Charlotte Pipe & Foundry Oakboro Foundry

Location

Oakboro, NC

Market Sectors

  • Commercial
  • Industrial

Sub Sectors

  • Campus
  • Heavy Equipment/Machinery
  • Infrastructure - Building/Site Utilities
  • Infrastructure - Power/Energy
  • Infrastructure - Waste/Water Treatment
  • Manufacturing
  • Parking - Surface
  • Workplace/Office

Client

Charlotte Pipe & Foundry Co.

Partners

  • WGM Design
  • Eldeco
  • Bennett & Pless

Founding the next century: a one-of-a-kind industrial manufacturing campus for the nation’s largest cast iron and pipe fittings producer

A locally owned and operated company with a global product footprint, Charlotte Pipe & Foundry was founded in Charlotte in 1901 and has a storied history as one of the city’s most well-known businesses. In early 2020, Charlotte Pipe announced plans to relocate its cast iron foundry from its 55-acre plot of land on the outskirts of uptown Charlotte to a 480-acre property in Oakboro, NC. This massive three-year project included out-of-ground construction for multiple buildings across 129 acres to create a state-of-the-art manufacturing campus that would not only better support the company’s operations but also provide flexibility to expand and meet future needs.

Repeat
Client
570,000
Square Feet
Design-build
Delivery
OSHA
Partnership
2,000,000+
Manhours Worked
Award-winning
Project
Charlotte Pipe & Foundry has been a valued repeat customer since we first partnered with them on their Uptown Charlotte headquarters, training center, and warehouse facility project in 2016.
The total square footage combines a 505,000-square-foot foundry manufacturing facility, a 36,000-square-foot, two-story office and bath house building, a 14,500-square-foot sand storage building, and an 11,000-square-foot water treatment plant.
This project was completed through a design-build partnership between Barringer and WGM Design to ensure unity and collaboration and achieve the project’s goals.
With hundreds of men and women working across a site about half the size of the Pentagon daily, this mega project became part of an elite partnership with the NC Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health (OSH) division.
At its peak, upwards of 500 people were on-site, totaling over 2,000,000 manhours worked by the end of the project’s three-year run.
In 2023, the Oakboro Foundry was recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal (CBJ)’s Heavy Hitters Awards as the Top Industrial Development.

Building a campus that will sustain the next 100 years

A true generational project, the relocation and expansion of this 120-year-old foundry is a forward-thinking move by Charlotte Pipe & Foundry to improve its processes and offerings to allow the company to continue serving our community for the next 100 years. In addition to the new foundry building, the vision for a fully equipped campus was brought to life with the out-of-ground construction of a two-story office and bath house, a sand storage building, a water treatment plant with an in-ground tank with the capacity to hold 520,000 gallons of water, and a sub-station that could power 8,000 homes.

Side Story

The Barringer Way

SPEARHEADING COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & BUY-IN

Throughout this project, Charlotte Pipe and members of the project team immersed themselves in the Oakboro community to build relationships and get buy-in to ensure the safe and timely completion of the project. Coordinating safety efforts with the local EMS, Sheriff, and Fire & Rescue departments to form a detailed Emergency Response Plan for public community events further emphasized Charlotte Pipe’s dedication to the Town and its residents.

A manufacturing masterpiece for a sustainable future

At the center of the new campus is the modern 505,000-square-foot foundry building that houses the company’s latest manufacturing facility and supports major operations, including melting iron and casting molds. The thoughtful layout of the new foundry features a straight-line production design to allow for increased production efficiency. It is helping the company move towards more technologically advanced, sustainable production. In keeping true to the company’s values, all construction materials and supplies are 100% Made in America.

Side Story

The Barringer Way

COLLABORATION WITH LOCAL JURISDICTIONS

At the beginning of the design process, the team met with the local building code officials and the field inspectors to review and approve the complex code strategies and life safety issues. This partnership and collaboration facilitated an expedited permit approval process and was maintained throughout the life of the project.

Employing technology in the field for safety, quality, and communication

Integrating multiple technologies with our construction approach was crucial to ensuring safety, quality control, and communication. Technologies such as building information modeling (BIM), drones, Trimble, OpenSpace, and 24-hour site security allowed construction to occur safely and precisely. These tools also allowed for live updates to be shared with all stakeholders in real-time, which proved beneficial during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Side Story

The Barringer Way

AN ELITE PARTNERSHIP WITH SAFETY AT ITS CORE

With hundreds of men and women working across a site about half the size of the Pentagon daily, this mega project became part of an elite partnership with the NC Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health (OSH) division. This alliance allowed for open communication and collaboration between Charlotte Pipe, its project partners, and the State of North Carolina, along with increased safety tools and training.

It takes a unique and special construction company to become a partner with North Carolina Department of Labor. I believe Barringer Construction is a unique and special company who takes safety and health seriously. We achieved success with the safety and health of the employees at this jobsite.

— Bruce Pearson, Occupational Safety Consultant, North Carolina Department of Labor