Seqirus and BE&K Building Group celebrated the installation of the final major steel beam on the construction of Seqirus’ Fill/Finish Manufacturing Expansion project with a “topping out” ceremony on May 8, 2019, in Holly Springs, North Carolina. The expansion will allow Seqirus, the largest cell-based influenza vaccine producer in the world, to increase capacity for formulation, fill, and finish manufacturing of cell-based and adjuvanted influenza vaccines for global markets. Construction is expected to be complete in 2020.
Seqirus representatives Project Site Head Chad Salisbury and Director of Engineering Dan Rouse, along with BE&K representatives, were joined by about 100 others for the topping out ceremony. The ceremony was an opportunity for the project team to celebrate and commemorate a significant milestone for the project, an expression of worker pride that the structural frame has been safely completed. The evergreen on the end of the beam is an ancient Scandinavian tradition that has come to symbolize good luck for the future occupants, continued growth, and a safe job for the remainder of the project.
BE&K is providing construction management services for the project. The aerial photo above is one of many aerial photos regularly captured by BE&K’s project-based drone (UAV) photography services. Our onsite, licensed pilot flies the site weekly to monitor job progress, assist with construction quality, and help the team unlock site value. This, with other advanced technologies, including laser scanning, visual scheduling and construction activity sequencing, detailed coordination, and iPads putting the right information at everyone’s fingertips, makes this facility one of the most advanced construction sites in the region.
BE&K Project Executive Jeff Hall took the opportunity to thank the subcontractors, the engineers, and the Seqirus and BE&K project team for their hard work to date. “A lot of hard work and dedication went into achieving this milestone,” he said. “I would like to thank our subcontractors that really worked hard over the last 16 weeks to get us to this point, the Seqirus and BE&K project team, and our teammates from Fluor and S&ME.”