Students in MSOE’s Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management Department competed in the Associated Schools of Construction Student Competition in Reno, Nevada in February. They took third place in the National Preconstruction Competition, which was sponsored by PCL Construction.

Back row, from left: MSOE assistant professor and team coach Mark Rounds, P.E., Connor Brennan, Carson Barwick, Weston Lema. Front row, from left: Sean Kennedy, Beth Mical, Mackenzie Beck.

For the competition, the students received a request for proposal (RFP) for a real project at 7 a.m. and had 16 hours to turn in their proposal at 11 p.m. The following morning they present their solution to a panel of judges, which usually includes individuals who were involved in the actual project.  

The project they worked on was a $9.1 million, 13,000 square foot, 2-bay fire station that will improve the response time for medical and fire emergencies as well as maintain services associated with the forecasted population growth of the area. The new fire station will include apparatus bays, living quarters, watch office, fitness area, community room, hose tower, communications tower, and support spaces to support the needs of the fire department. The capacity requirements include housing (1) fire company – 9 firefighters, 3 engineers, 2 lieutenants, and 1 captain – with future capacity to eventually house (2) fire companies. The fire station is pursuing LEED Gold certification.