J.P. Cullens & Sons Inc. is building a hybrid campus headquarters for client Epic Systems Corp. in Verona, Wis.

Premier Business Partners:

Monona Plumbing & Fire Protection The Rockwell Group

Since 1892, J.P. Cullen & Sons Inc. has operated as a staple in the Wisconsin construction industry, but in the past five years, it has taken a decisive turn toward overseeing projects on the cutting-edge of the building industry. The Janesville, Wis.-based company is the only general contractor in the state to be ISO 9001-certified, and its “quality craftsmanship is proven time and time again through a full span of awards,” Director of Marketing Tristan McGough says.

“We want to clearly align ourselves the ‘master builders’ tradition that has been the central creative force within the [building world] of Western civilization,” he states.

“‘Master building’ is a concept that has been around for centuries, if not millennia – for the ancient pyramids could be considered a master building project in its own right – and that’s the business model we follow.

“Our goal is to provide a single source of responsibility and accountability and serve as a trusted partner for each client. We’ll integrate a full spectrum of subcontractors and suppliers to get the job done.

“As master builders, we look at building longevity, but we also look for a building’s sustainability and flexibility for future growth, because there will always be modifications,” he continues. “Technology is hurling us into the future so quickly that a new product or process is bound to change the way we might do something today that only yesterday wasn’t even a thought.

“We’re always looking for ways to incorporate industry advances, such as engineering innovations and new principles of design excellence, into our buildings.”

‘Hybrid Campuses’
In recent years, J.P. Cullen & Sons has noticed a trend in what McGough describes as “hybrid campuses” or expansive sites that provide a full array of services, sometimes atypical to the clients’ core competencies.

Medical and educational institutions have been on the forefront of this trend and now corporate facilities are starting to follow suit. “We’re one of the leaders in innovating this hybrid facilities concept, which, in the past, has been referred to as multi-use,” he explains. “However, as we start to integrate – at a digital level – more offerings of various types of service, we’re called upon to provide a complete range of different kinds of spaces.

“That creates a hybrid, if you will, a hybrid facility that is unified and very functional.

“This is rewriting the way healthcare facilities conduct their operations, the way schools align themselves to their current knowledge models and the way companies do business.”

Epic Systems
Software maker Epic Systems Corp. is one corporation embracing the hybrid campus concept for its new headquarters, currently under construction in Verona, Wis.

“Here you have a business whose proprietary purpose is software, yet they find themselves becoming educators to their end-users,” McGough explains.

“Epic has folded in an educational component into its operations, and that becomes a legitimate service offering on its own. So, we are not only accommodating their business, administration and R&D functions, but also their training and education program.”

Epic broke ground on its greenfield site in August 2003. In June 2005, J.P. Cullen began construction on the 348-acre Epic Learning Campus, which is planned in three phases.

Campus 1 contains five office buildings and a common area built by another contractor, and the Learning Campus, which J.P. Cullens & Sons was awarded to build. Campus 2, which the company is now constructing, will include four office buildings and a parking ramp.

A Knowledge Hub
The Learning Campus consists of Voyager Hall – a two-level, 425,000-square-foot learning center, which was completed in June of 2007, as well as Epicenter – a 195,000 square-foot, 5,300-seat auditorium, which was completed in September.

“It’s the hub of the knowledge transfer for the software systems that are used in both training in-house and externally,” Project Executive Jim Schumacher explains.

Voyager Hall contains 31 training rooms and will be used as an educational facility 50 weeks out of the year.

However, for two weeks, the facility will be converted into auditorium seating using skyfold partition walls for the annual users’ group meeting.

Astronomy-Inspired
The four office buildings on Campus 2 will encompass 140,000 square feet each and contain 425 offices total. They are named Heaven, Isis, Jupiter and Kohoutek after comets.

The 2,000-car parking ramp will be called Yoda. “We’re in the ground with Y, Yoda, and in the ground with Kohoutek, building K, but we will have them all completed by December of 2009,” Schumacher says. “June of 2008 through August of 2009 will be our peak construction.”

Going Green
The project is targeting LEED certification. “Epic is conscientious of the environment and its surroundings, as the project is being built on beautiful farmland,” Schumacher notes.

J.P. Cullen & Son’s goal is to make sure the project will fit right into the environment.

“The office buildings are all going to be heated and cooled with a geothermal system,” he says. “Over 1,250 wells will serve the heating and cooling needs.”

J.P. Cullen & Sons is also building a green roof and recycling its construction waste, Schumacher adds.

“We will work with designers to meet LEED standards if the client desires that,” McGough says. “But even if [we don’t pursue] LEED certification, we can still incorporate certain green building elements into the facility for a sustainable, cost-effective structure.

“Clients see sustainability as a cost-effective solution, especially in light of the lifecycle of a building,” he explains.

“The payoff is reduced maintenance, greater energy efficiencies and lower user costs, not to mention the environmental and social benefits that will come with it.”

Seven Benefits
“We want each client to benefit from what we leave behind [at a project’s completion],” McGough says. “To us, benefits aren’t getting the job done on time, or according to spec or within budget. That’s not a benefit to a client; that’s expected.

“A benefit is something that has lasting value and remains when we leave the site,” he emphasizes.

McGough says J.P. Cullen strives to create seven befits for its clients. “We leave them with an enhanced presence in their local community, an attractive building that exhibits the design intent and preferences of the owner [and] optimized operational efficiencies and flexibility for future growth,” he says.

Other benefits are cost-effective sustainable systems that promote green technologies; an improved satisfaction level for owners, users and visitors; better business and service outcomes operationally, as well as within their core competencies, and increased profitability.

“These are the kinds of values that make the owner’s new facility a growing proposition in the 21st century and that our master builders model is designed to deliver,” McGough says.

A Trusted Builder
J.P. Cullen believes trust is one of the main factors driving its business, according to McGough. “You can bid and pour your concrete; but on projects, owners find that they can increase their stress level, cost, budget, and elongate their schedule if they don’t have a competent partner they can trust to be on spec, on time and within budget,” he says.

“We do it every time and we ensure amongst our people that we get these jobs done that way. Performance excellence is not a goal, but a daily operational requirement.

“How we behave as a team is building a better world one building at a time. Construction is our way to make a living, but building a better world is our way of life.”