NR Steel completed the structural steel detailing for custom steel components incorporated into a new Duke Energy operations center in Monroe, NC. The custom steel tied into a pre-engineered metal building that was already under construction at the time of our site involvement, which required field verification of as-built conditions before detailing could be finalized.

On-site conditions presented multiple compounding issues that could not be resolved from the contract documents alone. The PEMB structure was out of plumb. Z-purlins had already been erected at elevations and locations that conflicted with planned canopy support column positions. Footers were not located as shown on the contract drawings. The connections from our custom steel to the PEMB spandrels had not been fully designed or approved.

In partnership with the fabricator, NR Steel's detailers attended the site with the full 3D Tekla model accessible via Trimble Connect on an iPad, with both the fabricator and the engineer of record present. Working from actual field conditions rather than contract drawings, we annotated field measurements directly into the model, resolved column routing around the existing purlins, confirmed footer offsets, and worked through the spandrel connection design with the EOR on-site. The spandrel connections were approved before the site visit concluded.

Addressing all conflicts in a single coordinated site visit, with the decision-makers present and the model available as a live reference, produced a streamlined path to finalized drawings. The alternative would have been a sequential RFI process unable to resolve interdependent conflicts efficiently. The completed detailing package reflected actual constructed conditions and was ready for fabrication without a subsequent field verification cycle.

For more work from this region, see our projects serving Monroe and Charlotte.