Packers show must go on, even amid construction

Every stage of Miron Construction Co. Inc.’s renovation of Lambeau Field was designed to work around the Green Bay Packers, even after the season ended.

“They still have practices there,” said John Murphy, project executive at Miron, which has its main office in Neenah. “It’s working around players, quiet times, draft times, building this project like we’re not even there.”

The project included expanding the team’s dining and training spaces, adding a new player entrance, and a walk-through field that helps with visualizing plays and a weight room. Miron also more than doubled the square footage of the Packers Pro Shop and built two new entrances and a public atrium, among other things.

To ensure excavation equipment would not break down amid the winter’s frigid weather, Miron had to keep it running almost constantly. Crews removed 50,000 cubic yards of fill dirt to make way for an expansion of the stadium’s Pro Shop.

To help expedite construction, utility and foundation crews worked simultaneous split shifts. Because of the project’s size, Miron had to plan carefully to prevent the construction from having a large effect on management and the team — even when crews no longer had to be mindful of a parking lot full of fans.

“Even on their offseason, they’re still conducting business,” Murphy said.

The work entailed erecting screens and barriers to conceal the project’s staging area. Also important was ensuring the contractor used as little space as possible in the stadium’s parking lot.

Miron helped reduce the amount of storage needed by arranging to have materials delivered immediately before installation.

“You basically had to be a little postage stamp,” Murphy said.

He added that crew members worked closely with the Lambeau Field head of facilities to ensure the construction did not interfere with day-to-day activities and that heavy demolition occurred outside of normal business hours. That attention to detail and careful planning carried over into other parts of the project, earning Miron a perfect safety record stemming from more than 1 million man-hours worked without a lost-time incident.

Still, the project was not without at least one difficulty: The need to build a 50-foot replica of the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Miron was charged with selecting materials, designing a trellis to support a fiberglass exterior and painting the statute to mimic the Lombardi Trophy’s silver sheen. Miron spent eight months researching materials and tracking down a company that could contribute a special chroming process.

“The coating took several different tries,” Murphy said, “because nobody’s ever chromed something that size before.”

A 16-person crew spent 10 weeks working 16 hours a day to build the statute, which was assembled inside the stadium.

The finished project, Murphy said, benefited from the willingness workers showed to adapt to changes and the pride they took in “being part of history, being part of a huge landmark.”

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