Lakewood Church Renovation Spearheaded by Female Fireball
August 18, 2006
Foreman widely recognized as one of the most influential women
in the construction industry
Countdown to Grand Opening: 1 Day
Source: Irvine Team
HOUSTON, July 15, 2005 – The amazing renovation project that has transformed Houston’s Compaq Center into the new home for Lakewood Church has been completed and the facility will open to the public tomorrow, July 16, 2005. Converting the former basketball and entertainment arena into the nation’s most modern church took a lot of things: $95 million, 1.4 million man hours and 15 months on the job site. After all, never before has a sports arena been transformed into a house of worship, particularly one worthy of a 16,000-seat megachurch for the nation’s largest and fastest-growing non-denominational congregation.
But just how did this jock-to-flock public assembly transformation take place? Enter Lorrie Foreman, clearly one of the most influential women in the construction industry and unquestionably the intellectual powerhouse behind the Lakewood action plan.
Backed by the business savvy of Irvine Team where Foreman serves as Vice President of Operations, she stepped onto the project site with 20 years of experience in managing the design and construction of technically sophisticated and generally unique buildings, a degree in civil engineering and life skills earned early in her career as an advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations’ Pentagon staff. One of only a handful of women on Lakewood job, Foreman gave it no thought, recalling that she was “in the industry 15 years before working with another woman.”
According to Dennis Irvine, founder, president and CEO of Irvine Team — the nation’s leading design + construction strategy company — Foreman is one-of-a-kind, encompassing people skills, business know how and technical expertise that positioned her as the industry’s best person to spearhead the Lakewood transformation. Irvine points to Foreman’s unique approach to overcoming daily obstacles and a timely ability to shape people’s perspectives as two keys to her professional success and the Lakewood project’s on-time, on-budget completion in July 2005. Irvine is also quick to note that Lakewood’s transformation “was not a fluke of perfection,” rather the outcome of a meticulously managed process that continued to grow as his company’s project team, with Foreman at the helm, consistently identified cost-saving opportunities that not only protected the integrity of renovation and construction, but also allowed for tremendous enhancements elsewhere.
Irvine’s respect for Foreman is echoed by the architects, construction supervisors and other team members on the Lakewood project. Her ability to make “it” look easy — whether “it” encompassed forming and managing 50 expert third-party contractors and consultants, including a pair of stage and lighting specialists who have 11 Emmy awards between them, or addressing the acoustical complexities of adding waterfalls on Pastor Osteen’s stage where celebrities from Mick Jagger to Moses Malone to Mickey Mouse once performed — is Foreman’s nature and earned the respect of her peers from the Lakewood get go.
Foreman exudes approachable confidence that easily positions her as the authority figure, yet she balances her leadership position with a contagious sense of humor and “servant leadership tools,” as she refers to them. ‘Can you educate me?’ is a question Foreman is known to ask frequently, and it is a tactic she has embraced throughout her 20-plus-year career to overcome resistance from male counterparts. After all, Foreman is the first to admit that working for a woman has historically been socially unacceptable, if not unheard of, in her industry.
Like Oprah, Foreman knows that life has its “ah ha” moments. Reflecting back on the Lakewood project, there was precisely such a moment when, after several months of daily around-the-clock dedication, the project team collectively realized the magnitude of the renovation. To grasp the enormity of the Lakewood project, consider that Irvine’s team of experts laid enough carpet to cover more than nine football fields, the total amount of low-voltage cable used would stretch to the outskirts of Huntsville, Texas, some 57 miles away, and the total paint used would fill several Olympic-size swimming pools. The numbers behind the project are staggering:
- Total budget: $95 Million
- Total seating capacity: 16,000
- Total capacity of “Kid’s Life” area: 5,000
- Total man hours expended on the project: Approximately 1.4 million
- Total number of contractors and consultants hired by Irvine Team: 50
- Emmy award winners brought in as consultants: 2
- Length of total low voltage cable used: 57 miles
- Amount of air cooled in completed building: Over 1 million cubic feet per minute
- Total carpet laid in the facility: About 50,000 square yards
- New and existing light fixtures in the complex: 7,000
- Number of doors in the new facility: 1,000
- Number of new toilets that have been installed in the few facility: 296
- Total number of waterfalls in the interior of the building: 2
With Lakewood Church now opening its doors to an estimated 30,000 worshipers each week, Foreman projects understandable pride about her role in transforming a “project site of workship into an amazing house of worship.”
About Irvine Team
Houston-based Irvine Team, the leading design + construction strategy company, integrates the Owners' expectations, goals, and budgets with the architectural design and construction processes for health care, institutional, and not-for-profit projects. Irvine Team has been instrumental in the design and construction of projects with budgets collectively totaling more than $3 billion and encompassing approximately 42 million square feet. The Company is currently handling design + construction strategies for projects surpassing $600 million. Additional information is available at 713.840.1880 or www.irvinedcs.com.
ABOUT LORRIE FORMAN – Irvine Team’s Vice President of Operations
Lorrie D. Foreman has more than 20 years of experience in managing the design and construction of technically sophisticated, unique buildings. From the architectural challenges and the acoustical demands of a state-of-the-art theater to the complete build-out of the world’s largest complex for aircraft testing, Ms. Foreman has developed the successful strategy for delivering difficult projects in time to meet the client’s pressing needs. Prior to joining Irvine Team, Ms. Foreman led the architectural, engineering and construction teams in the design and construction of Houston’s premiere theater arts complex and was the Director of Construction for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Maryland. She earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering, was 1995 Engineer of the Year for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, graduated from the Navy Executive Leadership Program and served as an advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations’ Pentagon staff.