Control Building Construction and Relocation

When the Tesoro Golden Eagle Refinery needed a new control building for its Avon Wharf expansion, our structural design team provided the expertise required to combat the significant space and time constraints. Due to the 50-foot-deep water surrounding the wharf, the completion of the 2,000-square-foot steel-frame structure occurred offsite before installation. The building included a control room, electrical room, kitchen, computer room, break room, storage room, and three restrooms. Once complete, the two-story, 181,000-pound control tower floated on a barge 12 miles down the Carquinez Strait to Avon Wharf for installation. The building needed to be strong enough to withstand high seismic activity yet light enough to be lifted. With an expedited schedule of only seven months, our team designed two separate 3D models to analyze the seismic and building relocation activities. As a result, construction teams used metal panels for walls and concrete panels for flooring but avoided pouring concrete to meet weight and time constraints.