Bringing Buildings Back to Life – Design Develop Construct Journal
Design Develop Construct Journal featured Dowdle Construction Group and the firm’s work restoring and repurposing old and/or historic buildings in Nashville.
The article introduces some of the types of restorations Dowdle has done, including “transforming industrial mills into offices and condos and old warehouses into modern marketplaces.” It also highlights Nashville and the development boom it has seen over the last decade or so.
The author then quotes president and principal Glynn Dowdle saying that one of Dowdle Construction Group’s competitive advantages is its willingness to take on the challenges that come with working on very old, often abandoned buildings. Although there are sometimes financial incentives to restore older structures, the author notes, there are also historical preservation requirements to potentially contend with.
Glynn also talks about the many unforeseen challenges that pop up while on the jobsite of this type of project, partly due to long-outdated building codes and practices, as well as the disrepair of many abandoned buildings.
“It’s a continual, almost daily, uncovering of a different situation or a different condition,” Glynn says.
The article includes the example of one of the bow truss structures that Dowdle worked to restore, in which the team had to reinforce the steel structure in place of the old, rotting wood that made up the original roof deck. The article mentions that “the process added days to the project.”
Finally, the author shares some of the secrets to Dowdle’s success, such as its “open, transparent culture” and its dedicated, long-term relationships with its partners. According to the article, these characteristics have “afforded [the firm] many opportunities to continue bringing value to the area’s underused neighborhoods.”
Glynn’s final quote sums up that there is a lot more planning, consideration and hard work that goes into a repurposing construction project, rather than a new build, and that these projects take a special team like his to be successful.
Read the full feature in Design Develop Construct Journal.
See more of Dowdle’s repurposing construction experience here.