The following ten ABC Pelican Member Company projects received chapter honors in December 2018 and national honors during Associated Builders and Contractors’ 29th annual Excellence in Construction Awards celebration in California:
National Excellence in Construction Eagle Award Winners
Cajun Industries, LLC, HE-201D Replacement Project (Plaquemine): To increase operating capacity and overall efficiency at the Olin facility, Cajun was charged with the demolition, removal and replacement of a 500,000-pound heat exchanger located within a highly congested unit. The project was multifaceted from the outset and required over 20,000 man-hours in over two months with a perfect safety record.
ISC Constructors, LLC, Honeywell UOP-DSG Electrical Upgrade and Lab Feeder Replacement (Baton Rouge): In October 2017, Honeywell UOP experienced a critical power failure on a 15KV main feeder that crippled operations for the entire facility. ISC was contracted to perform major facility upgrades, including relocating the temporary feeders to their permanent location, installing new feeders to other critical areas of the facility, and upgrading motor control center and spray dryer equipment.
MMR Group, Shell-Olefins Flare Gas Recovery Project (Deer Park, Texas): MMR executed the electrical and instrumentation construction on Shell Deer Park’s Olefins Flare Gas Recovery Project. This refinery is among the largest in the US with a capacity of 340,000 barrels of crude oil a day. Construction lasted one year, MMR finished the project on time, with zero safety incidents, and under budget while battling the complications of Hurricane Harvey.
Triad Electric and Controls, Inc., Dow Gulfstream Poly B Train 3 Project (Plaquemine): Triad’s $44.8 million contract with Dow Chemical’s Gulfstream Poly B, Train 3 Project in Plaquemine increased in scope by 40% throughout the duration of the project. However, Triad was able to overcome significant challenges to complete over 800,000 man-hours without any safety incidents and on schedule.
Turner Industries Group, Shell Tiger AO4 Heavy Transport (Geismar): The Tiger AO4 project at the Shell Geismar Chemical Plant in South Louisiana required more than 600 pieces of equipment shipped in from all over the world. Turner was called into action to receive seven pressure vessels and transport them to the Shell Tiger AO4 jobsite from the Port of New Orleans. All the vessels were delivered to the site on schedule with zero lost-time incidents and zero injuries.
National Excellence in Construction Pyramid Award Winners
EXCEL Group, Westlake VCM Control Building (Geismar): EXCEL demolished an existing warehouse and replaced it with new blast-rated VCM Control Room facility. The completed project resulted in a state-of-the-art facility, to replace its aging predecessor while providing countless enhancements to ergonomics, life safety, and operational capabilities. Through proven processes, EXCEL and its subcontract teams achieved over 19,500 incident-free man-hours.
GROUP Industries, City Hall Plaza (Baton Rouge): The redesign of City Hall Plaza satisfies a goal of Baton Rouge Central Green—to develop a network of greenspaces to link several downtown institutions. The improvements included the removal of underutilized and existing hardscapes and their replacement with a large green lawn, elevated crushed granite promenade and shade trees. The redesign also provides improved circulation and ADA accessibility throughout the City Hall and River Center Campus and allows the Galvez Stage to be used from both sides by covering the opening above the underground parking garage north of the stage.
Donn Peterson, vice president of GROUP Industries and Chair of the ABC Pelican Board of Directors, accepted GROUP’s national Excellence in Construction Award in Long Beach for its redesign of the Baton Rouge City Hall Plaza.
“It’s humbling to be recognized for meeting the prestigious standards set by our industry’s premier competition,” Peterson says. “But more importantly, it is a privilege to build a better and stronger Louisiana through innovation and quality. Tedious planning, execution and delivering of GROUP’s redesign of the City Hall Plaza was well worth the end result, regardless of the national recognition.”
MMR Group: BASF Geismar Electrical Reliability Project (Geismar): MMR provided electrical, instrumentation, construction and execution services for the BASF 700 Bus Replacement Phase of the Geismar Electrical Reliability Project. The objective was to increase capacity and reliability of an existing electrical distribution infrastructure by providing backup power to four existing substations, replacing aging switchgear, and installing new power feeders to mitigate the risk of legacy underground feeder failures. The project was completed on time and without injury.
Performance Contractors, Inc., Dow Poly B&D (Bay City, Texas): Dow’s Poly B Train 3 and Poly D were two world scale high tech Polyolefins facilities that were built at the operations facility in Plaquemine, Louisiana. Performance provided over 3,000 employees, and installed 85,000 cubic yards of concrete, 12,600 tons of structural steel, 410,000 linear feet of piping, and over 1,500 pieces of equipment. This project was a critical component to the overall Dow Gulfstream initiative.
Turner Industries: Olin Plaquemine 2018 Turnaround (Plaquemine): This turnaround represented the first time since the 1980’s that the entire Chlor Alkali portion of the Olin Plaquemine facility had been in turnaround status.
The National Craft Championships also took place at the ABC Convention. Nine of the nearly 200 competitors were ABC Pelican craft students, and they competed in five of the 12 craft categories. Brian Gordon, ABC Pelican craft student and sponsored by ISC Constructors, Inc., placed third in instrument fitting.
“This fierce competition goes from sun up to sundown and displays the exceptional skills, technical knowledge and safety practices of a craft professional,” says David Helveston, President and CEO of the Pelican Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. “Louisiana’s finest represented our state’s construction industry well.”
These ABC Pelican students competed in the 2019 National Craft Championships:
- Electrical: Ryan Langlois, EXCEL Group; Devin Pourciaux, Ernest P. Breaux Electrical; Brady Thibodeaux, Ernest P. Breaux Electrical
- Instrumentation: Brian Gordon, ISC Contractors; Timothy Gros, ISC Contractors
- Millwright: Michael Cothern, Turner Industries Group
- Pipefitting: Alvin Allen, Jacobs Field Service
- Pipe Welding: Cade Garafola, Performance Contractors; Josephus Hutcheson, EXCEL Group
