Questions about LA Clippers Practice Facility, answered in the words of the people who did the work. The engagement itself is on its own page.
What was the hardest constraint on the practice facility renovation?
The Clippers came to us to redesign their practice facility, room by room: locker rooms, performance and rehab, training and coaching, and the player lounge. An NBA team has no offseason long enough to close that building, so we turned the schedule around. The practice calendar was fixed and the finish date was the thing allowed to move. We mapped what each room shared with its neighbors, the air, power, water and exits, before any drawing went to bid, and ran it one room down at a time. Because we held both the design and the build, we did not certify our own phases; team operations signed each room done before the next one opened. The last sign-off came in October 2018, on schedule, and the team was in the building the whole way through.
How were the team, the trades and operations kept aligned on what had to be complete before each room was handed back?
We wrote the gate down so nobody had to remember it. The next room opened only when three things were true: team operations had signed the handoff for the last one, every temporary feed or exit standing in for a shared system was out or made permanent, and the as-built of that room's shutoffs was in hand. Every small scope was assigned to a phase on one look-ahead per phase, and each trade was held to its assignment, so the daily question changed from what is next to what is allowed. Anyone on the job could check whether the gate was open.
How did the need to keep the building running shape the order of work?
It meant one room down at a time. Taking two down would have shortened the program, but sooner or later the players would have had nowhere to lift or dress, so we held the practice calendar fixed and let the finish date move. Then the building set the order. Before any drawing went out, we mapped what each room shared with the others: air handling, electrical, drains, exits, fire zones, structure, dust and crew routes. The schedule came after that.
Which room had to go first on the practice facility, and why?
The order came from the player and coaching schedules. One piece was the coaches' new locker room: Doc Rivers was particular that his staff always had a place, and the facility had plenty of room. The Clippers were great to work with. We came in when we would not be a distraction, and their practice schedule was set, so it was not a major issue.