Crowder Construction Company
Charleston Battery – The Turn Seawall Replacement
What makes it interesting?
The Turn is in the middle of one of the most prestigious areas of South Carolina, nestled in and around priceless antebellum homes, and is a major tourist destination. A quote from a city official in the local newspaper read: “Due to the complex nature and historic significance of the walls…only those contractors with significant experience and expertise will be allowed.”
How HCSS Software assisted with this project
HeavyBid was utilized to help put together this partial lump sum and partial unit price bid. The bid form also had unit price items for deductions of items from the contract. HeavyBid was helpful in the flexibility to set up the bid items and also summarized the lump sum portion of bid total.
Project Description:
At the southernmost point of historic Charleston, South Carolina, where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers converge to form the Charleston Harbor, is a seawall called “The Battery.”
The wall was originally constructed in the 1730s as a fortified seawall made of palmetto logs and was called Broughton’s Battery. It was rebuilt using stone ballast from arriving ships in the early 1800s and called The Battery because of cannons mounted during the War of 1812. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, city leaders rebuilt and reshaped portions of the High Battery and the Low Battery, and created“The Turn,” a 120-foot section of wall that joins the High Battery and Low Battery in a radius at the point of the Charleston peninsula. After protecting the city from pirates, other invaders, and hurricanes, the Battery was starting to fail. City leaders again knew that the wall had to be reconstructed. The city went through a rigorous prequalification process, and Crowder Construction Company was pre-qualified to bid the project and subsequently turned in the low bid of $2,665,000.
In October of 2013, Crowder started work replacing a part of history. Crowder moved in a 230-ton crane and support equipment to replace The Turn. Many meetings were held with local officials and their engineers where Crowder was told this was the most important project in the city.
The scope of work was to install a cofferdam, demolish the old concrete and pilings, install new pilings and concrete, remove the cofferdam and return the area to the state in which it was found with minimal disruptions to the residents and the tourists. Vibration monitoring plans were established to minimize the effects of the work on the rest of the seawall and the homes in close proximity. Equipment and material deliveries were coordinated so that traffic congestion could be minimized. Special concrete forms had to be fabricated to meet the unusual radius and radial profile to the existing wall.
At completion of the project in July of 2014, the only evidence of a construction project is fresh asphalt on the roadway and somewhat newer looking concrete in the structure. The city has a new wall that will last many years in the exact shape, size, and location of the one built nearly 100 years ago. There were no safety incidents involving Crowder’s personnel or anyone else associated with or near the project.
