Nine out of ten engineers think of value engineering purely as a cost-cutting tool. While it is true that reducing initial project cost is a prime objective of value engineering, value can and does take other forms.

The Society of American Value Engineers (SAVE) recognizes many other objectives of value engineering. Such objectives include broadening a project's function or usefulness, creating a higher quality end project, reducing schedule requirements, ensuring overall long-term cost effectiveness, and generally improving project performance.

To illustrate the multifaceted benefits of value engineering, we will turn to a local success story - The Back River Outfall Project. This project is located at the Back River Waste Water Treatment Plant, and was designed and built for the City of Baltimore. The Back River Outfall is a 1,200-foot-long outfall structure whose primary purpose is the gradual release of treated effluent into the Back River from the 180 million-gallon-per-day waste water treatment plant.

Although the project was completed in 1989, its history dates back to 1978, when the City of Baltimore prepared a facility plan to determine improvements necessary to comply with Maryland's effluent discharge limits and with the Federal Clean Water Act. A key component of the City's plan was a new outfall structure to replace the existing and inadequate 60-year-old wood stave outfall pipe.

The original plan called for a 2,500-foot-long conventional pipe outfall consisting of an 11-foot-diameter subaqueous concrete pipe with vertical diffusers. An alternative plan called for three 10-foot-diameter concrete pipes supported on pile bents with a dispersing system at each pipe end. Installation of these pipe systems would have required construction of a temporary sheet piling structure to dewater the area. This temporary structure would then have to be removed after the dredging, pipe laying and backfilling operations were concluded. The estimated cost based on these traditional design concepts was a whopping $18 million. With total dredging excavation estimated to exceed 30,000 cubic yards, the environmental impact on the river during construction would also have been enormous.

The Baltimore engineering firm of Buchart-Horn, Inc. had a better idea. Why not design the temporary steel sheet piling structure so that it could be incorporated into a permanent conduit for the discharged water ? And so it was.

Buchart-Horn's innovative design concept called for an open channel outfall pier rather than the conventional subaqueous pipeline system. Steel sheet piling, protected by zinc-rich primer paint and two layers of a special epoxy coating, forms the walls of the outfall pier and serves as its main element. Soil was excavated from between the walls, and stone and gravel were laid over a special filter cloth. Openings for the effluent begin halfway from the shore and are located along the 1,200-foot-long pier below low-tide levels so the discharge is gradually released underwater. A concrete deck adds structural stability to withstand forces such as winds, waves, and tides. Railings and special lighting allow for the pier's use by the public. All at a cost of merely $5 million.

Buchart-Horn's value engineering saved the City of Baltimore nearly $13 million. In addition, the innovative design provided superior effluent dispersion characteristics, while avoiding the hydraulic inadequacies and safety concerns of subaqueous piping. The construction duration was cut in half, and the dredging requirement was reduced by over 80%. The minimal dredging dramatically reduced the environmental impact during the project's construction, which was performed by the McLean Contracting Company. And to top it off, the outfall pier offers potential recreational uses for the community, and it provides attractive nighttime illumination and navigational warnings.

The value engineering achievement of Buchart-Horn's design team (which also included sub-consultants Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., Earth Engineering & Sciences, Inc., Morris Associates, Inc., C.C. Johnson & Malhotra, Inc., Suboceanic Consultants, Inc. and The Constellation Design Group, Inc.) did not go unnoticed. The project received both local and national accolades, including the American Consulting Engineers Council's Environmental Grand Award, the Consulting Engineers Council of Maryland's Grand Award, and the National Association of Counties' Achievement Award.

The Back River Outfall Project exemplifies the multiple benefits of value engineering. The project is a reminder that fresh ideas and innovative design concepts are integral to value engineering. As my father and former Buchart-Horn structural engineer Knut Sorteberg used to say, today's innovation is tomorrow's convention. In other words, value engineering is the harbinger of progress.

Kenneth K. Sorteberg, is a partner with the law firm of Huddles Jones Sorteberg & Dachille, p.c. Mr. Sorteberg is also a civil engineer. He was formerly a project manager with The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, and he worked with the Maryland Stadium Authority during the construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He may be contacted at: sorteberg@hjpc.com.