Over the course of the last year, Said Mneimne and his team at Hill International have been working on a unique project. Last year, Hill International was selected by the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) to provide project management consultancy services for the development of their new research and development campus. Named the Indian Oil Technology Development and Deployment Center, the project has a $275 million budget, and, when completed, will encom- pass 60 acres. Updating facilities built in the 1970s, the IOCL’s new research campus will provide space for research into emerging green technologies. The campus will feature a center for alternative and renewable energy and a center for nanotechnology, as well as industrial laboratories for the study of carbon nanotubes/batteries, biotechnology, pipelines, petro- chemicals, catalysts, and applied metallurgy. Additionally, the site will include recreational, administrative, dining, and utility facilities. In addition to studying and implementing new green energy tech- nologies, the campus itself aims to be a paragon of green building and management, planning to be the largest and most sustainable net-zero campus in the world. Hill International initially became involved in the project in October of 2019. Theyworkedwith three separate firms in creating the original design Managing the Development of the World’s Largest and Most Sustainable Net-Zero Campus
for the project: RSD from the United States, Ong & Ong from Singapore, and a local architecture firm calledVYOM. Working with these firms, Hill International submitted the original master plan and DPR. While these plans were being drafted, the world experienced the out- break of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, while most of the AEC industry experienced near shutdown, Said Mneimne credits his team for being able to “regroup”, which meant that the drafting of the plans was only minimally affected. Mneimne and his team were soon able to get the project back on track, finishing the plans in mid-June, just one month after their original deadline. Despite the challenges of learning to work remotely, the team was able to effectively execute the proper procedures to keep the project relatively on schedule, submitting their design plans at the beginning of July 2020. After submitting their design plan to the client, minor alterations were made to the plan to fit the budget. After another plan was submitted, the client had to make a decision on whether to increase their budget by up to 25 percent or further alter the plans. These deliberations took several months, and, in late February, Mneimne and his team received word that the IOCL board had approved the budget increase.
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csengineermag.com
April 2021
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