SkanskaUSA tops off EF Education First's headquarters

Skanska USA and EF Education First topped out EF's new 300,000 s/f, 10-story North American headquarters in the NorthPoint section of the city. Skanska is constructing the 300,000 s/f building to include office and academic space for EF. Upon completion, the building's entrance will showcase a glass curtainwall resembling a waterfall. The ground floor will include mezzanine space. In addition, Skanska will build three levels of above-ground parking with 125 parking spaces for EF's employees and visitors. Skanska is building the headquarters to LEED Silver certification standards. City officials and EF executives joined Skanska's project team, construction crew and local tradesmen and women at the event as iron workers placed the final steel beam on top of the building's frame, completing the project's structural milestone. "This milestone is extremely significant for Skanska and EF as we move closer to delivering one of the most original and prominent construction projects in the region," said Paul Hewins, executive vice president and general manager for Skanska USA Building's New England region. "We look forward to completing our work on this state-of-the-art building, which truly reflects EF's growth as a company and the area's leading role in education, design and innovation." "Since we broke ground in September, we've watched this project come to life," said Martha Doyle, chief administrative officer for EF Education First. "We would like to thank Skanska and Local 7 for helping us reach this important milestone." Last September, governor Deval Patrick joined Skanska and EF Education First among many dignitaries, state and city officials to celebrate the project's groundbreaking. EF's new headquarters building is located in the NorthPoint section of Cambridge, near EF's current headquarters and adjacent to the NorthPoint Park. The new headquarters will accommodate for EF's rapid growth in the last several years, and result in the immediate hiring of hundreds of permanent EF employees. So far, 33% of the building's core and shell is complete, and Skanska is on track to finish all phases of construction byfall 2014 as scheduled. To date, the project team has dedicated 28,000 work-hours to the building's construction. The building's steel structure is a total of 389,385 s/f and weighs 2,355 tons (4,705,955 pounds). It is comprised of 4,305 fabricated pieces of steel connected by 53,374 bolts, which would amount to 2.5 miles in length if extended along the ground.