The Eagle Has Landed
Written by – Keisha Winston
Summit Anchor Company has delivered a first-of-its-kind building maintenance unit to a prestigious Northern Virginia development. The crane-like rooftop maintenance system with a 90-foot-plus articulating boom arm sits atop 1820 and 1840 Reston Row Plaza overlooking the Reston Station community.
The building maintenance unit, or BMU, commonly used in cities like New York and Chicago, allows maintenance contractors to safely access hard-to-reach areas of a building’s façade. While there have been BMU projects in the D.C.-Baltimore region, most have been removed or converted to rope descent systems.
“Most cities in the United States don’t even have these units,” says Raiff Margerum, Summit Anchor Vice President. “This is a unique project because it’s rare to come across these units on buildings in the metropolitan D.C. area.”
In this case, the BMU platform is connected to an electronic-powered boom that extends 90 feet, reaching up and over the curtain wall. A secondary arm allows the boom to reach under the building’s overhang features.*
Work in Place on site as of March 1st, 2024.
The project was a dream collaboration for Summit Anchor. General contractor Davis Construction, based in Rockville, Maryland, tasked Summit Anchor to deliver the system. Summit Anchor, in turn, worked with New York-based Global BMU and BEME, the Madrid manufacturer of the unit. BEME shipped the BMU in components to the U.S., where it will be reassembled and installed at Reston Row. Technical consulting firm Lerch Bates of Denver, Colorado provided construction document drawings and specifications for the exterior suspended access system.
While Summit Anchor has delivered over 1,000 suspended access and fall protection systems, this unique maintenance system from Europe is a first — but likely won’t be the last.
Summit Anchor Sales Manager Micah Damon adds that architects are straying away from rectangular, straight up and down buildings and leaning into asymmetrical designs. “The design of buildings is becoming more complex,” Damon says. “Building maintenance workers couldn’t access the façade of these types of buildings without units like the BMU.”
In addition to the BMU for the Reston Row project, Summit Anchor is handling the other façade maintenance equipment on the building, including davit systems paired with anchor points for swing stage, rope descent system and single man basket access, monorail for single man basket access, and a horizontal cable system for fall restraint and/or fall arrest.
Reston Row, phase two of the Reston Station development, is currently under construction and scheduled for completion in 2026. According to Comstock, owner and developer of Reston Station, the $1.2 billion development is among the largest mixed-use, transit-oriented communities in the mid-Atlantic region. The development surrounds Metro’s Silver Line Wiehle-Reston East Station and covers 80 acres along the Dulles Toll Road.
Frederick, Maryland-based Summit Anchor is perfectly situated to deliver its unique suite of fall protection safety solutions to one of the largest ongoing construction projects in the Greater Washington region.
*Review supplemental information explaining the difference between BMUs and roofcars.
PART 1: Hoisting and assembling the BMU on February 26, 2024
PART 2: Hoisting and assembling the BMU on February 26, 2024
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