Top 6 Challenges of Urban Construction

As cities continue to grow and populations increasingly move into more urban environments, the need for development in these areas will increase. Unlike rural or most suburban locations, construction in urban markets comes with added challenges that contribute to project costs and schedule for completing work. Choosing the right contractor with knowledge about the complexities of urban development and with preconstruction solutions to deliver your project on time and on budget is crucial.

As a high-rise builder, we want to share the top 6 challenges we have seen companies face.

---

1. Public Safety

In very large cities, the amount of construction that takes place and the covered walkways that result has been a bone of contention with residents. For instance, in New York City, there is cumulatively three hundred miles of pedestrian protection in use. The need for pedestrian routes through construction areas has even sparked a new business, known as the ‘Urban Umbrella’, which makes covered sidewalk structure pleasing to the eye and user-friendly for pedestrians.

---

2. Site Logistics

Urban construction sites tend to have little to no space between the lot lines of the site and the placement of the building. This ‘zero lot line’ situation makes construction logistics especially difficult. The following are crucial site logistics that need to be considered well in advance to avoid costly delays:

With little to no room outside of the building footprint, a great amount of consideration goes into each one of these factors. In some instances, we have leased vacant lots nearby for crew parking, equipment and materials staging and jobsite offices. When dedicated parking for the crews can’t be achieved, workers utilize street or paid lot parking or use alternate transportation methods.

Delivery and loading zones are another crucial piece of the site logistics puzzle. Project managers and superintendents must extensively plan for materials to arrive just-in-time without any need to be staged before install. Delivery zones may be limited to the street, which means coordinating with local jurisdictions and traffic control vendors for street and sidewalk closures to accommodate this traffic.

---

3. Neighboring Properties

Maintaining neighboring property, including shoring and temporary protection measures, as well as limiting noise, dust and vibration are big components in constructing urban, high-rise buildings. New projects may be within inches or feet of existing structures. In some cases, the foundations of neighboring buildings may be found to encroach into the new building’s footprint, an aspect that may not be known during the design phase.

Particularly when new construction includes underground stories, supporting the foundation of the neighboring structures can add significant cost and time to the project.

---

4. Local Jurisdiction

---

5. Construction Practices

The riskiest component of most construction projects is the sitework, and urban construction is no exception.

The site logistics, utility installation and connections, building foundations and the first 1 – 2 floors are the most challenging part of high-rise construction. The foundations of each building may include driving piles, tie-backs, underground retention ponds, all while coordinating with the local jurisdiction to tie in power, sewer, water and fiber. Underground work may even include re-rerouting public utilities to accommodate the building and still maintain use of each system.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Protecting the finished materials as the building progresses can become a challenge and requires significant coordination. In high-rise construction, the lower floors are finished ahead of the upper floors. It’s possible to have a lower floor that is completely finished while the upper floors are still only a steel structure with a slab. Because of this, a variety of trades will need to be onsite at any one time, and interior finishes may be complete before the structural tradesmen are done above them.

As the upper floors are being constructed, the lower floors are being finished, so coordination of the trades to avoid collisions or damage to finished product is imperative. The building skin, or the exterior envelope of a building, might be most important in a multi-story building where access is exceedingly challenging once complete. The skin must be watertight and meet building codes for energy efficiency while providing things like sunlight to inhabitants of the building. Sometimes, windows are operational. The skin must be installed from the bottom up, often in pre-fabricated sections for ease and speed of installation.

Building components of a high-rise are complex and all moving parts must be considered in advance. For instance, multi-story buildings contain a ‘core’, typically made up of elevator and utility shafts, with restrooms and lobby spaces directly adjacent to the core on each floor. The remainder of the floor plate is dedicated to the individual needs of each tenant.

---

6. Tenant Improvements

Interior construction on occupied spaces requires a higher level of attention to project logistics and service to tenants. There are significant obstacles in completing work inside an occupied space, which is a bigger challenge when located in an urban high-rise. Some of the factors that make this work specialized include:

• Noise, dust and contaminant concerns for adjacent tenants, either beside, below or above the space.
• Access to common-use elevators, including protecting existing finishes, avoiding non-construction personnel and leaving the space clean after use.
• How to remove debris or load materials into and out of the space. Tactics may include packing materials up and down stairs, debris chutes out the side of a window, or crane lifts.
• Utility tie in’s and/or shut-downs and the possibility that construction work may disrupt service to adjacent tenants.

Construction teams must be polite to tenants, extra cautious about safety procedures and thorough in their planning to avoid disruption to other occupants as much as possible.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

Conclusion