Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price (second from left, above) and City Councilman Bryan Byrd (second from right) joined employees on March 19 to celebrate Freese and Nichols becoming the 100th organization in Fort Worth to be certified a Blue Zones Project Worksite. The certification recognizes a companywide commitment to employee well-being. Blue Zones is a global movement that advocates for improving longevity and the quality of life by making healthy choices easier at the community level. Many of the practices that Freese and Nichols has adopted—flexible workstations, bike racks, fitness expenditure subsidies, nutritious snacks and healthier choices for lunch meetings—were elements of the Blue Zones designation. During the celebration, employees got to try out the Blue Zones’ “blender bike,” a way to mix smoothies by using  pedal power.

On March 6, members of Skanska’s Houston development and construction teams, currently building Capitol Tower in the city’s Central Business District, went before the Houston City Council and committed to rebuilding a home for a senior citizen affected by Hurricane Harvey.  The team was joined by Council Member Amanda Edwards and Mayor Sylvester Turner, who recently issued a call for volunteers to assist in the citywide disaster recovery. The project is expected to be complete in the coming weeks.

Pictured (left to right): Skanska’s Laura Flores-Urquidi, Janelle Bunyan and Matt Daniel; Council Member Amanda Edwards; Skanska’s Dennis Yung; Mayor Sylvester Turner; and Skanska’s Matt Damborsky, Sean Murphy and Elizabeth Stemac.

Brasfield & Gorrie recently joined Texoma Medical Center to celebrate the grand opening of the first of four floors in the hospital’s newly expanded emergency department.

This is the first phase of a 115,000-sq-ft expansion and renovation project that will double the size of the existing emergency department, adding psychiatric treatment rooms, trauma rooms and a fast-track service for patients with minor injuries. Subsequent phases of the project will also expand the hospital’s intensive care unit, neonatal intensive care unit and post-partum/medical-surgical unit. The expansion will also provide shell space to accommodate future growth.