(Aug 2010) Construction of the Los Angeles Unified School District Central Region Elementary School No. 20 and Replacement Playfields project is underway. The project consistsof two phases spanning just under three years. Phase 1 is a 3.2-acre replacement playfield for the existing Virgil Middle School that includes new artificial turf playfields, synthetic track, asphalt ball courts, elevator and restroom buildings. Once Phase 1 is complete, demolition for the new school will commence. Phase 2 is a separate 3.2-acre site that will house a two-story, 66,000 SF K-5 elementary school to accommodate 800 students and an additional play yard.

(Aug 2010) The City of Austin New Central Library was recently awarded to Hensel Phelps. The premier 250,000 SF new library will replace and double the size of the 1979 John Henry Faulk local library. Along the banks of Shoal Creek, this nine-story project will be the city’s largest-ever public library. Construction on this LEED Silver project is expected to begin December 2011 with completion slated for January 2014.

(Aug 2010) Another project on the Kaiser Anaheim campus has been awarded to Hensel Phelps. The Kaiser Anaheim Medical Center Hospital Support Building (HSB) is a 177,000 SF facility adjoined to the main 434,000 SF hospital sub-project on the 27-acre site. One of three sub-projects on the campus, this 17-month project consists of six outpatient surgery suites, along with clinical lab, pharmacy, urology, OB-GYN, cardiology, oncology, and imaging radiology departments. Complete with a helistop at the roof level and a ground floor main entry lobby, this building also serves as the primary entry to the medical center facility.

(Aug 2010) Congratulations go to the craft and staff of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Headquarters project at Fort Meade, Maryland on their one-year anniversary without any accidents! At the end of June, the DISA team hit a safety milestone with over 102,532 craft hours worked from June 2009 to June 2010 and has continued to perform work without a recordable accident. The team has focused its safety attitude by incorporating new ideas and activities to motivate and educate the employees.

(Aug 2010) Hensel Phelps is pleased to announce the award of the Replacement of the Southeastern Bus Garage project for repeat client Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Approved for construction under the American Recovery and Rehabilitation Act (ARRA), the project was successfully awarded under a best value selection process. Design is scheduled to begin in August with project completion in April 2012.

The Southeastern Bus Garage facility will allow for the inspection and repair services of WMATA’s large fleet of both standard frame and articulating tandem buses. This 250-bus facility is located at the DC Village in southwest Washington, D.C. and includes a 53,779 SF administration and bus maintenance building, an 8,116 SF fuel building, a 6,459 SF washing building, and a 179,000 SF parking structure. In keeping with WMATA’s desire to operate and maintain a more environmentally-friendly facility, this project will be Certified LEED Silver under the USGBC V2.2.

(Aug 2010) Hensel Phelps successfully procured the San Ysidro - U.S. Land Port of Entry Phase 1b. Located on the U.S. / Mexico border, the San Ysidro project includes assisting the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) with design completion, and ultimately, a construction contract to expand and modernize the border crossing.

The Phase 1b project includes demolition of the existing administration building that was built in 1971, which sits above the active primary screening lanes; elimination of the existing pedestrian bridge that spans southbound Interstate 5 and a portion of primary screening lanes; removal of the primary checkpoint booths; demolition of the entire secondary screening facilities; and various support structures throughout the site. In place of the old port, Hensel Phelps will construct a LEED Platinum facility comprised of state-of-the-art primary screening lanes with an impressive canopy structure.

(Jul 2010) Hensel Phelps has been awarded the North Mainside Infrastructure Expansion project located at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) in Twentynine Palms, California. The work under this contract is for the design and construction of all associated infrastructure and utilities adjacent to the Mainside area of MCAGCC Twentynine Palms and includes major earthwork, water utilities, sewer utilities, electrical utilities, gas utilities, high temperature/hot water system, chilled water system, storm drainage utilities, and communication infrastructure.

(Jul 2010) On June 11, the Pennsylvania Department of General Services awarded Hensel Phelps its first project for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. The 2,000-bed New Correctional Facility for SCI Benner is a 562,000 SF medium security prison comprised of 30 separate one- and two-story precast buildings. Individual buildings include administration, security, health service, dietary services, maintenance shops, industrial laundry, chapel/treatment, learning resources, inmate activities/recreation, guard stations, field houses, warehouse, sallyports, central plant, 10 housing units, and transportation hub. The project also includes a large site work and site improvements scope.

(Jul 2010) Hensel Phelps has won three additional Safety Through Exemplary Performance (STEP) Silver Awards for the following University of Texas (UT) projects: UT Arlington Engineering Research Complex (ERC), Health Science Center (HSC) Houston Dental Branch Building, and UT Austin DKR Texas Memorial Stadium Maintenance and Renovation project (MRP). This is the fourth UT STEP Silver award for the HSC Dental Branch Building, and the second UT STEP Silver award for both the UT Arlington ERC and UT Austin MRP projects – bringing the total number to 15 STEP awards for Hensel Phelps! The STEP Silver awards recognize projects that have demonstrated outstanding safety performance by meeting the requirements of rigorous criteria during a six-month period.

