ComEd
Projects
Substations Done in Style
by Elaine Schmidt
Issues of aesthetics and neighborhood involvement are not
usually top priority items in power substation constructions,
but when Chicago's 1999 blackouts precipitated a series of
construction projects designed to prevent future outages and
blackouts, stations had to be nested into some of the city's
more upscale residential neighborhoods.
A $36 million substation project at Ohio and Grand streets,
and a $65 million project at Madison and Des Plaines, had
to fit into the local architecture and create as few visual
obstructions as possible for local residents. The projects
also could not disrupt neighborhood life.
"Normally substations are surrounded by chain-link fences,
and the equipment and a small building is just out there as
it is," said Martin Dore, project director for the Chicago-based
architectural firm of Sargent & Lundy LLC. "Today,
more and more, walls are going up to provide some sort of
barrier and screen for what is there. But these projects were
extreme."
The high-end residential units of the Presidential Towers
look down on the Madison substation, and a new residential
development just across the Kennedy Expressway from the development
has a clear view of it as well. ComEd, the area's alderman
and a committee of neighborhood residents, with an architect
of their own, all had to approve the design before the project
could proceed.
Calling it "a long and arduous process," Dore said
design changes were made to combine ComEd's desire for an
unobtrusive building with the neighborhood's desire for something
with artistic flair.
The Madison substation got a bit of additional window dressing
through the use of a large setback and the addition of trees,
flowers and shrubs.
Dore said that although the Madison substation needed to be
visually pleasing as a stand-alone structure, the Ohio substation
had to keep as low a physical profile as possible to maintain
views from adjacent condo decks and windows.
"We had to provide 3-D renderings from their vantage
point, showing how this would limit what they could see and
how it would impact them," he added. "There was
a lot of gnashing of teeth over the height of the structure."
Interaction with the community has remained an element of
the project throughout construction as well.
"You try to be a good neighbor wherever you are working,"
said Brian Anderson, project manager for Wheeling, Ill.-based
Kenny Construction Co., the general contractor on the project.
"But when you are building in the middle of a reasonably
well-to-do neighborhood, it requires more effort to be a good
neighbor.
"One of the big challenges at the Ohio substation is
the fact that the neighborhood has gone through such a gentrification
in the past several years. In a neighborhood that is more
affluent they tend to expect more in terms of no cracks in
their walls, no parking taken up and no muddy streets."
A proactive approach has kept the neighbors happy.
"We go to community meetings and neighborhood watch groups
and explain what we are going to be doing on the site,"
Anderson said. "They know our schedule and they can plan
around what we are going to be doing."
That proactive approach included installing a vibration monitor
in the residential building immediately to the west of the
Ohio site, which assured that residents' concerns were addressed
as crews were driving sheet piling.
"Doing these things ahead of time has done wonders for
easing neighbors' fears," Anderson added.
Additional Concerns
Just-in-time deliveries and careful coordination between
the various trades have kept things flowing smoothly at the
half-acre Ohio site and one-acre Madison site.
Safety remains paramount on both projects.
"We don't tolerate hats on backward and no glasses,"
Anderson said. "We have gotten a culture of subcontractors
and workers that know this. I can't tell you the last time
I had to remind someone to put glasses on."
The last stages of the project will involve testing of wires
and equipment while some of the trades are still on site.
In addition to required fire-retardant jackets or shirts,
safety discussions are beefed up in this phase of construction.
"Our morning safety briefings take a new light,"
Anderson said. "We let them know which pieces will be
livened that day and what they cannot touch. At that point
electrical shock risk becomes our biggest concern."
Tom Nagy, project manager MJ Electric of Iron Mountain, Mich.,
said there are specific clearances that have to be maintained
while equipment is energized. "We keep trained personnel
in those areas while it's energized," he added.
Anderson said that in the facility in which all employees
wait for their mandatory drug tests, gruesome photos of the
results of electrocutions are hanging on the walls to remind
workers of the dangers.
Adding Cost Concerns
"The ComEd upgrades started with a six-pack project
in 1999 and 2000," Anderson said. "Those were very
much schedule driven."
He added that the new substations at Madison and Ohio are
part of an overall effort to upgrade Chicago's power service
from 69 KV to 138 KV. In addition, they are part of a complete
restructuring of the city's power distribution grid.
Describing the city's current electrical transmission and
distribution as a system resembling the hub and spokes on
a wheel, Anderson said, "One centrally located, main
substation distributed power along the spokes of the wheel.
If that hub went down, the whole system was screwed up."
He said that the Madison and Ohio substations are part of
a new loop system of transmission and delivery. The 138 KV
lines pass through substations, instead of terminating there.
"The substations are fed from both sides on this loop,
so you can lose a substation and not necessarily lose customers,"
Anderson added.
He said the original six-pack of projects and the Kingsbury
substation that followed were "very fast track"
projects. When those projects were done, and both reliability
and capacity boosted, ComEd had the opportunity to evaluate
cost for the continuing upgrades.
"When they asked us what we could do to reduce cost on
these things, we told them one of the ways was to give us
more time, to allow us to plan properly and to use what we
learned building the last two substations," Anderson
said.
Backing off of 70-hour workweeks was also cited as a savings
factor.
Anderson said when ComEd agreed to allow more time for the
next two substations, it also instructed Kenny to take 20
percent out of the overall cost of the previous stations.
Calling the Madison and State substations "textbook"
in terms of scheduling work at optimal times of the year,
he said that crews broke ground in the spring and completed
all excavation and concrete work in summer and early fall,
instead of working against the winter weather as they had
on the earlier projects. Working 40-hour weeks meant a significant
savings in both overtime and efficiency.
Although extending the project's timetable also extends overhead
costs, the substations at Madison and at Ohio are on track
to come in 25 percent below the budgets of the earlier, schedule-driven
projects.
'You try to be a good neighbor
wherever you are working. But when you are building in the
middle of a reasonably well-to-do neighborhood, it requires
more effort to be a good neighbor.
- Brian Anderson, Kenny Construction Co.
'Normally substations are surrounded by chain-link fences,
and the equipment and a small building is just out there as
it is. Today, more and more, walls are going up to provide
some sort of barrier and screen for what is there.'
- Martin Dore, Sargent & Lundy LLC
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