Donation-supported, new projects keep moving forward at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Caruth Hall replaces an aging building, and Annette Caldwell Simmons Hall will serve a growing School of Education and Human Development, says Philip Jabour, executive director of the Office of Planning, Design, and Construction at SMU. The university has �wealthy alumni and is improving the campus,� says David R. Stanford, project designer for Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford of Fort Worth, which designed the new buildings and a renovation of the ballroom at the university�s Umphrey Lee Center. The firm has completed about nine projects for SMU. �Everything on the

Twenty-five projects out of the 55 that made the print issue of our annual Top Projects Starts. The list here includes those as well as the additional 30 in order of total construction cost. Topping the list is the $1.3-billion-plus Central Texas highway project, SH 130, segments five and six. The list of 25 highlighted projects in this feature, with a total combined value of $4.4 billion, is dominated by transportation and military construction. Higher education, research and health-care projects are also frequent in the mix, while K-12 and is also keeping contractors busy across the region. All Top Project

While many states have tapped private capital to build roads and bridges, Texas has shown less enthusiasm for alternative funding mechanisms, allowing expiration of the Dept. of Transportation�s and Regional Mobility Authorities� right to enter into new comprehensive development agreements (or CDAs). �The moratorium greatly limits TxDOT from procuring new CDAs to deliver highway projects for which there is insufficient funding available from traditional sources,� says TxDOT spokesperson Karen Amacker. CDAs are agreements between private companies and public entities that allow for design and construction of roads and other infrastructure. In the case of concession agreements, they provide financing, operation

Twenty-five projects out of the 55 that made the print issue of our annual Top Projects Starts. The list here includes those as well as the additional 30 in order of total construction cost. Topping the list is the $1.3-billion-plus Central Texas highway project, SH 130, segments five and six. The list of 25 highlighted projects in this feature, with a total combined value of $4.4 billion, is dominated by transportation and military construction. Higher education, research and health-care projects are also frequent in the mix, while K-12 and is also keeping contractors busy across the region. All Top Project

Although construction activity has slowed in the Panhandle and West Texas, new projects continue to surface and work continues. “We’re not nearly as busy as we have been the past five or six years, but we have some nice school projects starting in 2010,” says Wiley Hicks III, vice president of Wiley Hicks Jr. Inc., a general contracting firm, and president of the Panhandle of Texas Chapter of the Associated General Contractors, both in Amarillo. “It’s not great, but it’s not horrible.” Wiley Hicks Jr. is finishing up a new building for the Cardiology Center of Amarillo, and Hicks says

The warm, optimistic glow cast by the city of Dallas’ $2.5- to $3-billion, comprehensive Trinity River Corridor project is partially shadowed by the findings of Periodic Inspection No. 9. The ninth, five-year-cycled U.S. Army Corps of Engineers levee inspection in 2009 left Dallas with a failed rating, loss of levee certification, exclusion from Federal Emergency Management Agency flood plain maps, more than $8.4 million in operation and maintenance repairs, a $25.5-million contract award for a thorough, third-party levee assessment, and concern over whether any of those short-term funds will apply to the long-term federally certified flood control program. “The city

Planners at Texas Children’s Hospitals think big. Already the largest children’s hospital in the United States, the Houston-based hospital set out to further build on its vast resources with Vision 2010, a $1.5-billion expansion program.

Texas Construction presents our 2nd annual ranking of Top Green Contractors. This list is the result of an annual survey of Texas firms that makes our Top Contractors ranking, featured in every April issue. Here, we list the top 50 firms’ reported green building revenue. This year’s cumulative total in revenue for the 50 green builders is more than $5 billion. On the following pages we also feature brief profiles of firms from across the state that rank among the 50. Congratulations to all who made the list, in particular the top 15 with revenue in green alone of more

Texas 2010 Rank: No. 9Green Rank: No. 11 Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Austin has incorporated sustainable principles and environmentally responsible practices in all aspects of the company’s administration and construction operations. Photo: Hensel Phelps Dell Pediatric Research Institute. Related Links: Top Green Contractors The Beck Group Bartlett Cocke General Contractors McCarthy Construction Co. Manhattan Construction Co. Being a frequent design-builder offers the company an opportunity from project inception to contribute green ideas and suggestions and evaluate different elements’ first-cost and lifecycle cost. “The key is establishing the strategy about how you will achieve your credits at schematic design, and

Texas 2010 rank: No. 7Green rank: No. 21 Sustainability has become the way Manhattan Construction of Tulsa, Okla., conducts business on every job—whether the client pursues third-party certification or not. That may include recycling, preventing runoff from leaving the site, selecting materials and filtering air when first firing up the mechanical equipment to avoid spewing dust. Photo: Manhattan Construction Grand Prairie’s Public Safety Building and Adult Activity Center. Related Links: Top Green Contractors The Beck Group Bartlett Cocke General Contractors McCarthy Construction Co. Hensel Phelps Construction Co. “We all have to live in this world and hope our great-grandkids can