The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football Operations Center Construction Update
11/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
FOOTBALL OPERATIONS CENTER TIMELINE
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A significant lack of rain in Birmingham over the last two months has presented some issues, but for MJ Harris Construction Services, they couldn’t have asked for more ideal conditions in terms of working on the Football Operations Center.
“The dry weather has been an absolute blessing,” said Adam Inzina, Senior Project Manager of MJ Harris, the company who won the bid to build UAB’s Football Operations Center. “We are certainly past a big hurdle by getting the foundations out of the ground.”
With a July 1, 2017 deadline to have the entire Football Operations Center and Legacy Pavilion ready to go, there has been daily activity at the corner of 6th Avenue and 11th Street South. A steady stream of bulldozers pushing dirt and cranes transporting steel have been visible from sun up to sun down for the last two months.
Based in Birmingham, MJ Harris has historically been a company that’s done business nationwide, but recently has had the desire to stay local and help revitalize the city of Birmingham, including UAB’s freshman residents hall two years ago.
“UAB is a huge revenue generator for the state of Alabama and it is continuously growing. We want to be a part of that opportunity to help it grow,” Inzina said.
Upon receiving the official document to proceed on September 12, MJ Harris took over the construction site and it has been nonstop ever since. The fencing went up on September 15 and the first bulldozer hit dirt on September 19.
The lack of rain has accelerated the first phase of construction, which is getting the first of two foundations laid, and that consists of 2,000 yards of cubic concrete and 50 tons of rebar.
“The first floor slab will be poured in a week or two from now. Right now we are getting the underfloor electrical and plumbing for the building, and then we will pour the slabs after that.”
Along with getting the foundation for the Football Operations Center in place, MJ Harris has also begun its early preparation for the Legacy Pavilion.
“For the Pavilion, it has a deep foundation that goes down into bedrock. We basically drill a micro pile down to bedrock which is about 20-30 feet deep and we just started those this week in preparation for steel to be delivered. We should start going vertical in mid-January.”
Hesitant to say they are ahead of schedule, Inzina is very pleased with the pace at which the construction is moving, thanks in large part to the perfect weather conditions for such a project.
For continuous updates on the Football Operations Center construction and UAB Football in general, be sure to follow @UAB_FB on Twitter and Instagram, and visit www.uabsports.com.
If you would like to make a pledge to the Football Operations Center, click here, or call the Blazer Boosters office at 205-996-9969.
