The Harper Building renovation is a 3-story, 111,000-sf, improvement of four phases in Solon, Ohio that began in 2015 and completed with an factory renovation that completed September 2018. The building has remained substantially occupied throughout.
The scope of work included selective interior demolition, and replacement of all building systems, including HVAC, the roof and windows. Utilizing the New Ways of Working/Smarter Workplace global guidelines, there are no offices. Instead the interior reconstruction features a naturally illuminated, collaborative floor plan, open-space workstations, an innovation area with teleconference capabilities, and various meeting spaces for individual or team work. The project also enhances the connective capacity of the building’s IT infrastructure. Employees have access to a variety of areas beyond their workspaces, from huddle rooms, conference rooms and HUB spaces for team work to quiet rooms, a yoga/meditation/prayer area and a mother’s room for added privacy
The first floor consists of three buildings first constructed in 1969, that now appear seamless. Focused attention was necessary to sort out the utility feeds that connect the buildings in order to avoid cutting power to the attached frozen food plant or other buildings. This work completed without incident. Another operational issue during construction of each floor was to maintain environmental comfort and minimize noise during demolition, window, roof and HVAC equipment replacement. To accomplish this required a crew of 90-construction workers during the day, and 24-construction workers during second shift. The initial plan was only to renovate the first floor. When company leadership decided to expand this concept to the entire Harper Building, Infinity re-negotiated subcontracts and re-sequenced the schedule to allow a seamless transition into the 2nd and 3rd floors. Project achieved 15.5% diverse subcontracting participation.
