Seeking a stronger representation with unions over the next decade, two Northern California-based union contractor trade associations are combining under a new name, United Contractors. The Engineering & Utility Contractors Association (EUCA), San Ramon, and the Association of Engineering Construction Employers (AECE), Sacramento, have worked together on a number of labor issues for more than 20 years, so it makes sense to combine resources to “meet contractor challenges” head on, said EUCA CEO Mark Breslin.“There has been lots of overlap,” he said.At a special membership meeting in San Ramon Wednesday, Breslin laid out the plan for United Contractors, which, he

Cabala, who was assigned to photograph the Kravis Center, ENR California's Best Regional Project, said, "The approach in photographing the complex from the courtyard was to accentuate the light from the nearly all-glass larger structure and the all-glass 'living room' by shooting a number of dawn and dusk shots to create the feeling of light emanating from inside the structure outward." Photo by Henry Cabala, Henry Cabala Photography (213-389-6654) Photographer: Henry Cabala Submitted By: Henry Cabala Henry Cabala PhotographySouth Pasadena

Achieving construction and design excellence in difficult economic times is no easy task. It requires equal measures of experience, imagination and unwavering commitment, according to this year's judges for ENR California's Best Projects competition.

Meeting the challenge of transforming a striking design by a high-profile architect into a workable, sustainable reality—and completing the job on budget—is what separates ENR California's 2011 Region's Best Project, the Kravis Center at Claremont McKenna College, from other contenders this year.

Best Cultural Project Photo courtesy of Watts Constructors Watts Constructors was the general contractor on the project. Photo courtesy of Watts Constructors The project met high expectations. The new $33.6-million visitor center for the USS Arizona Pearl Harbor Memorial expands the original center, built in 1980, to accommodate 1.6 million visitors annually, up from the original facility's capacity of 750,000.The campus-style complex has eight buildings and 55,000 sq ft of shaded or enclosed space. It covers more than 17 acres and has a shoreline walk, the USS Arizona anchor, Remembrance and Overlook Circles and walkways. The design and construction team

Best Civil Works/Infrastructure Project Photo courtesy Shimmick Construction Big Tujunga Dam project faced challenges aplenty. Photo courtesy of Shimmick Construction The seismic retrofit project was built by Shimmick Construction. The $88-million Big Tujunga Dam project was a seismic retrofit to an existing variable radius thin-arch dam.For approximately 30 years the reservoir's operating level had been restricted by order of the California Dept. of Water Resources' Division of Safety of Dams to an elevation that resulted in reducing its storage capacity by 75%.In 2008 the Los Angeles County Flood Control District elected to incorporate a complete structural and hydraulic rehabilitation of

The California Dept. of Transportation—first reeling, then hunkering down following revelations that one of its technical engineers may have falsified data regarding the structural soundness of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge's self-anchored suspension-span foundation—has agreed to allow a peer-review panel to conduct an independent investigation of all the records related to the inspections of the piles.Following a long, comprehensive investigation, The Sacramento Bee released details on Nov. 13 about the inspection work of the technician, Duane Wiles. Caltrans released him, along with his foundation testing-group supervisor, Brian Liebich. (Liebich's dismissal, the agency insists, is related to a separate matter

Rendering courtesy of Facebook The Lulea, Sweden, Facebook data center will be powered by nearby hydropower. In a joint venture with Fortis Construction, Portland, Ore., and NCC Construction Sweden, Stockholm, among others, DPR Construction recently was awarded a $121-million contract to construct a data-center complex for Facebook in Lulea, Sweden.This project will be the Redwood City, Calif., general contractor’s first foray outside North America, said Andy Andres, project executive, who is currently in Forest City, N.C., constructing another Facebook data center. This year, DPR and Fortis also completed Facebook’s data-center complex in Prineville, Ore.“This was the right job and right

Given that this year's Top Specialty Contractors ranking reflects the revenue decline that general contractors have experienced, it's heartening to hear an official at one top 10 subcontractor declare that he is still “bullish” about opportunities in California.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s planning and design partner on the San Francisco to San Jose section, Caltrain, recently released preliminary findings of a corridor capacity study, which outlined ways to accommodate both systems. Roelof van Ark, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said the authority will work with its Bay Area planning partners and stakeholders, including Caltrain and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), to evaluate the results of the study, it’s assumptions for train operations and proposed infrastructure improvements. Concepts have been suggested to phase high-speed train service including use of existing Caltrain right-of-way, use of existing infrastructure where