Skanska/Port of Seattle/Sound Transit/City of Bellevue

Virginia Mason Awards Contract for Addition

Seattle - Skanska USA Building Inc. has been awarded the construction management contract for a 250,000 sq ft hospital addition for Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. NBBJ will serve as the architect for the project.

Skanska will include $114 million in its first quarter order bookings for the project.The project involves the construction of a hospital addition including a lobby entrance, central utility plant, emergency department, procedure and operating room floor, an acute care floor and a critical care floor. Also included in the project are connections at each floor to the existing hospital adjacent to the addition. The project team will be working on an integrated delivery process utilizing a Building Integrated Model (BIM) and Design Assist subcontractors. Completion of the project is anticipated for May, 2010. Skanska has been active on the Virginia Mason campus since 1992 as a sustaining contractor performing numerous smaller interior fit-out projects including the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine completed in 2005.

TBM Bursts Though Another Hillside

Seattle - Sound Transit contractors punched through the east side of Beacon Hill in Seattle last month, completing the second of two 4,300-ft tunnels through the hill for Link light rail trains to begin service in 2009. Obayashi Corporation’s 300-footlong tunnel boring machine (TBM), nicknamed the “Emerald Mole,” emerged within 5 millimeters of its target. Construction of Central Link began in late 2003 and is currently more than 85 percent complete and on schedule to begin service between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac International Airport in 2009. Light rail trains are currently making test runs between Sound Transit’s Operations and Maintenance Facility in SODO and the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. Obayashi launched the TBM on its second trip through Beacon Hill in July, 2007 and excavated more than 50,000 cubic yards of soils as it made its way through Beacon Hill. In its path the 100-yard-long machine installed more than 800 pre-cast concrete segments forming the lining of the tunnel. More than 6 million man hours have gone into light rail construction since the project broke ground.

Port lifts ban on New contracts

Seattle - The Port of Seattle Commission lifted the moratorium on new project approval instituted in mid-January. Under the moratorium, the Commission delayed non-essential projects until a reliable contracting procedure could be established. This follows a state audit that accuses the Port of wasting $97 million because of faulty contracting practices Abuse of the small works roster is one of the ways Port of Seattle officials circumvented bidding procedures, an article in the February 19 Seattle Ports Intelligence claims.The same seven electrical contractors were asked to bid on small contracts, despite the mandate that the work be spread among as many companies as possible.

The Port of Seattle hired Mike McKay, one of the U.S. attorneys who was ousted by the Bush Administration last year, to get to the bottom of the mess by conducting an internal audit. The Port Commission had identified five areas where progress was needed before projects would be approved: governance issues, particularly those concerning Commission and executive authority; internal review processes; project management; professional ethics; and training for capital project personnel. As demonstrated in the Port’s Audit Response Action Plan, several of the audit’s 51 recommendations have already been implemented, and many more are well under way. Port staff provides a progress report to the Commission twice a month during public session.

The Commission will likely consider several projects in the coming weeks, most notably construction of a new rental car facility at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Park Updates Boost Outdoor Opportunities

Bellevue - The Highland Center Skate Plaza addition in Bellevue was completed last month. The 12,000-sq - ft, lighted plaza will feature "street skating" elements including curbs, rails, stairs, "Jersey barriers" and ledges.

The $750,000 project was funded by a King County Youth Sports Facility Grant, the Washington Resource Conservation Office and the Bellevue Neighborhood Enhancement and Bellevue Youth Link programs.Now half done, the Crossroads Water Spray Playground will be interactive, giving children of all ages and levels of physical ability the chance to play with squirting clams, orca whales, a floating granite world and more. The city's funding partners on this project include the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary, the Recreation Conservation Office, the state, King County Parks and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The 12,000-sq - ft Mercer Slough Center, to include a community building, classrooms, "wet labs" and elevated boardwalks will meet the high demand for education acilities for the 320-acre Mercer Slough Nature Park, the largest urban wetland park in the region. Operated jointly by the city and the Pacific Science Center, the MSEEC has been operated out of a converted Parks building. Puget Sound Energy is a new partner on the project and is leading the fundraising effort for the expansion.