This week Tocci’s young professionals’ group (yp@T) joined the AGC’s Young Contractors’ Council (YCC) on a tour of the Russia Wharf project in downtown Boston.

We thought we would let Rich Regitano an Assistant Project Manager at Tocci (and our resident high rise geek) tell you what they learned about the project:

“The project is a 31-story high rise office tower located between Fort Point Channel, Congress Street and Atlantic Avenue.  The general contractor is incorporating both bottom  up and top down construction methods to build the superstructure.  This means they are still excavating the foundation garage while the steel has already been topped off and the glass curtain wall has already reached the 2th floor.  The major structural components on this project are:  slurry walls, deep piles, concrete cast core, and steel.

During early permitting the owner agreed to preserve the historic exterior facades of the three existing buildings.  This is why the lower stories of the structure are existing brick elevations.  The actual core of the buildings are being replaced and tied into the superstructure.

The building itself is 750,000 sq ft and includes office space, residential, common space, retail, and underground parking.  The Building is going for LEED Gold Rating.”

Tocci yp@T (Young Professionals at Tocci) members on the tour

Tocci Building Corporation and KlingStubbins announced today they have been selected as a prime contractor team to participate in a $30M 5-year, contract to provide Building Information Modeling (BIM) Services for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). Tocci and KlingStubbins will provide design and construction related BIM consulting services for new and renovation projects on Federal buildings located in the New England, Northeast & Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic, Washington DC, Rocky Mountain, Pacific Rim and Northwest and Arctic GSA regions. Task orders expected will include multi-disciplinary building information modeling, design and construction analysis, cost and schedule analysis, laser scanning and surveying and BIM training and support program development.

Tocci and KlingStubbins developed and submitted the competitive proposal with select co-partners; all of whom are industry recognized leaders in BIM-enabled design, construction and engineering related services. Partners include Autodesk, Inc.; Bentley Systems Incorporated; EMCOR Group companies; Faithful + Gould; J.C. Cannistraro Inc.; Metco Services; Raymond L. Goodson, Jr., Inc.; Simpson Gumpertz & Heger; WSP Group Companies.

Architectural Record announced its’ BusinessWeek/Architectural Record Award 2009 winners this week and Tocci is proud to announce that our Autodesk AEC Headquarters project was one of the top 8 winners.  It is yet another honor for our Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)  project which is receiving much national acclaim from all corners of the AECO industry.

Here is what Architectural Record had to say about the awards:

“There may be signs that the slumped economy is perking up, but many companies are still struggling. In times like these, it’s critical that we champion design and illustrate its value, and the recipients of the 12th annual BusinessWeek/Architectural Record Awards do just that. From a hospital in southern Ontario to a park in downtown Houston, this year’s eight winners and four finalists — all projects completed within the past four years — reveal that architecture is more than a grand gesture. A well-designed space can help a company increase revenue, decrease operational costs, and boost employee morale, among other benefits. Judging by this year’s entries, clients are getting the message. Our jury of editors evaluated an exceptionally competitive pool of nearly 100 submissions from around the globe. Selecting the winners was tough. In the end, we chose a diverse group of inspired projects that clearly demonstrate that good design is a wise investment. As the economy starts to recover, many are questioning what architecture will look like in a post-recession world. The work featured here — projects that put business goals first — might offer some clues.”

For the full list of awards click here!

Our friends over at J.C. Cannistraro recently published their metrics on the ROI of BIM and VDC. Tocci found it very interesting because we recently published our initial studies on ROI as well. Here you can find both Cannistraro’s and Tocci’s metrics: The Value of VDC.