Known as IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp. in 2000, the biopharmaceutical manufacturer and research firm employed approximately 250 people. The company's operations were housed in three leased spec buildings strewn out over four blocks in San Diego. Administrative offices were located in one building with research-and-development employees in another. The third building was home to a pilot manufacturing plant and the company's quality team. A fourth spec building was eventually leased, as well, but the disconnected structures could not meet the company's needs.

"The leased buildings were spread out over several blocks which made face-to-face communication cumbersome," says Bob Wiley, associate director of facilities. "Since they were spec buildings, they were of average quality, did not meet any of IDEC's special needs, and did not reflect our corporate culture in any way. Manufacturing was outsourced due to a lack of capacity in the spec building. We reached a point where we knew we had to make a change in order to improve efficiency."

The company, which merged with Biogen Inc. in late 2003, develops and markets products for the treatment of cancer, inflammatory diseases, and disorders of the autoimmune system. At the time, the company was close to market with several of its products.

In addition to the need to enhance communication and efficiency, the capital improvement projects were driven by a company goal to one day manufacture its own products and potentially those of other companies. The objectives quickly turned into a vision for the future when planning got under way in 2000 for a pair of multimillion-dollar capital improvement projects—the New Idec Manufacturing Operation (NIMO) in Oceanside, Calif., and the Nobel Research and Corporate Campus in San Diego. Construction of NIMO began in the fourth quarter of 2000 with ground being broken for the other project in the third quarter of 2001. Both facilities were completed in late 2004 and are now occupied in their first phase of development.

Project Comparisons

The biggest similarity between the buildings is the essential role they will play in the company's future. Yet, they are vastly different not only in appearance, location, and function, but also in terms of how the planning and construction were done.

NIMO, situated in an industrial park setting, is a high-tech pharmaceutical manufacturing facility with an exterior comprised primarily of walls of windows and metal panels. The Nobel campus, consisting of laboratories and administrative offices, sits in a more residential location and features an exterior with sandstone finishes and punched windows.

The 500,000-sf NIMO manufacturing facility is on a 60-acre site, while the 360,000-sf Nobel research-and-development operations are situated on 43 acres. The number of employees at the West Cost operations has climbed from 250 five years ago to about 1,000 with approximately 500 at Nobel and 500 at NIMO.

"The timing of getting into the new facilities was just right because we were bursting at the seams in our leased buildings," notes Wiley.

Success was achieved with both projects by using delivery methods that were suitable for each building.

A construction manager oversaw the $400-million NIMO project and a hybrid delivery method—or combination of design-build and design-bid-build—was used. Fluor Corporation worked as the construction manager for the early part of the project, while DPR Construction served in this role during the latter part of the work. Using the hybrid delivery method, the MEP and process-related functions followed a conventional design with the consultants through the schematic stage, then bid with the sub-trades and finished the design with MEP contractors doing design-build. Non-MEP and design disciplines adhered to the design-bid-build process.

A different delivery approach, which involved the development of a limited liability corporation between the property developer and Biogen Idec, was used for the $170-million Nobel project.

"It was a conventional fast track on Nobel where you phase your design, construction, and permitting so you are overlapping all three things to get the project done quicker," says Wiley.

The contracting method for both projects was guaranteed maximum price.

The primary drivers for both projects were scope, schedule, and budget. An important driver specific to NIMO was manufacturing capacity for the product pipeline. Manufacturing is slated to begin in 2006. A critical consideration when planning Nobel was consolidation from four leased buildings to a single campus with improved communication and collaboration between researchers and support staff.

The internal Biogen Idec staff working on the projects included about 50 individuals at NIMO due to the intense engineering required and four part-timers at Nobel with the LLC development partner managing the day-to-day project business.

Project Organization

Project organization for both NIMO and Nobel featured an executive steering committee. For NIMO, the committee was comprised of a vice president of finance, vice president of manufacturing, chief operating officer, chief executive officer, and the project manager.

"Having the executive steering committee was critical to keeping the projects moving on time," says Wiley. "These senior managers acted as our advocates with the executive committee and the board of directors. They had ownership in the project and it was extremely helpful to have senior management involved."

Members of the committee met with the project team on a regular basis to ensure the project was on track.

For the NIMO building, the project manager worked with a small administrative finance and procurement group. Reporting directly to the project manager were the construction manager, engineering staff, and customer liaisons. The design team, subcontractors, and vendors reported to the construction manager.

This organizational structure was a benefit on the NIMO project because it provided a large in-house engineering staff that was needed for the complex manufacturing facility. In addition, the design-build relationship with the construction manager provided direct control and reporting of scope, schedule, and budget factors. Another critical feature was having the entire design and construction team of about 100 people working from the same on-site office to expedite project activities.

The Nobel project organization also included a steering committee, vice president of finance, vice president of research and development, vice president of human resources and strategic planning, senior director of facilities, and the chief executive officer. All aspects of the project funneled through the LLC management structure going to Wiley as the project manager and then to the steering committee. The LLC required a very small Biogen Idec project staff and a minimal commitment of resources due to the participation of the development partner.

Project Planning and Visioning

General project goals, such as consolidating the R&D and administrative functions into a single company-owned campus, were established even before property was acquired for the buildings. A requirement for the land purchase was making sure it was within close proximity to the R&D hub in San Diego.

HOK, the architect for Nobel, facilitated detailed visioning sessions with senior managers from Biogen Idec before starting design.

"We had a corporate mission, but we were a small company in 2001. We had corporate values, but we had never done any large projects," says Wiley. "HOK representatives drew ideas and goals from our senior management team and created a vision statement and a set of values for the project."

As part of the visioning sessions, senior managers discussed the facts of the project, their concepts of what is important, and the company's needs. The amenities that would be available on campus were also an issue.

"One of the values we established early in the planning was to attract and retain top scientists for research and development," says Wiley. "Therefore, the desired amenities were important and we included a fitness center, beach volleyball court, and cafeteria."

A more conventional programming process was followed for NIMO with McGraw-Baldwin as the architect. Since NIMO was primarily an engineering project geared toward the manufacturing process, objectives were fairly clear without visioning sessions.

Lessons Learned

Taking the necessary steps to properly plan a project is critical to its successful completion. Flexibility and standardization were built into Biogen Idec's project execution plan to address changes that might occur during the long-term projects. The merger, which occurred well into the construction phase, did not substantially impact the projects.

"Pre-design spending is insignificant compared to the total project budget, but it is the most important money spent," says Wiley. "Including senior management at the outset and keeping them involved throughout the project is critical."

NIMO and Nobel were successfully completed as a result of the early development of a project execution plan that defined the scope, schedule, organization, goals, and budget. Selecting members of the design and construction team at the earliest possible time was also a key consideration.

Other steps taken by Biogen Idec included establishing organization and resources early, considering the long-term impact of the organization, establishing an ongoing relationship with the permitting agencies and the funding sources, as well as determining the project metrics around scope, schedule, and budget.

"Getting to the design, getting your goals established, and creating your important high-level metrics is vital to project success," says Wiley.

By Tracy Carbasho

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