Boeing
North Charleston, South Carolina

Faced with the challenge of expanding its state-of-the-art composite manufacturing facility without disrupting production, Boeing turned to BRPH to design a major expansion and new facilities for first-time assembly of wide-body aircraft outside of the Boeing Everett campus. Our team worked with Boeing to lay the groundwork for an accelerated site planning and permitting strategy to help meet the demanding schedule.

Beginning in 2012, BRPH provided A/E services for a major expansion and renovation of Boeing’s Aft Body Fabrication and Assembly Building. Originally designed by BRPH in 2005, the facility fabricates and assembles all aft fuselage sections for the 787 Dreamliner program and is critical to maintaining, and ultimately increasing, the rate of aircraft final assembly and delivery at both the Everett, Washington, and North Charleston, South Carolina, sites.

The design included full-height expansions of the building on three sides, increasing the existing 400,000-square-foot ground floor area by more than 250,000 square feet. Much of the new footprint, including a Class 300K clean room, was high-bay production space equipped with overhead cranes and extensive requirements for floor rails, tool foundations and utility trenches. More than 124,000 square feet of mezzanine space was added for utility areas and office spaces with natural light and production floor views.

It was imperative that building modifications not impact ongoing production. In fact, production rates were increased throughout the course of the fast-track project. BRPH worked closely with Boeing’s key personnel, the owner’s rep, and select end-users to plan around existing operations, solidify scope requirements and provide creative solutions to a host of programmatic and logistical challenges.