TFC Poultry Case Study Kick-Off
AWB Engineers has partnered with Harman Construction to renovate an antiquated industrial building in Winchester, Virginia, that is to become the new home of TFC Poultry and their east coast processing operations. This extensive project involves renovating and re-constructing the roughly 100,000 sq.ft. facility to include state-of-the-art shipping and receiving docks, processing space, product storage, rack-supported freezer, and a two-story operations and administrative office. When TFC Poultry took ownership of the property, they acquired an existing building with an assortment of past additions and construction types that presented the design-build team with numerous code, design and construction challenges. These challenges needed to be addressed in order to ensure that TFC Poultry would begin their operations in a code-compliant facility and one that would enable them to efficiently produce their product in a clean, bio-secure environment. Specific code challenges included taking a non-conforming building, with regards to allowable building area, and selectively demolishing portions of the building to allow for the new construction while meeting regulatory requirements. The extensive renovation program also provided the opportunity to improve egress routes within the building, resulting in improved employee safety. These challenges, among many others, required a creative design approach on the part of our design team.
The heart of this project is the new turkey thigh de-boning room that was constructed adjacent to the existing structure. The existing first floor of the building was built with a structural precast concrete floor framing system with a crawl space below, which is somewhat unusual for these types of buildings. One of our first tasks was to advise Harman Construction on how to complete the selective demolition and construct the adjacent addition without affecting the existing structure. This was accomplished by constructing a reinforced concrete retaining wall to prevent the application of lateral soil pressures to the foundation wall of the existing building. This new wall also provided a firm foundation to support the new structural steel framing system. In addition to the de-boning room addition, other new construction includes the addition of a conventional steel structure adjacent to the existing rack-supported freezer space that will be clad with insulated metal panels, the creation of a walkable interstitial space above the processing rooms for utilities, the installation of a new roof over the entire building, and the construction of a new shipping and receiving dock.
Several portions of the existing building that are to remain have also required demolition, including the removal of floor slabs, roofing, and all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, often to the point where only the structural shell remained. Constructing the new structure within and around the remaining building shell has been a complicated process due to the lack of uniformity in the existing building and various irregularities, including a multitude of existing construction materials and methods, differing floor and roof elevations, and walls that are not square with one another. This required a detailed survey of the existing building and thoughtful design of the renovations in order to address the numerous unique conditions encountered. The concrete slabs that were demolished were crushed and recycled to be used for subgrade building material. Other usable materials that were a part of the demolition have been segregated from the construction debris and will be recycled as well.
Renovation of the two-story office will include new employee amenities, a garment supply room, and operations offices at the first-floor level. The second floor will include an aesthetically enhanced office space for administrative staff, the IT and HR departments, conferencing, and employee lounge and break areas.
The new loading and shipping dock addition will be taller than the adjacent building and was designed to take advantage of new dock equipment design and technology that will enhance employee safety and create a more thermally efficient space for the incoming and outgoing refrigerated goods. By utilizing new technology and a more efficient design, AWB Engineers was able to help TFC Poultry minimize the amount of air loss through the dock doors, thus keeping their products safe for public consumption while upholding the utmost standards of efficiency.
“One of the things that I really enjoy about working on renovation projects such as this is that you are in an industrial setting, but you’re able to re-design and renovate a building to give it a new life”, said Matt Smith, President and Structural Engineer of AWB Engineers. These types of projects not only positively impact businesses like TFC Poultry, but they provide economic and social development to communities like Winchester, Virginia.
