by FRP in terms of square footage.Aca,!A?
The Facilities Reduction Program is part of the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville's, Installation Support Center of Expertise. The program performs facilities removal work for all the military services as well as the National Aeronautic and Space Administration and other federal government agencies. Moffett Field belongs to NASA's Ames Research Center.
Aca,!A"I am very happy with the work that has been done out there,Aca,!A? said Jeff Michels, chief of the Region Housing Branch, Installation Management Command-West, the projectAca,!a,,cs customer. Aca,!A"It has gone very well, we got a straight price, and the work happened on a good timeline."
Michels said it was the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1995 that closed those sites.
Aca,!A"We have been paying half a million dollars annually for caretaker services on empty housing for at least the past three years,Aca,!A? Michels said. Aca,!A"The FRP that Thad (Stripling) runs removed the housing units cheaper, faster and easier than other alternatives.
The standard demolition included nearly 450,000 square feet of excess family housing units and other structures such as baseball dugouts, picnic areas, etc., at a cost of $6.50 per square foot, which is well below the average of $8-12 per square foot, said Mindy Shelton, an FRP project manager.
"Moffett is a huge success story for FRP,Aca,!A? Shelton said. Aca,!A"Not only is it a home run with the low price per square foot and the high diversion rate, the removal eliminates the expense involved in maintaining empty housing units, and demolishing them makes room for a beautiful park. This project has benefited the Army, the installation and now with the new park, it will also benefit local families.Aca,!A?
HuntsvilleAca,!a,,cs FRP can perform this removal work at greatly reduced prices by using the FRP Tool Kit, located on the Engineering Knowledge Online Web site. Based on past experience and the formula in the tool kit, contractors bidding on the projects are able to be more accurate and less expensive with costs.
The larger the amount of square footage to be removed, the lower the cost tends to be as well, Shelton said.
The project recycled 90 percent of the materials, said Milton Dozier, the site superintendent for Bhate. The Army requirement is 50 percent diversion from landfill. Recycled items included washers, copper, steel and asphalt among others. Concrete is being crushed on-site.
Aca,!A"We did have a challenge with the asbestos,Aca,!A? IMCOMAca,!a,,cs branch chief Michels said. Aca,!A"During the initial project development, the sampling survey underestimated the amount of and cost for abatement. The initial bids came in significantly higher than expected. Thad worked with the contractor to use local subcontractors, keeping the costs at or below the original estimates.Aca,!A?
HuntsvilleAca,!a,,cs Facilities Reduction Program has grown by more than $25 million this fiscal year.
Aca,!A"This year, FRP has had $54-55 million come in,Aca,!A? Stripling, the FRP program manager, said. Aca,!A"Last year, FRP executed $30 million in projects. Air Force has been our biggest customer this year, sending us $18 million. We have been performing this work at about half their budgeted prices.Aca,!A?
The Defense Logistics Agency is another big customer, he said.
Aca,!A"We also have another project coming up at NASA Langley Research Center and Langley Air Force Base, where we will remove four NASA wind tunnel complexes,Aca,!A? Stripling added. Aca,!A"That is a $5 million to $6 million project
In 2004, IMCOM assigned management of the Operations and Maintenance, Army and Army Family Housing facility demolition program to the Huntsville Center. Huntsville Center centrally manages these programs with execution accomplished through installations, Corps districts and Huntsville Center product delivery teams. In 2008, the FRP began providing facility removal support to NASA and DLA.
In fiscal years 2004-2008, the OMA program removed 7.7 million square feet of excess facility inventory. In fiscal years 2005-2008, the AFH program removed 930,000 square feet of excess Army family housing.
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