Providing Staff Augmentation During Construction for Renovations of a Critical Facility

HDR is providing construction management services to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission for a New Headworks Facility $500 million-plus project, which includes the Bruce Flynn Pump Station. 

The project involved renovating and modifying the existing 25-year-old Bruce Flynn pump station to increase capacity to convey 150 million gallons per day of sewage to the Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant for treatment. The modifications included installing six new, higher-capacity pumps, replacement of the bar screens, complete replacement of the odor control system, and installation of a new remote monitoring and operating system. The renovated pump station provides increased reliability during storm events.

The City of San Francisco has a combined wastewater and stormwater sewer system, utilizing below-ground storage to handle the surge inflows during storms. The Bruce Flynn Pump Station is used to empty the storage facility, prepare for the next storm event and prevent an overflow into the San Francisco Bay, which would be a serious violation of the City's discharge permit and result in large fines.

The project upgrade allowed the station to handle up to 100 MGD flows to the temporary flow bypass that was installed as part of the first scope of the project. This enabled the existing wet weather headworks facility (100 MGD, wet weather) to be demolished so we can build the new headworks facility (250 MGD, all weather) in its footprint.

As an integrated team with SFPUC, we currently have 14 HDR and subconsultant staff as part of the construction management team for the headworks project, along with three SFPUC staff. Our scope includes contract administration (implementing the CM safety plan, processing submittals/requests for information, startup and testing support, document control, generating as-builts), contract management (change and claims management, pay application reviews and processing), construction inspection (including special inspections for reinforced concrete and structural steel) and project controls (schedule reviews and cost estimating). Our work also entails leading coordination efforts between the SFPUC Operations and the CM/GC Contractor in an operating wastewater treatment plant, and the day-to-day problem solving that comes with construction projects working in an operating treatment plant with other construction projects ongoing next to ours.

Despite the project team encountering unprecedented performance challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the pump station project was delivered on time and within budget using a CM/GC contract, a first for the SFPUC.