PBN Innovative Companies 2023
Architecture, Construction & Engineering: Skanska USA Inc.
A GLOBAL CONSTRUCTION COMPANY whose founder helped stir significant contributions into the cement business in the 1800s is expanding its 135-year legacy of innovation.
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Skanska USA Inc.’s Civil New England team is pioneering digital technology from its virtual design and construction Center of Excellence in Waltham, Mass. VDC tools and building-information technologies are breaking ground on projects and making an impact on the Ocean State.
“We look at the job very early,” said Paul Pedini, Skanska USA Civil New England Region’s senior vice president. “We build the job in the computer before we build in the field. If there’s any latent issue, we solve that upfront.”
Cutting-edge technology produces 3D models visualizing existing sites and finished builds.
The advent of 4D technology allows contractors to factor in and update daily throughout the project by changing variables, including time, cost, facility management, sustainability and health-and-safety information.
“It’s very powerful,” Pedini said. “The idea is to have everything happen automatically instead of doing it by hand.”
One local success subsidiary of the Swedish construction giant Skanska AB Technology cites is the $265 million Interstate 95 Viaduct Northbound Project in downtown Providence. With the traditional design-bid-build approach, the R.I. Department of Transportation would have planned the entire project and sought the lowest bid.
But the transportation department used design-build technology to begin upgrading both of Interstate 95’s four-lane north-south bridges that cut through the city where I-95 connects with Interstate 195 and U.S. Routes 6 and 146.
“That area always has been a very tightly congested area,” RIDOT spokesperson Charles St. Martin said.
Using digital technology, Skanska eliminated messy weaves and merges that have snarled traffic on the 1946 viaduct for years and plans to fix the problematic I-95/Route 146 split by moving a bridge and rerouting traffic.
“We understand what makes projects more efficient and can sometimes save on the scope of the job and drive the costs down,” Pedini said. “Success can be measured by: Is it on schedule? Is it on budget? The answer to both is ‘yes.’ It’s exactly where it’s supposed to be – that’s when you know you’re doing well.”
