BASF Chemicals produces admixtures for the construction industry. At their Kent facility, they process/mix raw materials into finished goods. To accommodate the expansion of their facility, the company opted to move next door into an existing building twice the square footage of their previous location. This required preparing the existing building to support an operation that included general construction, an office remodel, new HVAC, plumbing/piping upgrades (new water service, gas, compressed air, water), and a complete electrical upgrade. The mechanical systems were designed and built to serve both the facility and BASF’s manufacturing chemical admix processes.
What started as a contract to install a new water service evolved into a general construction project managed by MacDonald-Miller. As BASF learned more about MacMiller’s capabilities, they realized that we’d be the ideal general contractor for the project.
This project proved to be both fun and quite challenging. We completely revamped their entire electrical system to support the building infrastructure and BASF’s chemical production process – from emergency lighting to all their chemical pumps and control valves. A huge advantage for MacMiller was having Ron Jimerson – a true jack-of-all-trades – in our arsenal. Besides all the concrete pads and the office remodel, Ron cut-in and installed a dock leveler and galvanized steel stairs (beautifully fabricated by our shop), framed-in and installed roll-up fire doors, saw-cut through structural wall to railway tracks complete with structural steel supports, installed new fencing inside and out, installed new steel ramps and chemical containment, and executed the assembly and installation of a pre-fab sampling lab. His accomplishments and talents were quite impressive!
Clayton Parker, Byron Cross and their team did the heavy lifting required to bring an old building up to code, while incorporating the processing electrical requirements. Mike Pinchin and our fitters flawlessly executed the shutdown of the heart of the plant (the mezzanine and the mixing tanks), allowing them to be placed back into operation. Tim Felton, Rick Wolf and their sheet metal crew installed a beautiful Make Up Air unit (MUA) and exhaust system to mitigate the chemical hazard material risks. Paul Monsen and his plumbers, Chris Cory, Stephen McGregor and Max Beuter jumped in on short notice to satisfy all the building and process plumbing. Our MacMiller Controls Group design-built the controls to run the process MUA and exhaust system. Given all these intense efforts, our MacMIller team was quickly on a first-name basis with the City of Kent inspectors and fire marshal.
We’re proud that our ceaseless collaboration resulted in a very happy client. MacMiller leveraged its expertise and persistence to implement the best solutions for BASF.
Read more project highlights from our newsletter Perspective.