High in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina, Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. and the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians were collaborating on the development of a spectacular entertainment complex, considered vital to the economy of the region. The project would encompass the area of three football fields. The deadline, fourteen months to completion, would force a construction start-up in the midst of the rainy season. The opening deadline was critical, as a $1,000,000 per day liquidated damage clause was included in the contract.

When completed, the new Harrah's Cherokee Smokey Mountain Casino would contain 50,000 square feet of gambling area with 1,500 video gaming machines, a 1,500 seat event center, three signature restaurants, a professional child-care facility, meeting rooms and management offices; at a cost of $82 million dollars.

The construction manager and the owner selected the only mechanical contractor in the area they felt could handle a project with complexity and aggressive schedule. To meet the challenge Shoffner Mechanical held detailed pre-construction meetings with the construction manager and owner's representatives. This was followed by intensive in-house planning and coordination sessions. Shoffner was involved in the creation of the HVAC and Plumbing budgets with the construction management team. A plan was enacted to employ qualified local Cherokee Indian craftsmen and women.

Once work was underway, deliveries were painstakingly coordinated on site and in Knoxville, to get materials and equipment into the workers hands when they needed it. The crews rented housing in the Cherokee area and worked seven days a week through all types of weather.

In thirteen months, one month ahead of schedule, Shoffner had installed 975 tons of huge commercial rooftop units -- able to cool an impressive 180 square feet per ton, Bioclimatic Air Conditioning units for smoke removal, four direct fired gas make-up air units, 65 variable air volume boxes with hot water reheat coils, six "point of use" direct expansion split system filter systems for the money rooms, control rooms and "back of house" operations, and two hot water boilers.

One computer controls everything using a Direct Digital Control system with full remote dial-in alarm and diagnostic function to help insure that the most important priority for the customer was achieved - the full function and reliability of all the equipment, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

With an expected annual visitation of 3.4 million people, you can understand why.