Royal Field, design build coordinator for Neeser, says a sixth, small field house, with equipment storage and distribution for the recreation yards, was recently added to the company’s scope of work.

KBP completed a life-cycle cost analysis to ensure the prison met a high standard of energy efficiency, Reed says. The emergency generator system is intended to keep the facility operational for seven days.

Although the project sits about 15 mi from Anchorage, it takes 150 mi by road to get there. It is scheduled for completion in December 2011.

Matanuska-Susitna Borough officials decided to contract with a private firm to build a water and wastewater treatment facility. An agreement with the borough and the state was expected by mid-May. Field says in a written response to questions, “status of this facility has not and currently is not affecting [Neeser Construction] progress on our contract scope of work.”

Neeser also is working on the new two-story Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory in Anchorage. The Peninsula Clarion newspaper reports the state has spent $16 million on the project for design and sitework. A pending bill would provide $75.7 million for constructing and equipping the lab.

Health Care

Neeser and joint venture partner Inuit Services, a subsidiary of Bering Straits Native Corp. in Nome, began construction in September on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act-funded, $91-million, 150,000-sq-ft, three-story, steel-frame Norton Sound Regional Hospital in Nome. Kumin Associates of Anchorage, in collaboration with Mahlum Architects of Seattle, provided programming and design.

The Indian Health Service had already installed underground utilities and 18-in. steel frost pilings through the permafrost. The structure is raised and has a minimum 4-ft air space between the building soffit and gravel pad.

“Nothing is built on the ground because the earth moves so much,” says Tamie Taylor, vice president of operations for the Bering Straits Native Corp. “It is also built on piles, because the area floods.”

A joint venture between UIC Construction and SKW/Eskimos, both with offices in Barrow, Alaska, received an $82.3-million contract in December to build the Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital replacement in Barrow. It began utility work earlier this year and plans to start building the new 100,000-sq-ft facility in August, says Clayton Arterburn, project manager for UIC.

“Summertime is a mad scramble,” Arterburn says. “We have a three- to four-month window and only one barge service a year. You have to think about one year in advance everything you will need.”

Completion is scheduled for December 2012. The Indian Health Service provided funding for the new hospital owned by the Arctic Slope Native Association in Barrow.

Useful Sources

Visit the Goose Creek Correctional Center site at http://www.matsugov.us/prison/

More Barrow Hospital Replacement Project information is available at
http://www.arcticslope.org/hospital_replacement.html