Comcast Cable Communications, the country’s largest provider of cable services, hired Krusinski Construction Company to construct a $9.4 million call center in Woodridge, Illinois.
CHALLENGE:
The center was designed to employ more than 500 people, the majority of whom would be situated in workstations in a common office area. With more than 13,000 calls coming in daily from Illinois, Southwest Michigan and Northwest Indiana, the call center would require a vast amount of electrical equipment and wiring. The plan specified two computer rooms, each with a 15-ton air-cooling unit. The challenge lay in designing and installing an electrical system that provided 500 workstations with access to customer data stored in both computer rooms.
SOLUTION:
Krusinski Construction Company served as a link between the project’s engineers, architects, ProLogis (the developer) and Comcast to make sure the entire team was involved in every decision. Working with Steelcase (the furniture manufacturer) an interior layout was developed. Working with the engineers, an underground duct system was created to deliver power to each workstation without visible cables. Krusinski also installed static dissipative tile in the computer rooms to protect the expensive electrical equipment. The complicated project was coordinated through weekly status meetings as well as monthly written reports.
RESULTS:
The Comcast Call Center, which was completed in February of 2007, was met with great approval from management, which is using it as a prototype for future call centers around the country. It has also been a hit with Comcast employees, many of whom have asked to transfer from other locations to the new Woodridge Center.
