Resort and Hospitality

With an estimated completion date of summer 2019, the tradespeople on the W Hotel project are working as quickly and safely as possible. But before the project even started, many events had to happen in perfect sequence. The Sky Hotel, which formerly occupied the space where the W Hotel is now being built, had to be demolished. Given the job’s proximity to mining sites, there was lead and cadmium training that happened and awareness information that was distributed.

The new hotel’s location continues to play a part in the special care and concern, long after major construction had started. The site itself is very tight, with a four-story building restriction in this part of town. Because of these issues, there is limited space to store the countless materials that are needed. All the parts are stored in Carbondale, a 45-minute up-valley drive on Colorado Highway 82. Materials from that location are shipped onto the job site every day.

“From a safety point, this was one of our more trying projects,” said Mike Callison, safety engineer. “Encore faced many challenges from logistics to staging materials to planning due to the location of the project. Our employees overcame a lot of variables, seen and unseen, to make this a successful project.”

“The owner was looking for a high-end lighting control system in each of the 99 hotel rooms, said Justin Clarke, preconstruction manager. “It needed the ability to provide scene setting and control from multiple locations in the room with a simple user interface. Additionally, it needed to be networked with the front desk for energy saving and guest greeting functions. Encore was able to work closely with the owner, designers and our manufacturer partners to find the best solution within the project budget. This was only possible because of the teamwork between our preconstruction and construction teams.”

Also, prefabrication is a key component of this build strategy. All of the main panels in the electrical room were prebuilt and placed on concrete pads in Encore Electric’s prefabrication shop, so there was no need to wait for concrete to be poured on site.

“I’m a big believer in prefabrication and the time it saves,” said Mike Mattie, superintendent on the job. “We knew manpower in the mountains is tough, so we thought this would be an opportunity to get man hours in Denver.”

Owner’s Rep Mike O’Connor said, “This project took down one iconic building that was beloved by locals and was known as the party location.  We are hoping this new iconic project will be the place that locals and others seek out to enjoy the bar, hot tub and the view. The rooftop amenities will be amazing.”

Stan McClintock, Encore Electric project manager says to the team, “Thanks for the hard work. I know we drive far and this winter has been a tough one. This crew is working hard to keep up with the schedule, and things have changed quite a bit during the project. It’s a testament to the team we have.”

It is O’Connor’s first time working with the Encore Electric team. “I’m extremely pleased. Encore Electric has been a critical member of the team, taking the design assist role seriously to build more efficiently. They have a can-do attitude. It is great working with people to find solutions and bring solutions to the project.”

Awards:

• 2020 Independent Electrical Contractors Rocky Mountain Summit Awards
  Best Low Voltage/Limited Energy Systems Project