We're down the home stretch.  Days and weekends have been filled with lots of activity ranging from installing the remaining carpet to outfitting our showroom and installing some of the offices. 

Our layout includes separate areas for sales, accounting, client services, design, and operations.  Below are images of two sections in the office area.  The image on the left shows some of the sales area with the accounting department in the background; the image on the right shows other sales offices with a conference room behind. Ample aisle space on all sides contribute to the ease at which different groups and departments will be able to interact with each other.  More furniture will be installed within the next couple of weeks - the end result being a combination of different types of furniture blended into an aesthetically pleasing and highly functional design.

the energy level

My University studies started with a heavy concentration in chemistry, physics and math.  After a couple of years I switched my major to Business but some of the first lessons I learned have never left me.

For instance, the difference between potential energy and kinetic energy.  One might think it is a stretch to associate this principle with the progress of our building, but I believe it can be used to clearly reflect the true value and incredible power of our 9,000 square foot showroom.

Simply stated, potential energy is the stored energy of an item that is not moving or changing. Kinetic energy is the power and energy expressed by that very same item once it is being moved or changed. 

The picture to the left shows the potential of what will become known as our showroom.  The image on the right reflects a part of the showroom after carpeting and some of the showroom furniture has been placed.  Add on to this the 60 person learning center and our resource library center, and this building will be the centralized location that clients, the A & D community, and our own staff can call a tremendous resource. 

People often assume that he who has the largest workspace is the one who is the smartest and most important to the success of a business.  However, he, or she, does not necessarily hold exclusive rights to that title.

When it comes to brains, one need look no further then the dedicated computer room and server area to grasp the magnitude of information and processes of the "occupant" of this room. And if "he" has an off day, other processes can grind to a near standstill.  So, without further adieu, I present to you the most important office in our new building.

And when it comes to a warm and inviting environment for employees and clients to gather, share ideas and corroborate there's no better place then a warm, well lit, and well planned area that includes soft seating, work areas, access to huge amount of information, and a bistro to boot.

The below image shows how we are developing our  library which will include areas for product catalogs and our sample finishes and fabrics, seating areas, tables, and access to the kitchen (background).  Its shape, the descending height of its perimeter walls and the suspended lighting fixtures around and bordering the curved walls give a warm invite to our employees and clients.

perspective                                          close-up of lighting                 

Move date is approaching

And what a showpiece it will be.

Here you can see the near completion of the façade of the building - The left image shows the completed addition while the right image shows the addition in the foreground and the main entrance in the background, though this image does not clearly show the total width of the building at 400 feet.

 

The interior is shaping up as well.  Two of the focal points are taking shape, namely the unique wall constructed out of re-purposed wood pallets, which will also serve as the backdrop for our reception area, and the radius wall (background) of descending height that will form the borders of our library.

 

Great progress has been made over the past few weeks including framing of offices, insulating critical areas including some interior walls, and drywall/painting of the first of many offices.  Open spaces have been designed, furniture ordered, and plans are moving foward for a june/july occupancy.

We started using the warehouse to serve as our premier distribution center. Meanwhile, multiple trades are working simultaneously including HVAC, landscaping, plumbing, and finishing. On the outside of the building the grounds are being cleaned up and graded; the exterior of the building is being finalized.  Within the next couple weeks, ceilings will be suspended where applicable, fixtures will be installed, and the original solid wood doors, which were saved during the initial de-construction, will be re-hung.



I saw 3 different trades at work this morning, including HVAC, framing and drywall, and electrical.  The image below shows ductwork beginning to be installed in the 30,000 square foot showroom & conferencing center.  Other areas of the building are also having ductwork installed and eventually this will be all tied together into a well planned HVAC system.

 

Framing of some of the private offices has also begun.  At the accelerated pace that has been occuring, these private offices should be wired and drywalled within a short period of time.

 

  Other areas of the building will also show significant advancment over the next few weeks.  In fact, the NW corner of offices is  the location of the first drywall that has been hung. 

message from Ron Hux:

In December we started on the interior build-out of our offices. Since December we’ve made significant progress on the infrastructure including welding new roof trusses where HVAC units will be sitting, installing a new roof on the showroom area to meet LEED requirements and placing sky lights and a new roof structure in a small area in the showroom. I made a decision early on not to use the existing plumbing so all new pipes had to be put in the floors. In addition, we removed a block wall to expand the accounting area and installed the fire sprinkler system.

 

interior views highlighting build-out and the glass enclosures of our 4000 sq. ft. addition

With all this behind us now, the crews are concentrating on framing and building out the space. We expect this to progress rapidly.  By mid-March framing should be complete and drywall should begin to be hung.

