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Rising

Woodward Design+Build

“Nothing can be reasonable or beautiful unless it’s made by one central idea, and the idea sets every detail.” —Howard Roark, The Fountainhead.

The germ of an idea is the spark that ignites the engine of invention, driving Woodward Design+Build

to be one of the very best design and build teams available in a crowded field of talented competitors. The company ranks number 72 on a list of 100 of the nation’s top design and build firms compiled in 2009, with annual revenues of $160 million.

Woodward Design+Build is an excellent example of a company devoted to the needs of its clients and in every sense a

leader, as it contributes to the restoration of New Orleans both by its expertise in helping rebuild the city and by

adhering to its civic responsibilities, as Ric Larson discovers

challenge to

the Rising

Woodward Design+Build

When architect Carl E. Woodward established Woodward Design+Build 86 years ago in New Orleans, he did it with a vision of a partnership among client, architect and builder to bring forth a new and exciting way to provide added value to the company’s construction projects and create meaningful relationships with clients. With high quality and excellent safety performance, Woodward provides commercial, institutional, industrial and multi-family design and construction services including in-house custom millwork and structural steel capabilities, along with a methodology that integrates planning, design, engineering and construction activities into a comprehensive project management approach.

The company works on a wide-ranging array of projects from auto dealerships to hotels, to military and government facilities, to historic restorations, and several more varied projects in between. In August 2010 it completed a comprehensive renovation for the athletic facilities at the Eleanor McMain Secondary School on South Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans.

The McMain School was the first public school to open in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, almost four months after the devastation in August 2005, which had virtually washed away the public school system in New Orleans. The McMain facility was woeful indeed. There were rats scurrying around the gymnasium, or what was left of it. The athletic equipment was in disrepair or destroyed, and there were no showers for the athletes due to there being no running water. The weight room was riddled with asbestos and covered in mold.

Bridgette Frick, the school principal, said that the school was in bad shape even before the hurricane hit. “The walls needed to be painted, and the lockers were in such deplorable condition that they weren’t usable even before the storm.” The returning students were robot-like and in shock, suffering from what some have called the “thousand-yard stare,” a term used to describe the unfocused gaze of a combat-weary soldier, as a result of the aftereffects of the storm.

“We had a lot of kids with post-traumatic stress disorder,” Frick said. “A lot of students lost loved ones.” Frick attended to the obvious academic issues for the school after the storm, and after a school cleanup was completed, she quickly focused on athletics to boost the morale of her

Woodward Design+Build

students. The school basketball team played well enough to be in the hunt for a playoff spot that post-Katrina season. “Sports helped boost morale and made the students feel good about themselves; it gave them a sense of normalcy,” Frick said.

Woodward, along with Moses Engineers, Inc. and the architectural firm of St. Brown and Associates, together with many magnanimous volunteers, combined to team up and fix the problems. This was a story that was truly inspiring and aroused the interest of sports cable giant ESPN. After consulting with the New Orleans Saints football team, a long-time client of Woodward, ESPN chose the McMain School as the subject of an hour-long documentary called “Rise Up: New Orleans” that was featured on the network on September 21, 2010, and is part of an ongoing series by ESPN known as “Rise,” the network’s initiative for high school athletics.

As an added bonus, the students were allowed to practice with the Saints players and coaches at the Super Bowl champions’ state-of-the-art practice facility in Metairie, Louisiana, also built by Woodward. Principal Frick thinks the result of “Rise Up: New Orleans” will have a long-lasting and positive effect upon the students for years to come. “What this will do for our school is analogous to what winning the Super Bowl did for the city of New Orleans,” said Frick.

Another of Woodward’s restoration projects in New Orleans after the storm was the Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church, a lovely Gothic Revival structure built in 1875. Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage to the church. The bell tower collapsed on top of the roof, exposing the inside of the church to the elements. Bricks and debris from the tower crashed through the ceiling, and in the process, severely damaged the air conditioning ductwork, antique chandeliers, the exquisite wood flooring, and the 135-year-old wooden pews.

The $5.2 million budget included the rebuilding of structural roof trusses, the reconstruction of the steeple with a new steel-framed skeleton, sheathing the roof and the application of slate tiles, as well as new millwork for the windows

and louvers. The bricks for the masonry work had to be made of a specific color clay to match the originals and were manufactured in North Carolina of clay that was a blend of five different shades. Using remnants of the old bricks, special molds were made to accommodate the shapes of 14 different sizes, and where they were needed, new ones were fabricated. The pews had to be sent to a woodworking expert in North Carolina to be duplicated and refinished. The wood floors were refinished as well as new chandeliers installed, along with repainting the interior, replastering the walls, and a new air conditioning system. As with every project Woodward is involved with, the company took special pride in contributing its expertise and craftsmanship to this project.

Safety is of the utmost importance to the company. “Through partnership agreements, employers learn that OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration], NSC [National Safety Council], AGC [Associated General Contractors of America] and similar organizations are valuable allies in working cooperatively to address critical safety and health issues,” said Woodward vice president of operations Donnie Johnston. “This approach is a very effective tool for reducing fatalities, injuries and illnesses in the construction industry,” he said.

In January 2007 the company reached a key milestone by logging more than 1 million man-hours with no lost time due to injuries. To date, the company has logged over a million and a half man-hours with no lost-time injuries. www.woodwarddesignbuild.com

“We had a lot of kids with post-traumatic stress disorder. A lot of students lost loved ones. Sports helped boost morale and made the students feel good about themselves; it gave them a sense of normalcy”

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WOODWARDwww.woodwarddesignbuild.comDESIGN+BUILD