The Waldinger Corporation has used Viega systems with great success for many years, so when given the choice to use them for one of the most prominent construction projects for the city of Wichita, they were happy to oblige.
The Waldinger Corporation was subcontracted by the general contractors, Key Construction and Walbridge, the mechanical work at the new Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport.
Formed in 1906, Waldinger has offices throughout the midwest including Wichita, KS. The Viega name and its products were nothing new to Waldinger. They knew that Viega’s press technology has the ability to save time and money by eliminating the need to solder every joint, and the Smart Connect® feature offers a secure pipe connection every time by allowing installers to easily identify unpressed connections during pressure testing.
“I started using Viega ProPress when it first came to the United States,” Matt Hildreth, Construction Division Manager for The Waldinger Corporation said. “We were excited to learn we could use it on this project.”
Wichita’s new Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport is the city’s latest addition to aviation and the first and last impression visitors will see upon arrival to the city. In June, Wichita said goodbye to its 61-year-old airport terminal and opened doors to a new 275,000 square foot home.
Known as the Air Capital of the World, Wichita’s airport is aviation themed inside and out. The building makes you feel as if you are entering an aircraft, with those details carrying over indoors. A swooping roof line outside, decorative stainless steel walls, public art and aviation history pieces inside, the airport is one-of-a-kind. A terrazzo floor designed with inspiration from the contrails of aircraft flying will guide the two million passengers through the airport each year.
The airport is equipped with the latest technology, food services, parking garage, baggage claim and loading gates. The Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport was made of quality products, including Viega systems, designed to make traveling in and out of Wichita quick, efficient and easy. It features 23,000 square feet of radiant floors, 8 ½ miles of gas and hydronic lines and 267 plumbing fixtures.
The Waldinger Corporation installed Viega’s ProPress® copper in ½” to 4″ in the domestic potable water applications. They also used ViegaPEX™ Barrier and Viega FostaPEX® tubing for a Snow Melting system and a Viega ProRadiant™ heating system in the behind the scenes area of baggage claim, in parts of the tarmac, the main entry and the loading dock. While most of their work and Viega’s systems are hidden, Waldinger knows the important stuff is behind the walls.
“The guys all like going ‘look at this mechanical room.’ All the boilers are perfect, all the piping is perfect that’s how we do our work,” Hildreth said. “It’s what’s hidden in the walls. It’s what’s in that mechanical room and behind that wall that makes this work.”
Press innovations allow mechanical contractors like Waldinger to not only save time, but also money. A highly engineered system, it’s the time savings and quality that contractors are using to sell their customers.
“Our opinion is that we are going to do it at least 20% better,” Hildreth said. “It’s what we use as a standard of bidding. We’ve smoked that estimate on occasion.”
Its functionality and reliability are part of the driving force, but the value added is with the customer service clients receive from the sales representatives. Viega will drop what they’re doing, pick up the phone or turn their car around and head to the job site to consult on a project. On a project the size of the airport, that kind of commitment was invaluable for The Waldinger Corporation.
“Lucky here for us, with you guys being here and having a sales person that was so active with us, if you have somebody here taking care of you and really working to help you, you’re going to be more apt to use their product,” Hildreth said. “Customer support was fantastic. You’re one of the few manufacturers that do that.”
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