Name:

Blackshear Place Baptist Church

Location:

Flowery Branch, Georgia

Size:

115,000 SF

Architect:

Pieper O'Brien Herr Architects

Contractor:

R.J. Griffin & Company

The Challenge

CCL joined the project in its formative stages to explore Blackshear's options for accomplishing their ministry goals. Was their present location able to accommodate their ministry needs? Should they find another larger property? What neighboring parcels, if any, were needed? How could they transition from their present facility to the proposed Master Plan? How could they "live in their house while it was being remodeled and expanded"? After the programming exercise, initial design and budget had been completed, the area construction market experienced significant price increases of almost 30% due to post-Katrina price escalation. The Architect's and the General Contractor's various suggestions to reduce the project cost generally involved reducing the amount of program space to be constructed, and Blackshear Place found themselves in the uncomfortable and all-too-common position of needing to bring down the project cost while maintaining the square footage needed to provide their ministry programs.

Process

CCL's Strategic Planning services helped identify Blackshear's space needs and evaluate the best use of current space and campus space. The project had to be a balanced alignment of their needs and their resources and the improvements were scheduled to be constructed over a span of two years, and would touch every part of their campus. Furthermore, work had to be accomplished while maintaining all of Blackshear's church activities during construction. Some specific solutions CCL led and managed during this project included:

• Determining that their existing campus would be sufficient to achieve their ministry goals
• Identifying key parcels of land that were strategic to their growth
• Conducted a selection process to identify the lender best suited to partner with the church to meet Blackshear's financial needs and goals.
• When the construction market experienced sharp price increases during design phase due to post-Katrina price escalation of around 30%, CCL identified and proposed innovative ideas that would reduce the building cost by almost three million dollars, all while maintaining the program space needed by the church. Importantly, these ideas were not at the cost of the Architect's design concept. The proposed cost reductions examined opportunities to save money in non-aesthetic building components such as the structural system and building envelope.
• The option to Design-Build the HVAC systems was carefully reviewed and determined to be a viable opportunity for the church to greatly reduce the cost of this system and still maintain the desired level of performance.

The "Win"

CCL represented the Church throughout the entire project process - from Strategic Planning, Project Development, and Project Management. We worked with them to define their needs and a facility plan that serves those needs. The design solution successfully provided phasing to allow a growing church to remain fully active while their entire facility was surrounded by construction. Blackshear's staff and congregation were a model of how to communicate and respond to the challenges of construction. As if implementing such a complex plan with demanding temporary operations wasn't enough CCL responded mid-design to unprecedented construction costs variables and value engineered the project into budget while maintaining facilities that allowed Blackshear to reach their initial vision. CCL developed a team that successfully delivered a challenging plan and solution from concept to realization. As a rapidly growing regional church, Blackshear's bold design and new look align their facilities with their vision!