Oregon State University plans fast-track construction of an ecologically sustainable live-learn facility designed to attract more international students to its Corvallis campus. Construction is scheduled to begin in May with completion set prior to the fall of 2011. Related Links: Joint Venture Selected for Columbia Memorial Projects Construction of I-90 HOV Lane Commences Center for Health Sciences to Start at Puget Sound The project was designed by Mahlum’s Portland office as a six-story, post-tensioned concrete structure built to LEED gold equivalency, including solar-powered hot water, heat recovery ventilation systems, high-efficiency radiant heating and a thermally improved exterior wall system. Construction
Related Links: Architect Designs Two College Facilities Joint Venture Selected for Columbia Memorial Projects Construction of I-90 HOV Lane Commences University of Puget Sound began construction of the Center for Health Sciences at the south end of campus in May with general contractor GLY Construction. The 42,500-sq-ft interdisciplinary center is expected to open in time for the fall 2011 school semester. In addition to classrooms, offices and neurology, orthopedic, pediatric and outpatient clinics, it will house a motion analysis lab, biochemistry wet lab, observation suite, exercise physiology lab and a social sciences computer lab. The building was designed by Seattle
Last year, construction teams broke ground on 30 large-scale projects across the Northwest totalling $4.5 billion of work. Some projects beginning in 2008 were also included if they weren’t included in last year’s Top Project Starts. One project, the $240-million Sea-Tac Airport Rental Car Facility, is actually the largest ‘re-start’, having shut down in 2008 and then restarted in summer 2009. Photo: CH2M HILL Spokane County Regional Water Reclamation Facility Related Links: Washington Oregon Alaska Rankings from the past five years, as well as an electronic version of this year’s, are available on our web site at www.northwest.construction.com The projects
Government projects—from prisons to new hospitals—have contractors sharpening their pencils and building in Alaska. “Things in Alaska are pretty good compared to the rest of the country,” says Chuck Wiegers, president of A&A Roofing Co. of Fairbanks and a board member and past chairman of Associated Builders and Contractors-Alaska Chapter. “A good part of the work is federal and state.” John MacKinnon, executive director of Associated General Contractors of Alaska in Anchorage, says he expects highway and civil construction will provide additional work during the next couple of years. He adds that the state has experienced a downturn in vertical
Despite the recession, there are some promising construction projects in Seattle, including renovation of Pike Place Market, an infill project in the Rainier Valley and new digs for Amazon.com. The huge headquarters projects for Amazon.com in the South Lake Union area and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation near Seattle Center hold about the only tower cranes on the skyline, which was crowded with them two years ago. Phase one of the $500-million Gates Foundation includes two six-story buildings totalling 900,000 sq ft, being constructed by Seattle-based Sellen Construction. The Seattle office of NBBJ designed the expected LEED gold first
As the consequences unfold of the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, the flow of information has become as critical as the movement of the oil slick. One firm’s web-based information management system is having some success in crisis communication for those affected and is gaining wider play among infrastructure managers as an employee-management and business-continuity tool. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard The U.S. Coast Guard was the first client of the PIER system. Even with skepticism about the value and veracity of spill-related updates from platform owner BP and from some government sources, the Public Information Emergency
With cracks as sharp as the frozen Arctic air, a 1,357-ft steel communications tower in Port Clarence, Alaska, tumbled to the ground on April 28, the first step in the U.S. Coast Guard's decommissioning of its network of LORAN radio navigation facilities across the country. Photo: Controlled Demolition Inc. Tower demolition is start of Coast Guard decommissioning of aging navigation signal network. The 400-ton, 45-segment triangular steel tower is the largest man-made structure to be felled by explosives, according to Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI), Phoenix, Md., which performed the operation as a subcontractor to Jacobs Field Services North America. For
Project managers are struggling with how to remove �Rainier,� a tunnel-boring machine that is stuck 330 ft underground since last year. Until the rig is moved, the area�s $1.8-billion Brightwater treatment plant can�t be finished. Image: ENR/King County The tunnel�s original contractor and owner have parted ways after TBM bogged down and are currently negotiating a claim while a replacement team drills ahead. Photo: John J. Kosowatz / ENR One of the Brightwater tunnel boring machines is seen here fitted with cutter head. “As of May 1, we have no way to remove it and are still working on a
Vancouver, B.C.�s planned $458-million renovation of BC Place, the province�s largest stadium, already has paid dividends. Las Vegas-based Paragon Gaming announced in March it would lease the property adjacent to build a $450-million entertainment complex, complete with a 24-hour casino, five restaurants and two hotels. Operations are set to start in 2013. Photo: Paragon Gaming An entertainment complex will abut BC Place by 2013, according to Paragon Gaming�s plan. The 76,000-sq-meter fabric cover at BC Place—the largest air-supported roof in the world—will soon become the world’s largest cable-supported retractable roof. Work starts this month with a winterization program. The 27-year-old
Washington Dept. of Transportation officials hope to finalize designs this summer for a 2.3-mi section of the $4.65-billion, 12.8-mi state Route 520 corridor improvement project, in Seattle, which includes the world�s longest floating pontoon bridge. Photo: WSDOT Project floating along On-site work is under way for new pontoon construction, which is part of the expanded Washington state corridor connecting Seattle to points east. WsDOT is working with the City of Seattle, the University of Washington, King County Metro and Sound Transit on design decisions regarding the westside section of the corridor. That section includes the planned expansion of an interchange
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