Project Scope
Reston Row District is a development located in Reston, Virginia, containing apartments, condos, hotels spaces and office/retail offers as part of a larger initiative to expand the Reston Station neighborhood.
Construction of the Reston Row District began in 2021, marking a massive effort that has seen Comstock, James G. Davis Construction, and all the trade subcontractors on site dedicate considerable energy and passion to the project.
Mallick Mechanical Contractors was originally contracted to perform the plumbing and mechanical scopes on the five-story below-ground garage and the first building constructed onsite, 1800 Reston Row Plaza (OB4). The garage was constructed in two phases (East Garage and West Garage) and provides thousands of parking spaces with convenient access to all the buildings at Reston Row, Reston Station, and the Reston Metro. OB4 is a fourteen (14) story office building that offers over 250,000 sq.ft. of office space and additional retail/dining options on the ground floor.
Mallick Mechanical also performed the mechanical and plumbing scopes at The Jewel Box (a small retail building attached to the new JW Marriott at Reston Row) and VIDA Fitness (a fitout of floors 1-3 and the rooftop bar/pool deck at OB4). In total, across four projects, Mallick Mechanical was responsible for over $35.5M in scope on this colossal job site.
Strategies
Entering into a project this size, Mallick Mechanical’s primary focus was schedule management. For Reston Row to be a successful project, a high level of detail and communication between all the project teams and onsite manpower was crucial. This included managing BIM modelling, ordering material, utilizing prefabrication, timely deliveries and quality installation. To accomplish this, Mallick Mechanical had regular weekly meetings with internal teams, subcontractors, Davis Construction and other trade on site to coordinate all the intersecting project deliverables.
In addition, Mallick Mechanical prioritized job activities not only according to the specific project’s critical path but also considering the logistics and overall site-wide critical path. Mallick Mechanical assembled a dedicated team with minimal turnover of managers, drafters, and foremen, ensuring continuity of project knowledge and fostering a deep understanding of each building’s systems. This approach helped the team better support one another, as well as Davis Construction and Comstock.
The proper manpower staffing required for this large job was also a key factor in its successful completion, leading to the constant movement of crews between multiple projects. For this to be efficient, Mallick Mechanical ensured all crew leads had mobile access to drawings, RFIs, change orders and all other project documentation to facilitate quick and informed decision making. Mallick Mechanical’s investment in technology assisted in this aspect of the project, ensuring accountability and assisting greatly in our quality control process.
Challenges
The primary challenges for this set of jobs at Reston Row stemmed from their sheer size.
Like many other projects, material waste and loss management is extremely important. During this project, this became incredibly difficult with the need for our material to be staged in locations covering over 1.5 million sq. ft. of garage and office space.
With multiple other mechanical contractors onsite performing scope on other Reston Row projects, it became even more critical to ensure our material was organized and labeled properly. To manage this, Mallick Mechanical went above the standard level of detail by adding check-in lines to all material schedules and equipment logs for all mass material orders, prefabrication deliveries, each equipment accessory, and much more. Each line item in the project’s logs also included a site location so our teams could easily track and access where equipment and material were shipped to, stored, and ultimately needed to go.
Mallick Mechanical’s scope at Reston Row District extended from 2021 to 2025. Over those four years, each individual project saw massive design revisions, requiring re-coordination and – in many cases – rework in the field. To handle the complexities of each change, Mallick Mechanical assigned key field management to each CCD to review drawing modifications and develop the most efficient execution plan. Simultaneously, this assisted the project management team in properly scoping each changer order for clarity and accuracy when reporting to Davis Construction and Comstock. With over $5M in change orders across all four jobs, this was a very intense and detail-oriented process.
All structures at Reston Row feature poured concrete decks, which provide exceptional structural stability and highlight the importance of precise and efficient sleeving and drain placement.
Mallick Mechanical employed advanced Trimble locators to accurately determine the locations for in-slab installations, using BIM modeling as the basis. This was typically completed one to two weeks in advance to keep each project on schedule. When design changes occurred, the BIM team updated the map with new points, enabling the field team to mark core locations with Trimble tools, rather than relying on time-consuming field layout methods. With efficiency and speed critical components of completion, these tools helped our team by providing records of locations, mounting heights, and sleeve depths to ensure accurate and precise installation.
The Reston Row District was by far the largest and longest project ever undertaken by Mallick Mechanical. Thanks to the dedication and collaboration of our team, we worked tirelessly to meet scheduled milestones and complete each project profitably.
