The first phase of construction on a University of Colorado Boulder campus utility project that will provide efficient heating and cooling while significantly reducing the university’s carbon emissions began in late August, with utility work and construction staging on the south side of campus. The project is expected to be complete in the winter of 2014 and involves three major components: renovation of the campus power house on 18th Street; construction of a separate, new heating and cooling plant; and installation of new utility distribution systems.“Safe, reliable and efficient energy is crucial for providing uninterrupted power that supports CU-Boulder’s educational

Intermountain Bobcat has built a new 12,500-sq-ft Bobcat-dedicated headquarters in West Valley City, Utah. Opened for business June 1, the building sits on four acres, and was built by Salt Lake City-based Hughes General Contractors with tilt-up concrete construction and environmentally sustainable materials. Photo courtesy of Intermountain Bobcat Intermountain Bobcat celebrated the grand opening of its new headquarters facility in Salt Lake City in June. The facility houses the company’s sales, administration, parts and rental operations in an open architecture format with stained concrete floors and high ceilings. The service shop was built for efficiency and comfort, with glass roll-up

Denver's Metro Wastewater Reclamation District is nearing peak construction on its $212-million PAR 1085 South Secondary Improvements project at the district's Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility north of the city. The construction cost is nearly $135 million. Related Links: Nitrogen Diet Reduces Arizona County's Drinking Water Threat How We Can Afford to Fix American Infrastructure The project will continue the process of upgrading the aging 1960s-era treatment facility by adding capacity, improving operating capability and upgrading treatment methods to meet more stringent effluent requirements for nitrogen and ammonia removal, as required by the district's discharge permit. To meet the new

Denver's new $36-million Police Crime Laboratory will soon take its place among the country's most high-tech evidence-handling and analysis facilities, far surpassing in size and complexity the city's decades-old lab space. Related Links: Colorado Owner of Year: City and County of Denver City of Denver's Central Platte Campus The 60,000-sq-ft facility at 14th and Cherokee streets replaces an existing 14,000-sq-ft lab, currently housed on the sixth floor of the Police Administration Building. With the additional space, the Denver Police Dept. (DPD) can offer improved forensic, fingerprinting and DNA resources to scientists and investigators.The building features three levels of lab and

People living in mountainous states like Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and Montana aren't accustomed to things that are flat. Flat hats. Flatland. Flatlanders. And, especially, flat economic forecasts. Related Links: Regional Designers Seeing Some Improvement in Work Opportunities U.S. Construction Spending Reaches Post-Recession High This is boom-and-bust country, where the skyline is filled with hills and valleys. But the plot twist to the regional contractors' story of 2012 is a mostly flat forecast for the remainder of the year—with a few bumps on the horizon.At first glance, the healthy 2011 revenue reported by the larger regional firms looks promising. But

Salt Lake City-based Big-D Construction landed the top spot in this year's Mountain States ranking of the Intermountain area's largest general contractors with an impressive $555.2 million in 2011 revenue, pushing the firm up from its No. 6 spot a year ago. Related Links: Intermountain Owner of Year: Utah Transit Authority Mountain States Designer of Year: CH2M Hill Much of that surge can be attributed to the firm's role in building the state's largest ongoing project, the $1-billion-plus Utah Data Center, but it is also evidence of a contractor that has found success during the downturn and slow recovery by

The Regional Transportation District Board of Directors has formally approved a proposal by Kiewit Infrastructure Co. to complete the I-225 Light Rail Line to Peoria by November 2015. The line would open in mid-2016 after about six months of testing. With a vote of 14-0 and one member absent, the RTD Board’s decision paves the way for the agency to complete another complete FasTracks rail line. On July 3, RTD staff recommended the proposal to the board after finding that it offered the best value, with a financially sound solution that allows RTD to take advantage of the current market.

Related Links: The Added Risks of Design-Build BBHQ Earns LEED Platinum Working in concert with influential construction industry groups, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will release at the end of July new guidelines for the use of so-called "single-step design-build" on its projects.Although the Corps first adopted design-build in the mid-90s, it has steadily increased use of the single-step process on major projects since 2008, despite heavy criticism from contractors and industry groups that fear it could spread to other large owners.Critics argue that the single-step process defeats the collaborative purpose and creativity of design-build and say that it

The Colorado Dept. of Transportation began repairs July 18 on the sinkhole on U.S. 24 over Tennessee Pass and will finish the week of August 6. The highway will remain closed in both directions to all traffic, including bicyclists, from mile marker (MM) 162 to MM 166. 
 Photo courtesy of CDOT CDOT began work July 18 to repair a 35-ft-wide sinkhole on U.S. 24 over Tennessee Pass. Hayward Baker Inc. won the repair bid with a contract amount of $829,748.65. Incentives are part to the contract. If Hayward Baker can open one lane or both lanes of the highway

The Regional Transportation District staff recommended to the RTD Board of Directors on July 3 to move forward with a proposal from Kiewit Infrastructure Co. to complete the I-225 Light Rail Line all the way to Peoria Street.