Our structural engineers are key contributors to our unique, one-team approach to project delivery. Rather than contracting with external engineering firms, our team includes structural engineers who work directly with our architects, project managers and developers. This integrated, in-house approach enables process efficiencies that speed up project timelines and enable collaboration for safer and more sustainable building designs.
Diverse & Deep Expertise in Structural Engineering
With an extensive resume of expertise, the Opus Structural Engineering department consists of 15 associates who have more than 200 years of combined engineering and construction experience. Our engineers and building information modeling (BIM) technicians specialize in designing a broad-spectrum of building types – from industrial to institutional, to office and residential and everything in between. The department includes management and support staff, as well as project engineers who work closely with project managers, field staff and subcontractors to assure the design intent is correctly implemented in the field.
The structural engineering team selects and incorporates materials that meet or exceed the requirements of clients and end users of the building, while maintaining the architecture and economic viability of the project. With deep experience and training, the team holds professional registrations in 33 of the lower 48 states, including areas subject to high seismicity like the West Coast and intense hurricane-force storms as found in coastal regions.
“To find the best solutions and solve a wide-array of construction issues, our engineering team continually researches and implements the best technologies and structural products available today,” said John Lewis, vice president of engineering.
Engineering Unique Solutions
Verve in Denver and Union Tempe in Tempe, Ariz., are high-rise multifamily buildings designed with post-tensioned concrete floors. The scale and nature of these systems normally requires a delay strip, which is a wide opening across the width of the building to accommodate initial movements made by the floor as it cures. Constructing the openings can cause significant delays in the project schedule and present potential fall hazards for construction workers. John Ellingson, manager of engineering, developed an innovative delay joint, which eliminates the fall hazard while accommodating the normal building movement during construction and allows work to safely progress without delays.
Early Collaboration Aids Certainty of Outcome
Well before the project starts, our engineers work closely with construction and field personnel to ensure project costs, schedules and workflow proceed with minimal unexpected events or delays. This contributes to our ability to establish an early guaranteed maximum price, so clients don’t have to bear the cost and risks involved with multiple cycles of traditional design-bid-build processes.
“Whether it is an office facility, athletic arena, manufacturing facility or housing project, early in the planning stages, we find viable structural solutions to address construction challenges while ensuring the client’s spatial requirements are met,” said Doug Woolf, director of engineering.
Once the project proceeds, the schedule is further enhanced by having the engineering staff readily available. As unanticipated issues or questions arise during construction, field personnel and project managers have direct access to the engineering team, who quickly respond, keeping the project on schedule.
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“Knowledge is power” has never been more true. In today’s economy, a large part of any company’s value is the brainpower and capabilities of its people. We put that power in your hands, uniquely bringing you an in-house team of multidisciplinary experts, aligned and driven to deliver for you.
With a wide breadth of experience in development, design, construction and business partner services, you can be assured that you’ll reap many benefits. Our integrated design-build model – Opus DB3™ –delivers impactful results with faster completions and less total cost.
At the end of the day – or the project – our clients benefit from our integrated model. Learn more about our
in-house expertise.