Related Links: Drought in Western U.S. Has Water Utilities Considering a Range of Solutions In Central Texas, a new brackish-groundwater desalination project is under construction. When complete, the project will be the largest inland desalination plant in the country, project officials say.The San Antonio Water System will diversify the city's water supplies with this new facility. The total cost for the three-phase project is estimated at $411.4 million. Valued at $119.3 million, phase one is now under construction.Zachry–Parsons is acting as construction manager-at-risk on the first phase of the brackish-groundwater desalination program, which consists of a new water treatment facility
San Antonio is home to a new military medical center, now rising at Lackland Air Force Base. The $457-million, 645,000-sq-ft Lackland Ambulatory Care Center is a state-of-the-art replacement hospital that will become the largest ambulatory care center the Dept. of Defense has built to date. Related Links: Design Firm of the Year: HDR Development of the new facility was driven by the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) of 2005, an initiative that consolidated all military medical training and health care in the San Antonio area."BRAC 2005 directed that Wilford Hall at Lackland was going to become a large outpatient
With a strong economy and the continued strength of the oil-and-gas sector, Texas and Louisiana contractors are seeing strong gains in regional revenues. Related Links: Top Contractors Ranking Top Contractors by Market Sector Ample Bookings Prepare Contractors for a Strong 2014 Combined revenue of the Top 10 firms in the ENR Texas & Louisiana annual Top Contractors survey hit $12.5 billion in 2013, marking a post-recession high. That is up from $9.8 billion in 2012, $8.3 billion in 2011 and $9.4 billion in 2009.All 128 responding firms reported a combined regional revenue of $32 billion in 2013, up from $25.9
With several megaprojects located in the North Texas area, two of which together total nearly $5 billion, Ferrovial US Construction Corp. is leading the way on transportation infrastructure in Texas. The firm is a new addition to ENR Texas & Louisiana's annual ranking of top contractors. The company, an internationally based transportation contractor, saw strong growth in 2013, gaining nearly $270 million in regional revenue. Ferrovial was ranked third on this year's list of top contractors with regional revenue of $1.471 billion in 2013. Related Links: Top Contractors Ranking Top Contractors by Market Sector Innovation Drives I-635 Managed Lanes Project
Texas A&M University is planning a new Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences Education Complex on its main campus in College Station. Skanska has joined the team as general contractor to build the $93 million facility. Courtesy of Stantec Texas A&M University's new $93 million Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences Education Complex, a 330,000-sq-ft building, will house state-of-the-art classrooms, teaching and laboratory space and a caf with indoor and outdoor dining facilities. Related Links: Texas A&M University Skanska This 330,000-sq-ft building will house state-of-the-art classrooms, teaching and laboratory space and a café with indoor and outdoor dining facilities. Combined with the
KDC broke ground on a new 489,000-sq-ft office complex for Raytheon on July 21 at the Cityline development in Richardson, Texas. This is the latest project to start at the 186-acre mixed-use development, joining the 1.5 million sq-ft State Farm project already underway. Courtesy of KDC KDC breaks ground on the new Raytheon project on July 21, 2014. From left to right: Dan Johnson, City Manager, Richardson; Mayor Laura Maczka, City of Richardson; Lynn Dugle, president, Raytheon IIS; Congressman Sam Johnson, 3rd District of Texas; Steve Van Amburgh, CEO, KDC; and Toby Grove, President, KDC. Courtesy of KDC KDC broke
Dallas-based KDC Real Estate Development & Investments (KDC) will develop Toyota’s new North American headquarters campus, located in the Legacy West development in Plano, Texas, the companies announced today. Related Links: KDC Diverse Projects Fill Out Regions Top Starts of 2013 The auto giant recently finalized the purchase of its new headquarters site, with expectations to move in to the development in late 2016 or early 2017. The campus will house about 4,000 Toyota employees.“We are excited to move forward with KDC to develop our new North American headquarters,” said Doug Beebe, Corporate Manager, Administrative Services at Toyota Motor Sales
ExxonMobil’s plans to build a new ethylene plant in Baytown, Texas, are now underway. The firm recently awarded Bechtel and The Linde Group a contract to design and build the facility, located at the ExxonMobil Baytown Complex. Related Links: Bechtel The Linde Group The new plant will have a capacity of 1.55 million tons of ethylene per year. Construction will start immediately, with design and procurement of key equipment already under way, according to Bechtel.Specifically, Linde will conduct engineering, procurement and services during pre-commissioning and commissioning of the new facility, while Bechtel will be responsible for construction of the facility
A lawsuit filed two years ago by Zapata County Independent School District against Houston-based Satterfield & Pontikes Construction and several subcontractors has ended with an $8.12-million settlement paid to the district. The two elementary schools Satterfield & Pontikes built for Zapata County ISD, Zapata South Elementary School and Fidel & Andrea R. Villarreal Elementary School, opened in January 2006. Both were constructed from a $16-million bond package approved in 2003.Six years later, in spring 2012, the school district filed a lawsuit against the design and construction team, alleging poor quality work on the two schools, as well as on covered
Image Courtesy of Deepwater Horizon Study Group The blowout preventer's blind shear ram, intended as a fail-safe component, instead sliced through pipe and triggered oil spill. Related Links: U.S. Chemical Safety Board: Macondo Blowout and Explosion CSB Video: BOP Failure Scenario U.S. CSB Report: Explosion and Fire at the Macondo Well: Volume 1 U.S. CSB Report: Explosion and Fire at the Macondo Well: Volume 2 A new Deepwater Horizon disaster report, released on June 5, found that the blowout preventer (BOP), designed to shut off the flow of oil and gas from the Macondo well, "failed to seal the well
