Leaders Team With Gordian to Tackle Football Facility Renovation Projects

Football truly is America’s game. Millions of people across the country tune in to watch their favorite teams take the gridiron each week, and the most watched television show every year is the NFL’s championship game.

Facilities and infrastructure are a significant part of the football game experience. Stadiums, locker rooms, parking garages, practice areas – all these crucial aspects of the game must be budgeted, built and maintained. Gordian has been drafted to help organizations complete a variety of football facility renovation projects over the years. Here are a few highlights.

Miami-Dade Public Schools Readies Field for the Spotlight

Florida is a certified hotbed of football talent, producing some of the game’s top college and professional players. So when the NFL brought its biggest event to Miami in 2020, public officials took the opportunity to showcase area football facilities. One place on the city’s list, the field at Miami Beach Senior High School, wasn’t quite ready for primetime. The turf needed replacing and the scoreboard required an upgrade. But with only a few months to complete this high-profile project, district leaders turned to a construction project delivery method they could trust: Gordian’s Job Order Contracting.

The partnership between Miami-Dade Public Schools and Gordian goes back over 30 years. In that time, the district has completed more than 3,000 projects with a total estimated value of over $330 million. Thus, it was natural for district leaders to turn to Job Order Contracting for its football field renovations. A streamlined construction project delivery solution, Job Order Contracting allows many projects to be completed using one competitively-bid contract. This unique structure speeds up time to construction by 25% when compared with other delivery methods like Design-Build, Design-Bid-Build and Construction Manager At-Risk, according to a recent study. Speed to construction is crucial for projects with hard deadlines like the one Miami-Dade was up against.

Using Gordian’s JOC, district leaders had new turf and a new scoreboard installed at Miami Beach Senior High School. The million-dollar project began October 1, 2019, and finished on January 18, 2020, well in advance of its time in the limelight.

Get more insights into the benefits of Job Order Contracting in this in-depth report.

Texas Tech University Revamps Locker Room

Texas Tech University has a prominent football program with a slew of bowl victories under its belt and a national brand. Still, it faces fierce competition for recruits from area rivals like Texas, Oklahoma and TCU. To gain a recruiting edge and provide the best facilities possible for the existing roster, Texas Tech endeavored to build a new locker room in the spring of 2017. Like the Miami-Dade field renovation, timing was a significant factor. Work needed to be finished by the beginning of summer workouts so the team could kick off the season in style.

Given the tight window of time available to complete the project, Texas Tech opted for Gordian’s Job JOC over traditional project delivery methods. Unlike Miami-Dade Public Schools, which used a custom Job Order Contract tailored to their needs, Texas Tech accessed a shared Job Order Contract via a cooperative purchasing network or interlocal agreement. With a shared contract, the entity that owns the contract and Gordian have hashed out all the details and awarded contractors in advance, further expediting time to construction. However an organization accesses a Gordian JOC program, it can count on Gordian to provide the insights, technology and expertise that results in tens of thousands of successful projects every single year.

The entire layout of the Texas Tech football locker room was reconfigured using Gordian’s Job Order Contracting. An existing lounge was converted into locker room space, creating a new players’ lounge with LED ceiling lights and multi-colored controlled LED accent lighting, storage for equipment and custom display cases for the team uniform. It now serves as the crown jewel of the program’s recruiting efforts.

D.C Housing Authority Repairs Community Recreation Spot

A common playing field maintained by the Washington D.C. Housing Authority had a major drainage and storm water runoff problem. Rain pooled on the grounds for several days leading to marshy conditions and mosquito infestations during warm-weather months. With Pop Warner football practices set to begin on the fields, the D.C. Housing Authority needed a fast fix to their drainage problems.

Decision makers at the D.C. Housing Authority opted for Gordian’s Job Order Contracting. Using JOC allowed the awarded contractor, The Matthews Group (TMG), to begin work shortly after a Joint Scope Meeting where all stakeholders, including Gordian, collaborated on how to best complete the project. The partnership between the contractor, Gordian and the D.C. Housing Authority was of the utmost importance. The joint scope walk allowed all involved to clarify unknowns and get on the same page, minimizing change orders.

Under a compressed schedule, TMG, with the help of community volunteers, took a poorly draining, rundown space and created a new hub for sports and recreation in D.C.’s Ward 7. To capture storm water runoff, TMG created a new drainage system, including installation of underground pipes and three new bioretention ponds. TMG also added a deep storm drain system to manage overflow from the ponds, area drains, trench drains and the downspouts of the nearby apartment buildings. Once the drain system was put in place, the contractor installed new asphalt trails in the recreational areas and concrete pads for picnic shelters, exercise equipment and a new patio. The project’s finishing touches included new stairs and handrails, sidewalks, fencing, playground equipment and landscaping.

Using traditional procurement, these projects would have been bid separately. Not so with JOC — all the work happened under one competitively awarded contract and was completed successfully in time for football season. Today, the Benning Terrace fields are the pride of the community.

A Versatile Solution for Football Facility Renovation Projects

From major college programs to community fields, Gordian’s Job Order Contracting is a versatile method for completing football facility renovation projects. Like a high-octane offense, it offers the speed, the precision and the practiced execution to deliver results.