Gold Hard Hat Award Vestas Towers Submitted by IES Commercial Danish wind-energy giant, Vestas, continued its building of new facilities in Colorado with its Pueblo project. The wind-tower project consisted of construction on a fast-track industrial production campus consisting of four buildings: a 460,000-sq-ft production facility where the tower sections will be made, a 260,000-sq-ft surface treatment plant for finishes, a 115,000-sq-ft internals building where the hardware will be installed in sections and a 30,000-sq-ft administration building. Slide Show Photo: IES Commercial Littleton Vestas Towers Related Links: 2009 Legacy Award Architectural Design Project Engineering Design Project Project Managemen Project Civil/Public

Intermountain Contractor’s 2009 rankings of the Top Design Firms in the Intermountain region include architectural and engineering firms in Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Firms are ranked in several categories according to revenue from various regions. Related Links: 2009 Top Design Firms CH2M Hill topped this year’s ranking with just over $75 million in regional revenues. HDR, Inc. was second at a little more than $50 million, followed by J-U-B Engineers, Inc., Horrocks Engineers and MWH Americas. As it is every year, our staff goes to great lengths to contact design firms in the region via phone, fax and email.

We encourage clients to evaluate and incorporate environmentally sensitive building components, including realizing the benefits of the different levels of LEED certification. If done properly, such planning can be accomplished with very little impact on the cost of construction. Slide Show Photo: BWA Beecher Walker & Associates have designed some beautiful office buildings in recent years, including Grove Creek (this image), Millrock Park and RiverPark. As an architect,my role is to be the creative force in realizing our client’s vision. As a partner at Beecher Walker, my role is to mentor our team to understand this special partnership that must

The not-so-common oscillation method of drilling holes for enormous underground pillars of concrete proved to be an excellent solution in a construction area that called for careful mitigation. Slide Show Photo: UDOT Drilled shafts are nothing new in the bridge construction industry; along with pile foundations, drilled shafts are one of the two most common foundations used to secure large structures like bridges. In Utah, however, the not-so-common oscillation method of drilling holes for enormous underground pillars of concrete proved to be an excellent solution in a construction area that called for careful mitigation. The Utah Department of Transportation Region

Attitudes about urbanism are changing as people embrace the social, cultural, environmental and financial benefits of more urban lifestyles. Even in the still relatively young frontier cities of the western United States, urbanism is on the rise. Photo: Soren Simonsen When planning does not consider fully the implications of design, development, and transportation systems as interrelated elements of a city, the results can be devastating. Photo: Soren Simonsen Effective urban design increasingly requires a collaborative approach that integrates planning, engineering, design and development to create vibrant and habitable 21st century communities. photo: Soren Simonsen A well-planned and integrated city nurtures

As owners and developers become more energy and environmentally conscious, design teams are required to carefully implement sustainable design principles. The building’s structure has a significant impact on the building’s embodied energy and the ability to achieve LEED points. CHRIS Embodied energy is defined as the available energy used in the work of constructing a building. A building’s structure accounts for about 25% of the building’s embodied energy but only about 10% of the building’s cost. A knowledgeable LEED AP structural engineer on your project can assist with sound sustainable design principles that can significantly reduce the building’s embodied energy.