Serving Central Pennsylvania, D & E Communications, Inc. is an integrated communications provider that offers communications to its residential and business customers. In order to accommodate the growth of the company and alleviate an overcrowded existing office, a new corporate office was proposed.

The D & E Communications, Inc. Brownstown Corporate Center is a three-story, 81,000 square foot building designed and built to meet the unique requirements of D & E Communications, Inc. As the design/build construction manager, Benchmark Construction worked closely with the Owner´s Facilities Engineering department for fourteen months prior to the start of construction to incorporate their special needs as a public utility. The Owner also required maximum flexibility in the floor plan to allow for future growth in the constantly changing telecommunications industry.

A site for the building was chosen on their existing property and so the first challenge was to build this structure within a few feet of the existing office while it remained operational. This was achieved through careful planning and diligent safety monitoring to insure there were no interruptions in their 24-hour day operational schedule.

Another unique feature of this facility is the Network Operations Center. The N.O.C. is a 24/7 facility that is the hub of corporate communications for D & E´s various enterprises. This center required redundant electrical and communications systems in order to stay online during power outages and other events.

The final challenge came during construction when the Owner requested we expand the building from 61,000 square feet to 81,000 square feet. Without missing a day of production, we procured materials and added manpower. While adding one-third of the original size as an addition, we were still able to complete the project two months ahead of the schedule. The project has exceeded the Owner’s expectations, and the project has become a model for corporation construction partnerships.

Location: Brownstown, PA

Design Professionals: Bernardon Haber Holloway

Total SF: 81,000 SF

Value: $8.4 Million

Awards:  2002 ABC - Keystone Chapter AWARD OF MERIT

Services Provided: Design/Build & General Construction Services

"We are extremely pleased with your company for several reasons. First, the construction time to build our office building was three months less than we had anticipated. Second, the budget was under spent. After the project was completed, we reviewed the entire campus budget of $10 million and realized that we were under budget for construction. This result reflects upon your promise to us to stay within the budget, as we had requested. Third, we truly had no major issues to resolve. Everything you had promised to do was done in a superior manner." Douglas W. Snell, Sr., CFM Director, Facility Engineering