April 10, 2019

Congratulations to Balfour Beatty's Florida team for winning an ABC National Excellence in Construction Pyramid Award for the Windsor at Celebration project. The 348,000-square-foot luxury senior housing facility is the first of its kind in Celebration, Florida, a Disney-originated master-planned community just south of Walt Disney World.

Windsor at Celebration provides five-star hospitality in a fun, playful environment. The project features:

• 240 residential units with a variety of independent living, assisted living and memory care services
• 22,000 square feet of common space with a movie theater, fitness center, spa, indoor pool, dining room, and two bars
• A rooftop solarium provides scenic views and is the perfect place to enjoy Disney fireworks displays 
  

The design and construction of this award-winning project combined innovative building materials and industry best practices to deliver an iconic structure. From the very beginning of the project, the team implemented processes that promoted efficiency, collaboration, quality, and safety. 

“Big Rock Partners committed early to design, construction, and operations partners and empowered each of us to influence the project design in critical ways,” states Project Executive Mac Hoenicke. “From the beginning, we collaborated with our team partners to find the most optimal way for everyone to be successful. This led to the ultimate success of the project."

This team approach resulted in a conceptual design that fully considered the building program, structural design and MEPF distribution design very early in the process.

The building was constructed with structural load masonry bearing walls and innovative hollow-core plank floors and ceilings. The hollow core structure was an effective and economical project solution with multiple benefits, including:

• Off-site prefabrication with lowered labor costs and reduced construction time
• Reduced material cost because the structures double as a combined deck and ceiling system
• A material composition that is strong, durable, sound absorbent, and resistant to extreme fire and weather, making it a safer choice for both workers and residents
• The reduced weight that allows longer spans without supporting columns
• Less labor and materials are required for the installation

Ultimately, using a hollow-core structure designed and constructed with a detailed, well-executed project plan saved four weeks on the schedule and $3 million in cost savings.

Windsor at Celebration’s residents are delighted with their new home and Balfour Beatty’s partnership with Big Rock Partners continues with new senior living projects underway in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania, and on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

The project team for Windsor at Celebration includes Big Rock Partners, Gensler, Balfour Beatty, Power Design, Armstrong Air, Modern Plumbing, AIT Life Safety, and Advanced Masonry.

Congratulations to the entire team on receiving this well-deserved award.