B.R. Fries' NBC Universal World News Hdqtrs. wins IFMA Award

The 150,000 s/f, two-floor NBC Universal World News Headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, designed by TPG Architecture and constructed by B.R. Fries & Associates, captured the award in the category of "Design and Construction of a New Facility" for 2008 at the 26th Annual Greater New York International Facility Management Association Awards Dinner held on January 22. The new headquarters, home to 720 employees and studios for The Today Show, Dateline and Nightly News with Brian Williams, was visited in October by the awards nomination committee who conducted interviews, reviewed the plans and toured the completed space. The project was slated against tough competition including Ann Taylor's new corporate headquarters at 7 Times Square and the New York Times building on 8th Ave. and 41st St. "As with any large scale project, this was a team effort," said Michael Passaro, Dir. technical architecture & engineering, NBC Universal. "I would like to thank all of our support groups and consultants who helped to make this another successful, award-winning project." B.R. Fries & Associates served as construction managers for the extensive $16 million office fit-out, providing scheduling, budgeting and estimating, value engineering and purchasing of long-lead items, as well as constructing the renovation and reconfiguration of the space in four phases on a fast-track schedule. In addition to TPG and B.R. Fries, other members of the team included AMA Engineer, Steelcase Furniture, Humanscale Office Ergonomics and Building Manager Tishman Speyer. The B.R. Fries project team included Barry Fries, principal-in-charge, Steve Scofield, project manager, Frank Kida, superintendent and Casey Peck, assistant superintendent.