 

left to right: the delivery of drywall has begun, new roof trusses, interior view looking northeast

 

Finishing the year strong

Years ago I used to participate in long distance running races and olympic distance triathlon's.  My training regiments included "track work-outs" with like minded individuals.  I'll always remember the coach would bark out commands offer encouragement as we crossed the finish line on every distance set. " Finish strong. Don't slow down. Run all the way through the finishline."

Well, here we find ourselves at the end of 2012 and we have multiple crews working hard.  One crew works at finishing off the main entrance (left) while another crew works at setting the side entrance (right).  Simultaneously, window and door frames are being added to the addition.

Hard and persistent work does lead to noticeable progress. Commenting on my running days: after each set, we'd get 15 seconds rest and do it all over again.  It amounted to quite a workout during that 1 hour and in the end we all turned out better, stronger and faster.  Not surprisingly, one of the participants was a part of the 2000 summer Olympics team.

Beginning in the new year, these crews will continue to work hard on this 2nd phase of our project.  Follow our progress regularly as we share stories on the transformation of this once aged building into our new corporate campus with state of the art features, a beautiful showroom and designer center, LEED certification, and  more.

Building Progression

 

Significant advances have been made in the past five weeks.  The addition that will house part of our design and sales team now has a roof.  The floor is currently being prepared with sufficient subflooring and the installation in floor level electrical and data conduit, thereby avoiding having to use floor to ceiling power poles. 

  What is not seen is that we have begun using parts of the 60,000 square foot warehouse to manage the distribution of large projects and to begin storing product that will eventually become part of our showroom and offices. 

These are exciting times.  Multiple trades are working simultaneously. One such example is that the window and glass company has carefully measured each window and installed energy efficient glass in all window openings - which will serve as another contributing factor in our planned LEED certification.

Constuction  continues with progress on our 4000 square foot addition and the front entrance.  The footers were poured and walls were erected.  Earlier this week the trusses were placed and the front entrance was beginning to take shape.

 

The more this project comes together, the easier it is to imagine what the exterior will look like.

Meanwhile, the warehouse which was completed months ago is now being used to warehouse product that will be used in our offices and showroom.

This week we started phase two of our new corporate campus.   During this stage we are removing two exterior walls in order to open up the area for a 4,000 square foot office addition. We will also replace all exterior windows and construct a new entrance where the old outdated front door used to be.

When I was compiling these images I was impressed by the complete transformation I've witnessed over the past 6 months, causing me to reflect on the value of adapting.  Business, like people, need to adapt to the current and projected environment in order to excel.  Darwin wrote books about this, explaining the value of certain species adapting to their environment in order to continue to survive. Business journals frequently discuss change and how to adapt to the evolving marketplace.

This is Douron's story - and why we can do things better and smarter, while providing ever expanding and greater value to our clients.

6 months ago, work began at 10 Painters Mill Road to transform an old and outdated building into a world class corporate campus and distribution facility.  Images below show the progression of the warehouse component from the early stages. Last week the main warehouse which measures 400' long x 100' wide  received its much anticipated floor re-finishing which reflects our commitment to "best practices" and to providing our employees with the best work environment.

Image # 1: warehouse preperation (March 14, 2012 )

Image # 2: after some concrete replaced (April 1, 2012)

Image # 3: after floor treatment (July, 23, 2012)

With the demolition of the interior office and warehouse space now complete we are moving forward with the reconstruction process. We will be starting the addition mid to late August and do anticipate moving in most likely early spring. As most of you know I worked very hard to recycle the materials that came out of the building. Not only does this make good business sense, it makes a significant impact on our local resources. I wanted to share with you the amount of material that has come out of the building and how much has been recycled. Attached are the final statistics of this phase of our reconstruction. These numbers absolutely amaze me. I hope you are as impressed as I am. 

• Total Recycle:  1,265.86 tons - that's over 2 1/2 million pound, including:
• 233,780 lbs. of steel
• 6,069 lbs. of aluminum
• 4,464 lbs. of stainless steel
• 2,351 lbs. of copper
• Total of 91% construction waste diversion.

Ron Hux

Weeks ago Buck Showalter (manager of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team) commented on center fielder Adam Jones 6 year contract saying "I'm a believer in putting something together that stands the test of time." Recent stat's of the teams performance shows that this approach has been productive.

Our planned corporate campus is in the midst of being put together and today there are 2 processes occuring simultaneously: (a) we've partnered with an A & D firm for the design of the building addition and (b) work is continuing on the inside. 

