Siemens Blade Factory Addition, Fort Madison, Iowa
PSBA was the A-E firm in a Design-Build project with Corporate Contractors, Inc. of Beloit, Wisconsin on a
major expansion of the Siemens wind turbine blade factory. In addition to the civil design work that we did
on this 144 acre site for parking lot expansion, stormwater detention, storage yards for the blades and a
railroad spur, the manufacturing plant expansion was divided into three phases:
Phase One – remodeling of the existing production facilities and expansion facilities for warehousing and
production. The area for this phase was approximately 232,253 s.f. Part of this remodeling included a 38 ft. x
158 ft. storage room for combustible materials that was designed with a 2 hour fire rating inside the plant.
Part of the facility incorporated a new bridge crane design as well. The whole facility was designed to be
conditioned space and a large addition for the mechanical equipment was constructed to accomplish this.
Phase Two – this phase included remodeling the existing office area, expanding the office area which included
a guarded security entrance, conference rooms, training rooms, quality control lab, three large locker rooms
with shower facilities, and the addition of a large canteen with a kitchen for catering, dishwashing
equipment, and a large vending room. The square footage in this phase was approximately 37,500 s.f.
Phase Three – this phase included a 24,000 s.f. loading building that has three train tracks from a new rail
spur going through it for blade loading. The facility also included a employee break room, restroom and
mechanical room. The pre-engineered steel building was designed so it could be expanded for the loading of
longer blades in the future.
