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Robertson Life Sciences Building and Skourtes Tower

Collaborative Research and Education Facility

Project Highlights

This unique complex on Portland’s South Waterfront consists of two parts: the 12-story Skourtes Tower on the north and a five-story south wing connected by an atrium, along with underground parking. The on-time completion was made possible on a very short timeline (37 months for design and construction) using advanced BIM techniques. Concepts were vetted in real-time with early modeling and co-location.

One of the highlights of the building are five floors of collaborative research facilities, designed to accommodate a rotation of the nation’s premier cancer research scientists. In support of these research efforts is the Oregon Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine – housing seven electron microscopes (TEM and SEM) and numerous ILEM and other optical microscopes. All of which have extremely low tolerances for vibration, electromagnetic interference (EMI), heat and cooling variances, and lighting requirements.

Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon State University, Portland State University
Owner/Client
SERA Architects and CO Architects
Architect
Portland, Oregon
Location
July 2014
Completion Year
652,510
Square Feet
388.1
Tons of Material Recycled
Fast-Track
Construction
Certified
LEED Platinum
2015 AIA COTE Top Ten Green Project
Award

Robertson Life Sciences Building and Skourtes Tower

The LEED Platinum Robertson Life Sciences Building is a unique, multi-use facility housing five stories above-grade of advanced biomedical research, as well as undergraduate science education, and medical and dental professional programs which will serve over 1600 students annually.

Innovative Solutions for Cost Savings

JE Dunn co-located with the design team, engineers, and owner to collaboratively create a BIM model that provided consistent data for wind dispersion analysis, smoke control and life safety calculations, energy modeling, lighting calculations and HVAC loads. The model delivered real-time coordination of trades and allowed for concepts to be vetted in real-time. Other construction practices used to save time and improve quality included prefabrication. By fabricating offsite and scheduling just-in-time delivery, it’s estimated the project saved 15% compared to on-site fabrication.

Managing Multiple Stakeholder Budgets

With three primary owners on the project (OHSU, PSU, OSU), we developed and implemented a comprehensive cost tracking mechanism based on square footage and support systems allocation. This enabled the team to follow and report project costs on a by-owner basis.

This project had four distinct funding sources that could not share costs.  If one project ran over budget, funds could not be transferred from another project.  This was in effect four separate GMP projects that all had to come in on budget.  Utilizing our collaborative project management system (CMiC), we gave every cost incurred on the project an auditable “Color of Money” assignment and tracked it from inception to completion. With this detailed level of data, JE Dunn forecasted costs accurately allowing the team to finish the project under budget.

Gallery

What They're Saying

Dan Zalkow
Associate Vice President for Planning, Construction and Real Estate

“JE Dunn did a remarkable job balancing the varied interests of the three owners and the design team to ensure the beautiful building was built within budget and on schedule.”

George Hager
Principal

“From the beginning of their initial involvement as the CM/GC, they were engaged and organized. JE Dunn participated in all necessary meetings with the Architect and Owner, bringing information, exhibits, and subject matter experts to pro-actively resolve issues and challenges.”

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