Sophisticated sky-high living is evident in the Tower 12 apartment complex, located in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle. The 314-unit complex offers residents exceptional amenities such as a theater, fitness room with city views, game room, gourmet kitchen, yoga studio, lounge and rooftop terraces in a friendly and vibrant urban community. The patio’s fireplace is a showstopper with one of the largest, most eye-catching features – a 12-foot-wide and 24-inch high flame. Seattle is known as one of the most dog-friendly cities in the U.S. and Tower 12 caters to its canine residents through the dog run, wash station, “yappy hours” and visiting dog groomer.  

When the project broke ground, the team was faced with the challenge of unknown underground conditions. PCL adapted a collaborative team-oriented approach and used the available resources to investigate the history of the site to better understand likely scenarios. Subcontractor partnerships played a vital role in providing detailed information about the neighboring foundation depths, foundations encountered on adjacent properties, and historical records from previous site structures. From there, the team developed a clear list of potential cost impacts related to obstruction drilling for piles, increased premiums for the export of debris-fouled soil and concrete foundations, and for the removal on underground storage tanks. This allowed the team to communicate cost implications early-on and paved the way for open and transparent communication. Upon completion of the affected area of excavation, the cost of the increased work was only 1% different than the allowance established prior to the start of construction. The extra effort and innovative thinking put forward to anticipate unknown challenges proved successful in defining a value to an unknown scope of work and reducing foreseeable risks. 

The initial budget began to suffer in the transition from schematic design to construction. Recognizing there was a specific budget that needed to be met, we worked closely with Tower 12 and the architect to explore options for decreasing costs without sacrificing the project’s value and design. The team established items that could not be sacrificed – from the living units to the common areas that allowed for the best experiences to the end user. Our team of structural experts closely studied the changes and concluded that constructability could be simplified by almost 20% through researching the desired aesthetic and re-designing it according to the readily-available standard products. This eliminated unnecessary costs of custom parts and allowed for the design and aesthetic to remain uncompromised.  

With relentless innovative thinking from the team, value engineering led to a high degree of trust, teamwork, and in the end, a gorgeous apartment building completed one month ahead of the original schedule. Today, Tower 12 offers residents 34 floors of stunning views of the Puget Sound, gorgeous apartments and superior amenities that perfectly fit the Seattle lifestyle.