When Alston Construction agreed to build a cold storage facility in Wilmington, Illinois for long-time client CDC (now Lineage Logistics), the team in charge did not know much about building freezer buildings. They were familiar with the industrial park, having built many of its structures. And they knew the weather and local market. But they were not experts in cold storage. So they did their research, added the right experts to the team and got to work.
To overcome the steep learning curve and successfully deliver the 80,000-sf cold storage facility on-time, Alston leaned heavily on trusted subcontractors CORCO, DUAL TEMP, Hinsdale Electric Company, M-JTJ Contractors and Kole Construction. They emphasized collaboration and close communication by scheduling frequent team meetings to identify all challenges – and the appropriate solutions – with all of the key players present.
With insight from the refrigeration and freezer panels subs, Alston began construction in the early spring by setting the steel and connecting the refrigeration panels to it via a complex system of bracing and cabling. This nontraditional approach to building construction created new challenges for the team. Alston had to protect the freezer panels and continuously monitor air quality to safely pour concrete and complete the structure around them. With those in place, the team installed a glycol radiant floor heating system to prevent the spread of frost under the sub-base, poured the slab and completed a tremendous amount of detailing to the panels themselves to prevent frost, leaking and condensation.
Despite never having built a similar cold storage structure, Alston successfully and safely delivered the cold storage facility on time and within budget. The novice team even helped the client identify design issues and delivered remediation efforts to ensure on-time operation of the specialized facility in just ten months. Alston has since constructed a variety of cold storage facilities across the country.