A building permit application is under review by Snohomish County for Swedish Health Services’ ambulatory care and freestanding emergency room in Mill Creek, Wash. The current schedule anticipates construction to begin in March and be completed by the end of the year. Image: Mahlum Architects Swedish Health Services’ Mill Creek Ambulatory Care and E.R. Related Links: Officials Try to Jump Start Columbia River Crossing by Streamlining Costs Facebook Breaks Ground on $188 Million Facility in Eastern Oregon Robert Frost Elementary Opens Designed to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Swedish will lease 55,000 sq ft of
Frost Elementary School, a new K-6 school in Kirkland, Wash. for the Lake Washington School District, has been completed. Related Links: Officials Try to Jump Start Columbia River Crossing by Streamlining Costs Facebook Breaks Ground on $188 Million Facility in Eastern Oregon Mill Creek ER May Open this Year Infused with art and poetry, this 59,260-sq-ft replacement facility was designed to take advantage of its wooded site and to create strong connections to the natural surroundings, to the school community and to the words of poet Robert Frost. The classrooms, shared learning spaces and multipurpose commons were designed to be
In seismic zones, construction of concrete high-rises keeps getting easier, thanks to advances in high-strength reinforcing steel used for confinement of high-strength concrete. Photo: Cary Kopczynski & Co. The 31-story Escala condominium tower in downtown Seattle utilized 100-ksi rebar, which allowed for less field labor, less hoisting and reduced materials. The project was developed by Lexas Cos., Seattle, and built by JE Dunn Construction, Kirkland. Workers assemble 90-ksi rebar on Avalon Towers in Bellevue, which topped out in early December. The high-strength rebar also reduces congestion over standard 60-ksi rebar, but is cheaper to manufacture than 100-ksi rebar because it
...guidelines require annual inspections. The company also performs nondestructive testing of the structure after each project. J.E. Dunn uses a software program called DB02 to track its safety compliance. In 2008, it asked the San Carlos, Calif.-based supplier to retool the program around the hoisting fleet. Some contractors and crane rental companies are using the economic downtime to reinvest in safety. Related Links: >Air Apparent “We can pull statistics and data, everything from fall protection to crane inspection,” Hall says. “Once a crane is moved, those statistics follow that crane to the next job.” The equipment is hooked up to
Regional transit builder SoundTransit adopted a two-part strategy when it went to bid on tunneling work for University Link, a 3.15-mi underground extension of light rail from downtown Seattle to the University of Washington. The project includes construction of two twin-bore tunnels and two stations. +Image Map: SoundTransit Upon completion in 2016, the University Link 3.15-mi underground light rail extension will allow commuters to travel from downtown Seattle to the University of Washington. Image: SoundTransit The University of Washington station, estimated at $115 million, is one of two stations required for the new line. SoundTransit officials plan to compile a
The Washington State Dept. of Transportation has qualified four design-build teams that will vie for a $1-billion contract to construct a deep-bore tunnel replacing the seismically unsound Alaskan Way viaduct in Seattle. The winner will begin work on the four-lane, 2-mile-long double-decker tunnel on state Route 99 after the award in late 2010. Slide Show Photo: WSDOT Four design-build teams will vie for the $1-billion contract to replace the seismically unsound Alaskan Way Viaduct, which is scheduled to break ground by the end of 2010. Related Links: University Link's Sound Strategy New Treatment Plant Clears Way for Elwha Dam Project
Oregon and Washington are among the top three states when it comes to USGBC LEED certification, an indication of the region’s dedication to the environment. LEED certification has long been held as a symbol of a building’s commitment to sustainability, not to mention a means of satisfying local regulations requiring compliance, such as Seattle’s Sustainable Building Policy enacted in 2000. Photo: Optimum Energy The property managers for Aventine, a business complex in La Jolla, Calif., used ENERGY STAR to assess energy usage, revealing that upgrades to the HVAC system would result in significant energy savings with minimal investment. +Image Upgrading
If Oregon and Washington follow California in regulating off-road diesel nitrogen oxide and fine particulate matter emissions, contractors may need to install pollution controls on their equipment or purchase replacements, according to warnings from The Associated General Contractors of America. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton If Oregon and Washington follow California’s lead in the regulation of off-road diesel emissions, smoke-filled exhaust from heavy construction equipment may be a thing of the past. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton Related Links: Above and Beyond “There are a lot of different things in play, but in terms of actual, on-the-ground requirements, we haven’t seen them
Completion of a new water treatment plant in Port Angeles, Wash. in December was one of the final projects necessary for the start of the largest dam removal project in the United States. Photo: John Korsmo Construction These chemical injection pumps are part of the $25.5-million Port Angeles Water Treatment Plant built by Watts/Korsmo A JV that will help filter the extra thousands of cu yds of silt that will flow down the Elwha River when the National Park Service completes its dam removal project. Photo: NPS Congress approved removal of the Elwha River and Glines Canyon Dams in 1993.
Spiking oil prices, soaring utility costs and worries about global warming have sprung energy efficiency from obscurity onto the list of new directions in design and construction. Photo: DKA Located near Broadway and 15th Avenue East on Capitol Hill, the Capital Park renovation added energy efficiency plus improved fixtures and finishes. Related Links: Fan Service: Firm Retrofits Energy-Saving FANWALLS into Manufacturing Plant Case Study: Aventine Complex LEEDs the Way to Energy Savings High-end, expensive green projects have always captured the attention of the nation. But as the nation focuses more on maximizing resources and minimizing waste, and the costs associated