The much-lauded SHoP Construction, spinoff of SHoP Architects, has been absorbed back into the firm

Re B2, from SHoP Construction's former web site

In reporting my recent article on troubles in the under-construction Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park B2 modular tower, I learned about the formal demise and reabsorption of SHoP Construction Services, a much-lauded arm of SHoP Architects formed in 2007, which played key roles on both the Barclays Center and B2.

For B2, SHoP Construction provided Virtual Design and Construction services, Preconstruction Services and Enclosure Design and Engineering.

Regarding the arena, SHoP Construction stated:

The design of the Barclays Center achieves a striking balance between iconic form and performance. A major component of the arena's design is its intricate pre-weathered steel and glass enclosure.
To execute this design, SC was engaged by the facade contractor to ensure the architectural gesture of the pre-weathered steel 'latticework' was accurately reproduced in the built form. Through implementation of an integrated direct-to-fabrication process, SC facilitated the manufacturing, assembly and sequenced delivery of 900 unitized mega-panels containing 12,000 uniquely sized pre-weathered steel latticework panels.

From SHoP Construction's former web site

A changing company

SHoP Construction shut its website this year; here’s the 2014 iteration. Partner Jonathan Mallie, a principal in SHoP Architects and the leader of SHoP Construction, left in January, according to his LinkedIn profile.

"At the beginning of the year we reintegrated SHoP Construction with SHoP Architects by merging resources into one company which is now simply referred to as SHoP," responded spokeswoman Allison Dolegowski in response to my query. "Yes, SHoP is still providing services on the B2 tower."

Without knowing more, this change is hard to assess. However, establishing and building SHoP Construction Services was long considered a sign of progress. The re-integration suggests that SHoP Construction may have become less financially or operationally feasible.

Press mentions for SHoP Construction

Consider this July 2012 Engineering News Record article about the B2 tower:

With the architect's construction management arm, SHoP Construction Services, as BIM integrator, the B2-modular team has developed a process that also relies on virtual design and construction (VDC) tools for scheduling and pricing. In addition, the design team is developing production-level models and drawings for about 60% to 70% of B2-modular, to confirm dimensions and minimize area lost to risers and walls. To maximize the value of design-level modeling work, the model is structured so that fabricators will not have to build a fabrication model from scratch for detailing, says SHoP. Also, when complete production-level documentation is provided for a scope of work, the subcontractor does not need to generate shop drawings, says Jonathan L. Mallie, a principal of both SHoPs.

A June 2013 Crain's New York Business article about  how SHoP Architects gets tough projects built:

The name SHoP is a clever mash-up of the principals' names (Sharples Holden and Pasquarelli). It is also a mission statement: The company is a design firm and a workshop, too. Two subsidiaries, SHoP Construction and Helioptix, push the boundaries of building, using modular construction techniques and unusual materials. The firm has also devised proprietary software to map out the zoning envelope for any building in the city—work that real estate attorneys would have spent days doing, with expensive billings.

Or this May 2014 Curbed article about the rise of SHoP:

The architects then proceeded to another project in Greenport, the Camera Obscura, for which SHoP modeled 2,200 different parts. The regulatory agencies involved in that project, says Coren Sharples, offered "almost a microcosm of what we deal with here in the city." Another building the principals identify as a company turning point, the Porter House, allowed the firm to experiment with financing its own projects. By 2007, SHoP had formalized its preference for being involved with the whole process by creating SHoP Construction, a separate firm headed by SHoP's sixth principal, Jonathan Mallie, to "facilitate the delivery of the design all the way through" until a project is built. Being on the development side, Mallie explains, "you are in a position to say, we can purchase zinc ourselves for the facade. We can work with a...contractor, we can work with a carpenter and put [a building] together in a different way."