Birkel Electric Project in Chesterfield was recently featured in The Cutting Edge:
In August 2008, the Government started construction on a new 127,000 square feet Reserve Center. The new Joint Armed Forces Reserve Center is located at Jefferson Barracks in South County Missouri. The facility will house the Missouri National Guard and the Army. This is the first major project in the area where Union Carpenters and Local 57 Union Electricians are working side by side. K&S Associates Inc. is the General on the Project.
Charlie Schulz is the Project Superintendent (Local 5). Birkel Electric is the Electricial Contractor. This new Government Building has a lot of strict codes that all of the Contractors have to abide by. For one thing, this building must be blast resistant. After the Oklahoma City Bombing more than 13 years ago, all Government Buildings must be built with the materials that will make it blast resistant. “The Steel in here is enormous. There are three wings listed as: A, B, and C. We could erect a building in seven days, but it took us 30 days to weld this one,” said Charlie Schulz, project Superintendent for K&S Associates Inc.
On the Electrical end of construction, Birkel Electric had some major blast proofing to do of their own. “We had to install heavy wall conduit coming up through the slabs of concrete. Everything is exposed,” said Mike Birkel, Owner of Birkel Electric.
Along with all of the specialty building materials and the installation of said materials, one thing that everyone did the same was that all of the Construction Workers on this job site were trained in OSHA 10. As of August 28, 2009, the State of Missouri requires all employees on State Works Projects to have an OSHA 10 Certification. If the worker does not have this certification, the Contractor can be fined $100 per day per person. Turn to page 4 of this month’s magazine to see the letter that the State of Missouri sent to all Contractors who are working on Public Works Projects.
“When we went into Electricians’ Local 57, we had to abide by the exact same standards as the Carpenters: OSHA 10, Drug Testing, Pneumatic Tools Orientation, Lifts, and Scaffold Testing. The orientation is a solid week—40 hours of Safety and Rigging testing. It’s extremely comprehensive and intensive compared to anything we’ve been affiliated with before,” said Mike Birkel, Owner of Birkel Electric.
Before this building could come to fruition, the Society for Historical Preservation Office had to hand out their specifications for this new facility. The colors, stone, dormers, and gables all had to match the existing buildings on the property. When you see the new building you can tell it’s new; however, it does fit in nicely with the surrounding buildings.
Two buildings were torn down in the area where this new construction is taking place. A third building was torn down on Monday, September 28th. Archeologists from Jefferson City, Missouri were on site for each of the demos of the buildings just in case something needed to be archived.
The completion date for this project is slated for May, 2010.
THECUTTINGEDGE, October 2009 | 5
By KRISTY WHITE, PR Director
Joint ventures are working well at Jefferson
Barracks new Reserve Center.
Attention Contractors
For more information to meet the demands on
Structural Metal Framing Welding or any other
specialty Welding Certifications, please contact
Larry Elms, Welding Coordinator / Career
Counselor at (314) 457-8300, Ext. 343.
Photos Courtesy: KRISTY WHITE, PR Director
The Complete Article:
Click Here for the October 2009 issue of the Cutting Edge in .PDF.
Tags: Commercial Electrical Contractor, Electrical Contractor Union St. Louis, St. Louis Electrical Contractor