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  The chairman of the building committee for a major expansion at First United Methodist Church in St. Charles was exuberant in his praise of the construction management approach for a recently completed three-story addition.
   Roger D. Wynkoop said he and others on the nine-member building committee were unaware of the construction management process until representatives of Hensley Construction, Inc. introduced the concept during the committee's interviews with general contractors.
   "We really liked the sound of it, because as members of a church building committee, that's not what we do as our primary living," he said. "All of us had a lot of outside distractions, so we liked the idea of somebody coming in with a guaranteed maximum contract and managing the job for us within that budget."
   Wynkoop said his committee interviewed four general contractors and that Hensley came off as "far and away the best - the most interested in our project and with a track record of doing similar jobs."
   Wynkoop was also generous in his praise of the manner in which Hensley conducted the project.
   "I always felt they were in control of the situation, which, to me, gave us a lot of confidence," he asserted.
   "When we would have weekly meetings and they would show us updates of costs and activities, there were no areas left untouched. You knew exactly where the subs and suppliers were, and where all the costs were.
   "And at the end, when we had pretty well exhausted most of the contingencies, Hensley came back and said, 'Would you like us to monitor this all the way down, or just close it out and we'll finish for the contracted price?'

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Church Project In St. Charles Is First Of Five Hensley Has Built Within The Past Two Years

  First United Methodist Church in St. Charles has been a fixture in the community since 1812. Originally constructed on Main Street within view of the Missouri River, the church suffered a catastrophic fire in the early 1950s, burning to the ground.
   After the fire, church officials located a new site several blocks west and rebuilt the structure at 801 First Capital Drive, completing it around 1955.
   During the next 40 years, there were a couple of additions, one an education wing, the other a gym.
   By the mid-1990s, however, the building was at capacity. There was no place for the congregation to socialize, and space for Sunday School classes, the music program, administrative work, and storage was overcrowded or non-existent.
   With a nine-member building committee chaired by Roger D. Wynkoop, a long-time member and president of ACF Industries in St. Charles, the church set out to create new space to accommodate its existing needs and provide for future growth. As design progressed, the church selected Hensley Construction from a pool of pre-qualified general con-
tractors to build a three-story, 15,000-square-foot addition to the southeast corner of the existing structure.

   Completed last year, the addition features a voluminous glass-and-structural-steel atrium and multi-purpose room, new offices, and new classrooms. Hensley also renovated existing space for conversion to storage and other uses.
   The project was the first in a recent series of church projects Hensley has been selected to build, including Emmanual Lutheran, two blocks from First United Methodist. Others include one in South County and two in Webster Groves. All vary in size and scope.
   Construction on St. Simon the Apostle Parish, the church in South County, began early this year. The project calls for a two-story, 27,970-square-
foot addition that will include a new sanctuary and nave and a new social hall and offices. The new sanctuary will have a glue-laminated structure with granite-lined walls, a 40-
foot steeple, 12-foot cupola, and a copper standing seam roof. The existing sanctuary will be renovated and converted to classrooms, a music room, lounge, and library.
   A similar project is under way at Annunciation Church in Webster Groves. The two-story, 25,000-square-
foot addition will feature a new Parish Center with classrooms, meeting rooms, offices with an adjoining gymnasium/stage (multi-
purpose) area, and parish library.