EXCELLENCE IN CONSTRUCTION: U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER

U.S. Space and Rocket Center was an innovative project for Lee Company – and so much fun! Congratulations to the Lee Company pros who worked on this historical site in Huntsville, Alabama: U.S. Space and Rocket Center has been honored with Excellence in Construction awards from the Greater Tennessee and North Alabama chapters of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC).

U.S. Space and Rocket Center received the 2018 Eagle Award from the Greater Tennessee Associated Builders and Contractors chapter and the 2018 Excellence Award from the North Alabama Associated Builders and Contractors Chapter.

IT’S TIME FOR TAKEOFF!

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC), in Huntsville, Alabama, is the largest spaceflight museum in the world. Its large rocket and space hardware collection is valued in the tens of millions of dollars. Most notable is the national historic landmark, Saturn V Moon Rocket, from the Smithsonian on display in the Davidson Center at USSRC. When leaking from underground piping threatened this and other exhibits with thousands of gallons of water a week, Lee Company launched into action. From start to finish, our team’s expertise and capabilities delivered a quality solution to protect a national landmark.

IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, BUT THE SOLUTION IS OUT OF THIS WORLD

The first challenge? Overcoming the concerns of the Center owner regarding the proposed solution: 1,280 feet of Victaulic pipe mounted to hangers on stands 20 feet tall to clear the bay doors on the back of the Davidson Center. Huntsville is known as “Rocket City” for a reason and the owner was concerned hanging external pipes on the exhibit area would be an eyesore. External access was important, though, to prevent future leak issues.

Lee Company engaged its virtual construction team to create virtual drawings and a video of the completed project to the customer, all concerns were put at bay. And, with the facility manager’s approval, the team had to race against the clock to complete the work.

The next challenge? Time. It’s isn’t a luxury when working with a national landmark. Lee Company worked around peak times at the Center to limit disruptions to the visitor experience. To optimize project time, Lee Company’s fabrication shop built the stands and mounted hangers, which were shipped to the field and assembled on-site. Stands were comprised of 6-foot by 6-foot steel tubes which were 20 feet tall. Over 1,200 feet of Victaulic pipe was attached to the stands and set in place with lifts, 19 feet off the ground over the back-bay doors of the Davidson Center.

 The final results? Takeoff was not interrupted! With Lee Company innovation and expertise, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center continued business as normal, was repaired on time and on budget.

What project can we help you with? Call the award-winning team at Lee Company today!

P.S. U.S. Space and Rocket Center was one of 10 Lee Company projects honored with a 2018 ABC award – and several of those projects received multiple awards! Altogether, Lee Company took home 17 ABC awards this year. That’s incredible. We greatly appreciate this industry recognition of our dedicated professionals and their work. Thanks to our team and clients. We couldn’t do it without you!