Harris & Associates Inc. has had just two chief executives in its 36 years, and the departure, in 2010, of a designated heir apparent didn't help the California professional service firm in changing out its aging leaders. So, knowing it faced a tough market and tougher decisions ahead, the firm agreed to a new direction. "We couldn't just give lip service for succession planning," says outgoing President and CEO Guy Erickson. "Because of the economy, it was time to change the way we were doing business. It was time for a new wind to blow."The change hit the firm with

Facing allegations in a recent Sacramento Bee story that there were serious flaws in foundation testing that threatened the safety and integrity of the new east span of the Bay Bridge, Caltrans director Malcolm Dougherty called on the newspaper to retract the story.  Related Links: Records Raise Doubts on Bay Bridge Concrete Caltrans Open to Outside Experts Reviewing New Bay Bridge In a letter to Sacramento Bee executive editor Joyce Terhaar on Friday, June 8, Dougherty outlines the “major flaws” in the May 27 story by reporter Charles Piller and calls on the paper to “set the record straight.” Caltrans

The city of San Diego's controversial Proposition A – a measure to ban the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) in public works projects not linked to federal or state funding – passed easily in Tuesday's election. Related Links: Project Labor Agreements Are At Issue Again in California For the next six months, “nothing will change except city-funded projects will not be subjected to forced PLAs and city contracts will start to be posted online,” says Jim Ryan, executive vice president of Associated General Contractors of San Diego.But on Jan. 1, 2013, state Senate Bill 829, approved by the legislature

Nearly 20 months before the December 2010 groundbreaking for the massive University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, members of the design and construction team gathered at the project's site in the Mission Bay neighborhood to map out a plan of attack. Their goal: to win a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold rating—a rare achievement for a hospital—for the 878,000-sq-ft complex. Related Links: Engineering News Record Architectural Record The team brought together about 100 key players, including the project's general contractor, architects, engineers, construction-management advisers and 13 subcontractors, to produce a plan to integrate lean construction methods, implement

A California seismic-retrofit mandate for hospitals has produced a wave of major projects over the past several years, giving a welcome lift to the state's architectural and engineering firms. But as the program's first major deadline draws near, the wave of hospital work has receded. To cope with the decline in the health care sector, many A/E firms are branching out to new regions or offering a wider range of services to potential clients. Related Links: Top Design Firms 2011 Architectural Record Combined revenue for this year's top 10 design firms rose a modest 2.6% over the total for last

Facing new challenges in an election year, U.S. union tradeswomen attending a second annual conference in May in Sacramento reviewed anti-union measures on ballots across the U.S. and vowed to unite to slow attrition.The conference, co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Dept. and the California State Building and Construction Trades Council (SBCTC), attracted women craft workers from 26 states and from abroad. With 100 fewer attendees than last year, 520 came to the 11th annual meeting for state tradeswomen.SBCTC spokeswoman Debra Chaplan, also a member of Teamsters' union Local 853, said women now make up just 2% of

Facing new challenges in an election year, U.S. union tradeswomen attending a second annual conference earlier this month in Sacramento reviewed anti-union measures on ballots across the U.S. and vowed to unite to slow attrition. The conference, co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Dept. and the California State Building and Construction Trades Council (SBCTC), attracted women craft workers from 26 states and Canada as well as Namibia, Curacao and Switzerland. With 100 fewer attendees than last year, 520 came to the 11th annual meeting for state tradeswomen.SBCTC spokeswoman Debra Chaplan, also a member of Teamsters’ union Local 853,

A three-office California design firm that has made sustainability central to its projects, large and small, was chosen by the editors of the ENR regional publications as the Design Firm of the Year 2012.

A 464-unit high-rise apartment complex, Los Angeles’ largest residential development project since 2008, broke ground this week in the mid-Wilshire district near Koreatown. Rendering courtesy of Jerde Partnership The Vermont apartment complex The $200-million The Vermont project is being built by local developer J.H. Snyder Development Co. The architect is Jerde Partnership and the general contractor is J.H. Snyder Contracting Inc.Washington Capital Management, which manages investments for union pension funds in Washington State, is the lead equity investor in the project. Snyder, a regional residential and retail builder, also infused equity into the project. At the end of 2011, JP

An $8-million steel-reinforced replacement bridge over San Mateo Creek at Trestles Beach in northern San Diego County opened last week as the northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner No. 769 train rumbled by. Photo by Brett Shoaf The new San Mateo Creek Bridge San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the project manager, says the design engineer on the project was HDR, Inc., and the joint venture general contractor was FLATIRON West/Herzog Contracting Corp.North County Transit District purchased the tracks in the northwestern-most corner of San Diego County in 1992 from the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. The aging 858-ft wooden post-and-beam