A smokeless tobacco company sought to establish its first greenfield U.S. manufacturing campus while accelerating speed to market.

Philip Morris International sought to establish its first U.S. greenfield manufacturing facility, creating an end-to-end production campus capable of supporting the company’s expanding smokeless product portfolio while accelerating speed to market. Located on a 148-acre site in the Denver metro area, the facility would replicate and adapt a proven European production model within a U.S. construction, regulatory and operational environment.

The challenge extended beyond construction. The design package was approximately 30% complete at project kickoff and required significant adaptation to meet U.S. codes, permitting requirements, material availability and construction practices while preserving critical production and equipment performance standards. At the same time, the client required an aggressive schedule to enable production within 19 months of groundbreaking.

The project also faced complex utility and infrastructure demands, long-lead equipment procurement, constrained regional power and water availability and the integration of proprietary OEM manufacturing systems within a fast-track delivery environment.

Haskell developed an integrated design-build strategy that advanced design, permitting and construction simultaneously.

As design-builder, Haskell implemented an integrated delivery approach that aligned design, engineering, procurement, permitting and construction under a single team. Working from an established European manufacturing archetype, Haskell translated and optimized the design for U.S. standards, reducing costs while maintaining production functionality and operational requirements.

The resulting campus encompasses approximately 780,000 square feet of manufacturing, utilities and logistics space across nine buildings, including primary powder processing, secondary pouch production and packaging operations, logistics facilities, utility infrastructure and several support structures. The facility also incorporates more than 210,000 square feet of elevated process areas and approximately 40 miles of piping throughout the campus.

To support the compressed schedule, Haskell developed a phased permitting and construction strategy, advancing work through 10 permit packages and coordinating closely with local and state authorities. Innovative permitting solutions enabled foundation and site work to proceed ahead of traditional approval milestones, shortening the project schedule by approximately five months. Construction sequencing was further accelerated through phased turnover and joint occupancy strategies that allowed production areas to come online ahead of overall campus completion.

Haskell leveraged its integrated capabilities across design, engineering, steel fabrication, process installation, VDC, procurement and construction management to deliver a project that, at peak, involved more than 1,000 workers on site, over 60 concurrent trades and extensive coordination of long-lead mechanical and electrical systems.

The facility is expanding domestic manufacturing capacity while positioning the client for future growth.

The Aurora Facility represents one of Colorado’s largest private industrial developments and a significant investment in U.S. manufacturing. Designed to support end-to-end production, packaging, warehousing and distribution operations, the campus is built to accommodate both immediate operational needs and future growth. The project generated approximately 5,000 jobs, including more than 3,100 construction positions, while demonstrating the effectiveness of integrated design-build delivery on large-scale manufacturing programs where speed to market is critical.

By combining accelerated permitting, phased turnover strategies and coordinated engineering and construction services, Haskell helped the client achieve its production goals while delivering a highly efficient, technologically advanced manufacturing complex engineered for long-term operational performance.

This project was delivered with support from Haskell’s Industrial Water market and Haskell Steel, bringing together expertise from across the organization.