Central to the project are two facilities encompassing lean manufacturing techniques, innovative composites fabrication and assembly, and integration technologies. In addition to the production/assembly buildings, the scope includes sitework, process/equipment foundations, a concrete load facility/apron and a training/support facility.

The complex was developed on 100 acres of the 310-acre greenfield site adjacent to the Charleston International Airport. The original site, which supported a phosphate mine in the early 1900s, had an elevation of 12' above sea level. The sitework phase was challenging, as approximately 40% of the areas were designated wetlands and the balance consisted of 12'- to 15'-high undulations left behind after the mining operation ceased. Less than four months after the first tree was cleared, the first steel column was erected.
Vought Aircraft's 787 Dreamliner Composite Fuselage Production Facility — the main production facility at the complex — was designed and constructed specifically to fabricate aft carbon fiber composite fuselage sections for Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner commercial aircraft. Our firm completed this design-build project in just 54 weeks, during which time the 787 aircraft was still on the drawing board.

Because this one-of-a-kind facility was designed and built around an evolving aircraft manufacturing process incorporating developing technology, this meant that the facility had to be designed and built while the product's manufacturing requirements for process and equipment were still in development. Thus, changes made during the aircraft's design phase not only impacted the facility's machine design and development, but also had direct and continuous ramifications on both building and equipment foundation design and construction efforts, often right up to concrete placement.

The 787 Dreamliner Composite Fuselage Production Facility's 454,722 sf structure incorporates 70,000 sf of cleanroom manufacturing area, 270,000 sf of conditioned general manufacturing area, 2,000 sf of cooler/freezer capacity, and 23,000 sf of mezzanine-level administrative office space. Included with this facility is a 13,125 sf of central energy plant providing electrical, vacuum, compressed air, and HVAC services, and the world's largest gas-fired autoclave with a supporting nitrogen tank farm.

The project presented unique design challenges for our team due to the size of the fuselage sections to be produced in the facility. The cavernous manufacturing building houses 38 independent process equipment cells, each with unique, state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment. This area includes a Class 300,000 cleanroom approximately the size of a football field. Half of the cells house enormous machines requiring specialized deep foundations with varying degrees of complexity. The remaining cells have multistory work platforms to allow personnel to work on the fuselage. The autoclave, a pressurization vessel used to cure the composite material, is the largest one in the world.

Despite these challenges, the design-build effort was completed in an extremely short 13-month timeframe in keeping with the Owner's (Vought's) requirements for speed-to-market to meet its own client's needs (i.e., Boeing's production schedule). Continuous communication between the Owner and members of the design-build team, and the quick decision-making that resulted, helped to ensure on-time facility delivery in accordance with the owner's quality expectation. The contract between our firm and Vought Aircraft involved 17 independent Contractual Milestone Dates targeting specific process equipment foundations and building areas or components. All Milestone Dates were met or exceeded. The Certificate of Occupancy was received two days ahead of schedule.

Vought's 787 fuselage production facility is served by a separate training/support facility known as The Hub. This building, which includes a cafeteria, will be used initially to train the Vought employees on the processes they will encounter in the start-up and production of the plant. This building was designed for, and provisions were made during construction, to convert it to a childcare facility for the Vought employees at later date.

Co-located with Vought's 787 Dreamliner Composite Fuselage Production Facility is a second production building — a 310,478 sf assembly and integration facility being constructed for Global Aeronautica, LLC. This joint venture formed between Vought Aircraft Industries and Alenia North America, Inc. supports the Boeing 787 Dreamliner program. Global Aeronautica will join and integrate fuselage sections from Vought, Alenia Aeronautica S.p.A. of Italy and other structural partners, which together produce more than 60% of the 787 fuselage.

Our company's design-build partner for this high-profile project was BRPH, a leading architectural firm with more than 30 years of government and commercial project experience for the aerospace industry.