Research & Development

St. Louis has long been a hub in research and development in the agriculture, chemical, healthcare and bio science industries. IBEW/NECA's work in this sector has earned honors 10 times in the AGC Construction Keystone Awards. 

IBEW/NECA has served these industries with distinction and exported their talents to serve R&D industries in other cities. Our clients span Monsanto, Pfizer, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and Millipore Sigma, Brewer Science, research facilities for Washington University, Saint Louis University and the University of Missouri system and even the birthplace of the Manhattan Project, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Each project has had its own R&D complexities creating challenges that the IBEW/NECA team has overcome in a number of ways, including:

• Modifying drawings to optimize installations, including combining and resizing circuits and incorporating into Building Information Modeling (BIM) drawings with no conflicts.
• Installing advanced renewable energy elements including solar lighting using computer operated, sun-tracking, Fresnel lens mirrors to direct sunlight through fiber optic cabling to illuminate interior lights.
• Managing an extreme schedule compression by precisely planning the sequencing work assignments.
• Installing state-of-the-art daylight and occupancy sensors for cost efficient lighting.
• Installing specialized electrical needs for labs, including clean rooms.
• Achieving all R&D installation objectives through a two-stage commissioning process involved four different agencies.
• Avoiding any disruptions to ongoing campus research and operations
• Accommodating a phased move-in by strategically deploying manhours without violating labor agreements.

On all R&D projects, IBEW/NECA works very closely with the owner, engineer, designer and general contractor to review constructability issues early in the planning process. Our goal is to identify and eliminate any conflicts that might impact the schedule and budget.

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