February 24th, 2009 WOBURN, MA. Tocci is well into construction of Crate and Barrel’s exciting new store at General Growth Properties’ Natick Collection the world-class retail destination located on Route 9 in Natick, MA. Given the new Crate and Barrel’s proximity to other ongoing property improvement projects, exceptionally detailed and well coordinated logistics planning was required. In addition, construction needed to take place during the busy Christmas shopping season requiring a high degree of traffic and pedestrian safety.

The Building Information Model (BIM) was key to our logistics strategy; we utilized a time-infused model to carefully plan each phase of the project. The Project Manager worked closely with the Virtual Construction Coordinator to continually update the schedule and logistics based on the visualizations they created.

Construction Logistics February 2009

Tocci’s Logistics Model

A rendering from the logistics model

We began site excavation and steel erection in the late fall of 2008 to maximize the time and space available to the construction team before the busy holiday season. GGP requested that Tocci and major subcontractors demobilize the construction site to minimal activities and reduce the foot print to maximize parking availability.

Through the use of the BIM Tocci was able to clear the site for minimal activities, reduce the footprint down to 35% of its original size, and free up additional parking. We also produced visual renderings of how the site would look and feel during the demobilization as well as give exact dimensions for fence relocation and coordination.

GGP, Crate and Barrel, and Tocci successfully executed a full site demobilization; reconfiguration; and reduction for 3 Months. After the holidays were over we were to resume work immediately and bring construction up to full speed.

The Crate&Barrel site demobilized for the holidays