The images reflect the best and brightest of what's been happening inside.  Since painting the walls and ceiling of the warehouse, the area has become much brighter. When shooting the image of the main warehouse (left), the camera was set on an ISO sensitivity of 200 (almost an outdoor setting) without using a flash. This brightness will save quite a bit of electricity.

Image number 2 (right) shows the back part of the warehouse. Originally the floor was about 16" lower then the rest of the warehouse and in order to have all floors level, this section was built up using base filler and 110 cubic yards of concrete.

The decision to brighten the warehouse and level the floors represent 2 investments that will indeed be well appreciated by all of our team members.

Work continues in the warehouses.  With most of the demolition done in the main 40,000 sq ft warehouse, we are now focusing our attention on putting everything back together. Certain areas of the floor in the main warehouse needed to be replaced. We had hoped that we could get away with patching the floors however it was pretty much the same price to take up the existing cement and put down a new floor. We also decided to paint the walls and ceilings white to brighten the area and blend in the various differences created over the years from adding processing rooms. Even though only half of the warehouse has been painted you can clearly see how this has made a visual difference in the overall appearance of the space.

The back warehouse has been quite a challenge. This area had a mezzanine in it which we demolished a few weeks back. This was not a easy task as the walls were 16” thick solid concrete reinforced with #8 rebar both vertically and horizontally. The men who performed the work told me that they have never seen anything like this. We knew the area was built to withstand a explosion but had no idea as to how big of a explosion they were planning on. This was, no surprise, just amazing.   After two weeks of jack hammering and using pretty heavy equipment to break up the walls progress is being seen. This means we have spent 5 weeks just on tearing down the mezzanine. which will hopefully be completed by the end of next week. 

After this we will need to put in a new floor in the back half of the warehouse so it is even with the main warehouse. This will eliminate the ramps and make the space so much easier to use. It will be worth the effort. When done, this space will be 30 ft high and add 15,000 sq ft. clear storage to the 40,000 square foot main section.

Additionally, work will continue with the addition of a sprinkler system and high output energy efficient lighting. Our hope is to have this warehouse ready to be used, if necessary, by mid July.    update courtesy of Ron Hux, 5/16/12

Crews are still clearing out the old and making room for the new.  This project has been actively progressing for 4 months and although progress is typical of a building re-fit, the facts must be stated in order to get a feeling of its magnitude.

The images below represent additional work to prepare sections of the warehouse floor (top left and right) and cutting steel (bottom left) not needed in the rear of the warehouse.

So far, we have removed, and sent to recycling, over 275 tons of concrete and block. By the end this number is expected to be greater then 325 tons. The additional steel being removed increases our total metal recycle to 100 tons of steel, copper and aluminum.


"How many evergreens are there between our house and your school?"  "Count them as you walk."  My father required that I take this count while I walked to Rock Creek Valley Elementary School in the fourth grade.  He was trying to make me become more observant of those things around me. 

I hated the assignment.  But as the years ticked by I began to understand the value of knowing my surroundings, and more importantly the potential of opportunities not yet realized or not yet visibily evident.  While walking through the building I realized all the natural light streaming through the roof.  These will become sky lights. I recognized the interior wall that was carefully dismantled to get rid of the old and save the wall with built-in windows. These two features alone will add a unique personality to our building. And contribute to making this a LEED certified building.  In addition, many other personal touches will be added to convert this old building into a vibrant 7 1/2 acre corporate campus complete with state of the art offices, a 9000 square foot showroom with conference rooms and training center, and even an outside picnic area with walking trails.

As a kid I would build plastic model ships from kits.  I remember the first dozen steps would be sub-assemblies of critical components needed later. Once these sub-assemblies were completed and combined together, I was able to see what the final product would look like. 

Over the past few months the progress with the demolition and clearing out of the debris has been enormous. The completion of the preliminary stages has opened a new and expanded appreciation for what the final building will look like.

When I walked thru the buiding today I could clearly envision its size, scope and potential.  The first image shows parts of the warehouse and measures 150 paces end to end. The second image is the interior solarium that will add definition and character to the main office and showroom.

"I was at the building today. The demolition has been going very well with few surprises, except for some positive ones. Offices are completely gutted and the warehouse should be completed by the end of the week."  Ron Hux

VISION.  Most people see an old out-dated building, others see potential, few see opportunity. Fewer are willing to make the hard decisions.

Demolition work continues on the inside and out. Metal and stone are seperated into piles for recycling. Check back for updates on interior plans including concepts.