Independence Excavating Teams with Turner-Ozanne at First Energy Stadium

Fall weather means different things to different people, but to Cleveland sports fans, it only means one thing — FOOTBALL! News stories throughout this year have documented the team’s preparation for this season, and Independence Excavating (IX) is proud to have been able to team up with Turner-Ozanne and be heavily involved in another preparation aspect throughout this off-season — the First Energy Stadium Modernization Project.

Our phase of the project primarily consisted of removal of both existing scoreboards, upper end zone seating, precast and related structural steel in order to make way for updated and much larger scoreboards that are situated closer to the field for a more engaging fan experience. In addition to the upper-deck work, some significant renovations to the lower-bowl seating areas were also made to accommodate additional seating and updated handicap areas there.

From the bid phase in Summer/Fall 2013 to the first home pre-season game on August 23, the project was schedule intense. The removal work began just after the New Year in January, and IX’s removal crews battled through intense cold, snowy, windy, Cleveland weather on the Lake Erie lakefront to keep the project on schedule. It was no small feat when working 140' in the air out of man-lifts and using two huge All Erection cranes for the work.

In spite of the weather, IX’s crews were able to get the primary removal work completed on time to make way for the new construction that had to be completed before the start of the coming season. Once our base contract work was completed, IX continued working on-site providing support until the completion of the project to help keep the job moving forward in spite of many changes and obstacles to overcome.

As pleased as we are about a job well done and finishing on time, the most important aspect of the job, was the safety of our team members and those around us. Through all the ice, snow, wind, elevated-work, difficult crane picks, jack hammering, saw cutting, labor intense, overtime and urgent work, we are very proud our field crews and subcontractors did it without a single recordable or lost-time incident!

We were fortunate to work with an excellent team of construction professionals on this project. A great team was in place for this project, including a joint venture of Turner Construction Company and Ozanne Construction (TCCO) as the construction manager, All Erection, United Rentals, AirGas, M. Rivera Construction, Precision ProCut, as well as all the other trades contracted directly with TCCO who we worked closely with on the project.

Browns’ fans are looking forward to watching a season with another great team, and hopefully the season goes as well as the off-season preparation!

EarthCamTL TurnerConstruction FirstEnergyStadium from Independence Excavating on Vimeo.