Prevot Design Services, APAC, with offices in Shreveport, LA and Houston, TX, utilized McElroy Metal Mega-Rib metal wall panels in its design of the office/training center for BHP/Petrohawk in Shreveport.

The 24-gauge metal panels—featuring a factory applied Charcoal-colored Kynar 500® paint finish and installed using high-quality austenitic stainless steel fasteners—were selected to give the two-story, L-shaped office building a more modern appearance. The majority of the 70,000 sq. ft. building is clad with brick but masonry construction was originally considered for the metal paneled portions as well. The decision ultimately to go with metal reduced both structural and labor costs.

The building, completed in 2012, provides teleconferencing, training and office space for nearly 300 employees. As part of the site prep, sandy material was dredged from the bed of the nearby Red River and pumped to the building site for use as fill. The operation required special permitting from the Army Corps of Engineers but ultimately saved 50% on select fill costs and nearly $1 million in costs to truck in alternative fill material, all while aiding the maintenance of the river’s navigation channel.

Though the metal panels can certainly be considered a green aspect of the building’s design, there are other green features too, such as variable-refrigerant-volume air conditioning equipment and solar panels for electric generation. The building’s shape and number of windows allows natural light to be used to reduce artificial lighting demands.

The project’s metal wall panels were installed by Terry’s Roofing & Sheet Metal of Bossier City, LA. McInnis Brothers Inc. of Shreveport was the general contractor.