The Houston-based design-build firm is hard at work on the 178,834-sf project for CSR Hydro Conduit. W.M. Dillard & Associates is the general contractor and WMD Design Group, the designer.

The plant is being constructed at 7310 Yorkfield on 63 acres that had been bought from L.B. Foster. The project consists of four buildings and a storage yard for concrete pipe: 64,367-sf small-bore concrete pipe manufacturing facility; 96,968-sf large-bore facility; 5,940-sf employee center; and 11,059-sf office building, which is done. Construction on the manufacturing facilities had gotten under way in December, with completion set for September.

The CSR Hydro Conduit project calls for a batch plant, positioned between the manufacturing buildings, 25-foot deep pits and concrete floors with a shake-surface hardener. The small-bore pipe facility has an automated feature that pushes cars through the kiln. "This project demonstrates our design-build capabilities in something other than bulk warehouse projects ... the development of the complex manufacturing facilities for international companies," Wallace Dillard, president of W.M. Dillard & Associates, tells GlobeSt.com.