The arrival of Hurricane Ike during construction of the five-building corporate administrative campus resulted in a six-week disruption in permanent power to the jobsite. The loss of power delayed material delivery and postponed the start of interior construction, which requires conditioned air to prevent mold in drywall and damage to millwork from moisture in the air. Photo: Aker/Zvonkovic Related Links: Best of 2009 Best Of Slideshow Award of Excellence Slideshow The lack of permanent power also delayed commissioning, a process that tests and certifies that mechanical systems such as fan coil boxes, chillers, air handlers and the UPS system are

Texas Construction presents its thirteenth annual Best Of awards issue, which honors projects completed in our region between Sept. 1, 2008, and Sept. 1, 2009.

The Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center in Orange is one of the Top 10 Green Projects this year, selected by the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment. Located on 252 acres, the center houses wetlands demonstration and ornamental gardens, and an interpretive center for ecosystems such as cypress and tupelo swamp, wooded uplands and prairie lowlands. Related Links: Teaching Green The AIA/COTE competition is based on elements including intent and innovation, site, bioclimatic design, light and air, water, energy. Lake/Flato Architects of San Antonio designed the project, and Beck Group of Austin was the contractor. The

Texas leaders from the design community, academia and government will present sessions at the U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild International Conference & Expo in Phoenix this month. Included are: Community meetings are a part of the bcWORKSHOP’s approach. Here, one is held in the shell of a home, completed in May 2009. Shown, UTA SOA students, Congo Street residents and workshop members. Related Links: 2009 Top Green Builders Dallas safe and green Zaida Basora, director of building inspection and the building official for the city of Dallas, will discuss her city’s new green building program. She led the city’s green

Even though the recession has hurt the Texas health-care market, numerous jobs are moving forward. “Texas is the best health-care market in the United States now,” says James King, director of health care for Turner Construction’s Texas Region in Dallas. “There are still large projects coming out, and several more will come out.” King attributes the progress to the state’s pro-business environment and to the fact that Texas does not require a certificate of need before a hospital proceeds with expansion plans. Turner is working on a $22-million, 65,000-sq-ft addition to Weatherford Regional Medical Center in Weatherford for Community Health

With baby boomers now in their 60s and a round of hospitals built in the 1950s outdated, billions of dollars will be spent in the United States over the next decade. Health-care facilities are environmental and energy hogs – from heating and cooling demands to cleaning supplies to procedures practiced in the name of health. Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas in Austin was the first hospital to achieve a LEED-platinum rating. White Construction Co. was construction manager for the 473,000-sq-ft facility. The green movement aims to reduce waste, cut back power needs, replace chemicals and help hospitals get

When it opens in summer 2010, the Hess Tower in Houston, a 29-story, 845,000-sq-ft office building, will have 10 wind turbines on the roof to capture wind energy and meet some of the building’s power needs. The turbines are one of the design features that will make the tower the first in Houston’s Central Business District to earn LEED-gold certification. The Energy Center II building in Houston was precertified LEED Silver and is going for LEED Gold. Sustainable building only makes sense these days, says Adam Saphier, a principal of Trammell Crow Co. of Houston, developer of the building with

LWPB Architecture of Oklahoma City wanted to go green when it opened a branch office in Norman, and it ended up going historic as well. The firm redesigned the main floor of the former Carey Lombard Lumber Co. building, built in 1889 and later occupied by Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. Photo: Joseph Mills Photography. Architects at LWPB Architects in Norman, Okla., have natural light in their work area after windows were cut into the brick walls of the old building. Photo: Joseph Mills Photography LWPB Architects of Oklahoma City renovated and updated an 1889 building in Norman for a

Sustainable building improves performance by both students and teachers, which is a huge selling point for school boards and school districts. A book full of tests have shown that people perform better when they work in areas with more windows than walls and where high-quality indoor air powers better work – in offices as well as classrooms. Photo: Courtesy SHW Group. Gloria Marshall Elementary School in Houston will have an eco-farm in the front courtyard where ponds will be fed by a rainwater cistern. Related Links: The ABCs of Green Building That is what sustainable building encourages and that is

The Dallas Cowboys’ Irving, Texas, practice facility collapsed on May 2, 2009, injuring 12 people, because wind-load demands exceeded the structure’s capacity to resist a thunderstorm’s 55 mph to 65 mph gusts, which were well below the 90 mph wind-speed specifications set by ASCE 7-98 and ASCE 7-05 Standards for that location, according to a draft report released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a nonregulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Photo: Courtesy NIST Buckling of the steel frame of the Dallas Cowboys practice facility is seen in the upper left of the photograph (marked