Specialty Fabrics Review September 2020 - 46

You need to
put your company
and crews in a
position where they
can succeed.
ANNIE CHISHOLM
KEY MANUFACTURING &
RENTALS INC.

thanks" to the offer. Consider Key Manufacturing & Rentals Inc. Headquartered in
Tualatin, Ore., the company manufactures
and rents equipment to the special event
industry, primarily in the Northwestern
U.S. On Jan. 2, 2020, a call for a proposal
came in from Hoffman Construction Co.
in Portland about a project at Hayward
Field, a historic track and field stadium
located at the University of Oregon in
Eugene. Key Manufacturing submitted
a bid and got the job, subcontracting for
Hoffman, says Annie Chisholm,
a salesperson for the company.
"Our specific purpose was to provide
a dry, climate-controlled environment so
a new track surface could be applied," she
explains. "The track surfacing was planned
to take 14 days to complete, and when
completed, the track and stadium would
be a world-class facility, ready to host the
Olympic trials and world championships."
The task before Key Manufacturing
was monumental. The original request
was for approximately 78,000 square feet
of structures intended to cover the track
surface. However, after installation began,
the company was asked to provide covers
for the infield surfaces, including the
long jump, pole vault runways and high
jump, which were getting the same surface
application as the track. This added 22,000
square feet of structures and canopies to
the original installation, as well as lighting
for all of them.
"We started installation on Jan.
24, laying out baseplates so we could
determine any special lengths, widths of
the structure bays," says Chisholm. Some
bays needed to be 7 feet, 9 inches to 11 feet
instead of the standard meters. Widths
ranged from standard 15m, 20m and 25m
to some special 64-foot, 2-inch arches.
Many of the exterior legs were set in the
grandstands and varied in length from 10
feet to 18 feet. Infield legs were standard
8 feet and 10 feet with some special legs
at 16 feet. (The clearspan structures were

European-style box beam, which the
company has manufactured since 1989.)
"Ballasting was also required on all
interior legs, and access to the infield
was limited due to irrigation lines,"
Chisholm continues. "Most arches and
ballast needed to be set with cranes and
boom lifts because we couldn't be on the
track surface, so we needed to coordinate
using the cranes to set our arches in
between the stadium construction."
The fact that this was an active
construction site posed additional
challenges, since there were restrictions
that limited access to certain areas at times.
To mitigate any delays or complications,
the company devised an "aggressive
schedule," which also factored in that
work could only take place between 7 a.m.
and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday (no
weekend work was allowed).
Time constraints became an issue
when it came to the pie-shaped pieces
required to connect the structure, says
Chisholm, explaining that the company
wasn't able to manufacture these parts as
quickly as needed. Chris Butler (the on-site
superintendent) of Safway Scaffolding in
Eugene came to the rescue.
"He and his crew worked
simultaneously with our crew using Eagle
shrink-wrap material glued to our rafters
and heat shrunk the material to provide
a tight connect," she explains.
Additionally, the site was closely
monitored to ensure Occupational
Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) compliance. Key Manufacturing
employees had to be cleared to work on
the site in advance, undergoing thorough
background checks, drug testing and
mandatory attendance at safety classes.
And then the COVID-19 pandemic
hit, adding the complication of protective
gear like masks and gloves, along with
social distancing.
"We laid out a solid schedule and made
sure we had our most experienced crew

46 REVIEW SEPTEMBER 2020

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8/26/20 9:22 PM
Specialty Fabrics Review September 2020

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