2006 Concrete Parking Area

Cirrus Design Parking Lot

Owner: Dept. of Urban Dev. - City of Grand Forks	Supplier: Strata Corporation
Architect: Schoen Associates
Engineer: CPS, Ltd.	Contractor: Peterson Construction

This concrete parking area project compliments the 2006 expansion of Cirrus Design facilities with a 100,000 square foot addition to the original plant located in the Grand Forks Industrial Park near the airport. Cirrus Design is the world’s second largest manufacturer of single-engine, piston powered aircraft. Starting with a basic facility in 1997, Cirrus has attained impressive growth. Many of the basic components of aircraft assembled at other locations are manufactured at the Grand Forks plant. Concrete pavement was selected for this project for its superior value in the form of minimal maintenance, aesthetics, and lowest life cycle cost. The neat, crisp, and fresh appearance of the concrete lot provided a first class impression of their facility to clients from around the world. Use of concrete has always represented an image of permanence and longevity when ever a positive impression is needed. Construction sequencing was extremely important in this project, as Cirrus had to continue production throughout the construction. Steve Marback, Facilities Manager at Cirrus, estimated that a plant shut-down would result in the loss of millions of dollars in income, increasing exponentially as the impact of a shut-down trickled throughout the rest of the dependant Cirrus manufacturing facilities nation-wide. Using close coordination of construction effort and fast-track techniques, paving work was able to be completed on time and with minimal disruption to Cirrus manufacturing. CPS, Ltd. was instrumental in designing the project to make new construction fit in seamlessly with existing pavements to add 260 parking spaces. This showcase parking facility is another of the success stories for the use of concrete to meet both basic and sophisticated needs at competitive costs for the owner.