Power UP Selected Finalist in 2017 Keystone Awards for Kiener Plaza Renovation Project

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Associated General Contractors of Missouri has selected local electrical contractor Power UP as a finalist for its prestigious Keystone Awards. Power UP recently completed electrical installation work on a $24-million renovation to Kiener Plaza in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Award winners will be announced at the AGC’s Construction Gala in November.

Closed since February 2016, the 3.5-acre Kiener Plaza re-opened on May 16 with a new playground, multiple fountains, native Missouri landscaping, benches, 140 trees, open gathering space and a large event lawn west of the Old Courthouse. The park was also expanded about eight feet south toward Market Street where a median was removed to prevent the loss of traffic lanes. The Kiener Plaza renovation was part of a $380-million improvement of the Gateway Arch grounds and its surrounding public spaces.

Power UP completed electrical power and lighting installation on the project, which included the coordination and layout of 14 quantity, 30-foot-tall street lights; 14 quantity, 8-foot-tall sidewalk lights; 28 quantity, 30-foot-tall multi-headed park lights; 62 quantity, grade-level tree lights and eight overhead moonlights located on the 42nd floor of the adjacent Metropolitan Square Building.

The project also included installation of 132 color-changing lights in the programmable waterfall feature on the west edge of the park and 23 lights in the fountain surrounding the iconic Olympic Runner statue. The park is powered by a 1200 amp 120/208 volt three-phase service that provides power to the three distribution pedestals.

Power UP overcame multiple challenges on the project, including mounting special-engineered brackets for the moonlights at 540 feet above street level on the top of the Metropolitan Square Building. These moonlights are controlled by a DMX control panel located on the ground. Additionally, Power UP installed a wireless transmitter and receiver to provide clear communication from the ground to the roof of the building.

“This task was particularly challenging as the team spent many long nights on the Metropolitan Square Building roof aiming and adjusting each individual light accurately and safely in order to open the park to the public on time,” said Gerhard Glassl, vice president of the UP Companies.

Besides installing the roof moonlights, one of the most challenging aspects of the project was maintaining cohesive coordination between all trades working on the project to properly lay out and install approximately 290 light fixtures. Due to the extensive design of the sidewalks and plant beds, Power UP used computer-aided design and a layout robot to ensure that every light fixture was placed in its precise design location, without error. Power UP superintendents also worked daily with wireless tablets onsite to coordinate changes, set up meetings and share fixture data in real-time with construction manager BSI and the other trades.

“We had to conduct extensive planning to schedule exactly when we could install each piece of our conduit at the correct depth because the landscape designers were planning their bed soils in layers, which required a great deal of communication between the many entities involved,” said Glassl. “This was a very complex plan and spec project that required constant manpower and material adjustments to keep us within our budget. With continuous communication and great attention to detail, we were able to accomplish this feat.”

Power UP, a certified Minority Business Enterprise, was also able to achieve a substantially diverse workforce on the project with 60.2 percent minority and 8.6 percent female employees on the job.