Southwestern College Performing Arts

The new, $52.7 million Southwestern College Performing Arts and Cultural Center (PACC) is a
multi-purpose, educational complex built to house community and public events, gatherings for cultural celebrations, as well as school activities. With 48,576 square feet of gross floor area, it contains classrooms designed for dance instruction, lecture halls, theater lab classrooms, stage prop and stage construction spaces, and two theaters for events and performances. Specifically, the complex includes one 540-seat theater, and a smaller scale 151-seat black box theater that can support multiple audience sizes for public events and smaller student and university audiences, meant for either internal events or classroom instruction. In both its program scope and overall design, the project was developed with the goal of achieving LEED Silver certification. Raymond’s scope of work on the project was metal framing, sheathing, rough carpentry, insulation, fireproofing, plastering, gypsum board, acoustical ceilings, and fabric wrapped panels.

FIREPROOFING PROCESS
The Southwestern College PACC required a great amount of scaffolding, 60’ high interior and exterior. There were a lot of depressions in the concrete slabs and concrete seating on the interior for 2 separate theaters. To remain efficient, Raymond used multiple scaffold rolling units, perry scaffolds, scissor lifts and in-place scaffolding. A slightly larger than typical crew was ran in order to pull hose up the scaffold, set up equipment ahead of the spray, and maintain masking ahead of the spray. Multiple catwalks with finished material were in place prior to shooting requiring a large amount of masking. Raymond took the time in the beginning of each operation, carefully planning our setup, minimalizing mess and finishing productively. Raymond sack counts were consistent day in and day out, and there were no hose packs or issues with the machine or manpower.

Due to the large amount of scaffolding, Raymond created a plan with our scaffold company that would suite multiple trades while limiting obstructions that would hinder hose pulls. Rain days on the project were a constant issue. There were more than a dozen rain days endured during our duration, causing a significant delay in the schedule. Raymond altered our masking operations to prevent weather damage to masking, as we would be gone for three to four days at a time while the area dried. Raymond also planned ahead to prevent product from being left in the hose for an extended period of time.

SAFETY – Raymond had zero safety incidents on the project. Daily huddles were held and daily scaffold inspections were completed by competent persons. The complexity of the project required a longer than normal hose, and Raymond performed constant checks of machine and hoses.

FIREPROOFING MATERIAL
Mk-6 and Z-106; 60,000 board feet (about 2,230 bags)