Waco Convention Center

(WACO, TEXAS) – The Waco Convention Center, established in 1972, stands as the City of Waco’s largest event venue. From hosting gatherings of 50 to accommodating as many as 2,000 attendees, this facility is a premier choice for high-capacity events across the state. After years of bustling activity, they needed an upgrade.

BRANDT’S SCOPE

Comprehensively executing phasing and scheduled maintenance enabled the facility to remain partially open to the public while we worked quickly to turn the project over within six months. Brandt was the prime contractor for this project and took on elaborate retrofit HVAC and controls installations to the 144,000-square-foot facility.

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS

With COVID restrictions considered, our team was unsure when rules and regulations would allow the project to move forward. Upon receiving approval in July 2020, our crew began strategic demolition to accommodate the new installations tying into the existing systems.

Despite Brandt’s efforts to get the new air handling units into production as soon as possible, slight changes regarding field conditions left the team in a predicament. Any changes to dimensions or orientation of the units already in the queue would have set them back weeks. To reconcile this, our sheet metal team completely dismantled the largest units in our staging area to avoid manufacturer delays when factory lead times were stacking up. They rebuilt them in a 2nd floor mezzanine in record time to avoid costly setbacks and structural modifications that would have been required.

When it was time to install ten rooftop condensers on the roof, all hands were on deck. Brandt crews showed agility and dedication during the 5 a.m. process of staging all the units smoothly.

ULTIMATE SUCCESS

The owner and engineer complimented the team on the large custom duct transitions connecting to the existing duct system. They admired Brandt’s craftsmanship and were genuinely impressed with the result.

PROJECT TEAM

Owner: City of Waco

Contractor: Brandt

PROJECT DETAILS

Start/Completion Dates: 06/2020 – 02/2021

Project Size: 144,000 SF

Brandt Role: Mechanical Services