(Jul 2010) The University of Arizona on behalf of the Arizona Cancer Center has awarded design-build services to the Hensel Phelps / ZGF Architects team for the design and construction of a new building for the Arizona Cancer Center on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus in Phoenix, Arizona. The Arizona Cancer Center will be approximately 249,000 GSF and will house medical offices and cancer treatment clinics.

(Jul 2010) Hensel Phelps was awarded the Military Medical Emergency Simulation Training Suites Tenant Improvement project located on the Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Campus in Scottsdale, Arizona. Planned to open later this year, the Scottsdale Healthcare Military Training Center will house a high-tech teaching facility with human patient simulators and six emergency/disaster simulation training rooms. The center will expand and enhance capabilities of the hospital's existing training program.

(Jul 2010) Hensel Phelps’ Southeast District Office Building has been certified LEED Gold in the LEED for Commercial Interiors 2.0 program. Among the items that led to the LEED Gold certification are energy-saving features such as natural light sensors; occupancy sensors; low-flow water closets, faucets, and shower heads; and Energy Star-rated appliances. Approximately 95% of the construction waste was diverted from landfills and recycled.

(Jul 2010) More than two years after completion of the Fort Carson Brigade and Battalion headquarters project in Colorado, the building continues to receive awards. In June, notification was received that the project received the top award from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chief of Engineers’ Design and Environmental Awards Program. Judged against other projects completed in the past four years by an interdisciplinary jury of design professionals comprised of architects, interior designers, civil engineers, environmental engineers, and landscape architects, the judging criteria for the projects included functional quality, leadership and innovation, environmental sustainability, cost effectiveness, and aesthetic quality.

Since 1965 when the Chief of Engineers’ awards program was implemented, 524 awards have been given out. This year, the Fort Carson Brigade and Battalion Headquarters was one of only seven projects across the country to be recognized.

(Jul 2010) Congratulations are due to the entire project team at the Fort Bliss Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) Hangars, Task Order #2 project for being the recipient of the Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2010 Mega Contractor Local Award under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 2010 fiscal year “Operation Reward Safety” program.

(Jul 2010) Prior to the completion of the foundation package, Hensel Phelps was awarded the next phase of the GPS III project — the Lockheed Martin GPS III Production Facility – Phase III – Building Package. This new phase consists of the construction of a new addition (on the foundations that were just completed) that will house the TVAC and anechoic testing chambers, and convert the existing high bay into a clean room where the new GPS III satellites will be built. The Phase III work has a targeted completion date of October, 2011.

(Jun 2010) From quality, to safety, to exceptional support of our Nation’s Defense, Hensel Phelps has recently been the proud recipient of:

• the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) Western Pacific Region’s Award of Merit for the UC Irvine Humanities Gateway project in Irvine, California. Having demonstrated the successful application of design-build principles, the iconic building that is the new foundation of the Humanities Department was honored for the advanced and innovative application of total integrated project delivery and finding unique solutions for the project challenges.
• the McGraw-Hill Mountain States Construction magazine’s Top 2010 Project Overall of all Colorado and Wyoming projects and the Top Government / Public Building Project in the region for the Denver Justice Center in Denver, Colorado. The Denver Justice Center is comprised of a detention center and a separate courthouse building, two independently designed monumental structures facing each other across a landscaped (and tunneled) plaza.
• the “Pro Patria Award” from the Virginia Committee of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. This is the highest award presented by the ESGR in the State of Virginia to the one employer in the State that has provided the most exceptional support of our national defense through leadership practices and personnel policies to sustain its employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve.
• the prestigious One Million Hour Award without a lost time accident for the Fort Bliss Brigade Combat Team (BCT) #1, #2, #3 Barracks project. The design-build barracks projects span approximately 1.7 million SF in El Paso, Texas. BCT #1 broke ground in February 2007, and BCT #3 is approaching substantial completion this December.
• the DBIA Western Pacific Chapter Regional Design-Build Award for Public Sector Buildings over $15 million for the San Joaquin County Administration Building in Stockton, California. The six-level, 250,000 SF office building was designed and built in collaboration with long-time design partner Fentress Architects, and was recognized for its teamwork, contracting approach, safety, design, quality, schedule adherence, and cost management.

(Jun 2010) Officially breaking ground on California’s new Veterans Home in Fresno, California on May 19th, the Hensel Phelps design-build team will transform a vacant 27-acre site surrounded by farmland into five premiere communities for veteran housing, an impressive and welcoming central services building, and a central plant. Upon completion in 2012, this facility will be the region’s first state veterans home and will serve an estimated 300,000 veterans who live in central California. It also will allow local veterans to stay closer to their families, as the nearest veterans home is currently almost four hours from Fresno. The new home is targeted to achieve LEED Silver rating for New Construction from the U.S. Green Building Council, meeting energy and environmental goals set by California Governor Schwarzenegger.

(Jun 2010) On May 11, Hensel Phelps was given Notice to Proceed on the Fuel Cell and Corrosion Control Hangars at Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, New Mexico. Hensel Phelps is teaming up with architect Michael Baker Jr. Inc. to deliver the design-build project to the US Army Corps of Engineers for two separate hangars for the Air Force’s Special Operation Forces’ C-130 airplanes. The Fuel Cell hangar will be approximately 32,000 SF, while the Corrosion Control hangar will be 58,000 SF. The project is targeting a LEED Silver 2.2 rating and is scheduled for completion in February 2012.