$3.5 Billion Semiconductor Plant Ramps Up

Recognizing achievements, redeveloping a landfill and building hotels top the list of news across the state.

Samsung Opens New 1.6 Million SF Austin Facility

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. recently opened its largest 300mm NAND flash memory wafer plant in Austin. The 1.6 million sq ft building is one of the largest single semiconductor facilities in the United States. The first product of the new plant will be 16Gb NAND flash chips using 50-nanometer level process technology. The $3.5 billion facility will initiate operation in the second half of 2007 and ramp up to produce 60,000 wafers per month by 2008.

Samsung has committed to an investment of $3.5 billion for the project, making it the largest single foreign investment in Texas and one of the largest in the United States.

Hensel Phelps Construction Co.  began construction in April 2006 on the new facility, which is adjacent to the existing 8-in. (200mm) wafer fabrication plant. The existing plant was completed in 1997 and will continue to be used to manufacture DRAM.

From a structural perspective, it will be almost two times as large as the existing facility, which was formerly the largest semiconductor fab in Austin. The current plant will continue to operate, producing a mix of memory chips for computers and mobile devices.

Pate Engineers Project Wins Public Works Award

The Emergency Bridge Replacement on Turtle Creek project - by Houston-based Pate Engineers Inc. - in Missouri City won the statewide “Public Works Project of the Year,” by the American Public Works Association Texas Chapter.

The engineering consulting firm worked closely with the Scott Elmer, P.E., city engineer of Missouri City, to meet the demands of the project for an emergency repair of a bridge over Turtle Creek. Pate Project Manager Josh Everett, P.E., worked on this fast-paced project, in which the client asked Pate to design a crossing that could be constructed to accommodate the school schedule. This scheduled provided exactly 6.5 weeks to survey, obtain geotechnical information, design and construct the crossing. 

Fluor Moves Forward on TXU’s Oak Grove Project

Fluor Corp. of Irving received a full notice to proceed from a subsidiary of TXU Corp., Oak Grove Management Company LLC, to complete engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services for the estimated $1.8 billion Oak Grove power plant project.

As announced in June 2006, Fluor began engineering and procurement services from its Greenville, S.C., project execution office awaiting approval of the air permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which was received on June 13. The company booked approximately $80 million for this work in the second quarter of 2006. Fluor’s remaining portion of this fixed-price contract award will be booked in the second quarter of 2007.

The Oak Grove project, a nominal 1,600 MW super-critical lignite power plant, which will include best available control technology to minimize emissions, will be located in Robertson County. The new plant will have among the lowest sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions in the nation and will be 75 percent cleaner than the average U.S. coal plant.

Oak Grove will be constructed at the site of a previously planned power plant that has significant infrastructure already in place. Both Unit 1 and Unit 2 at Oak Grove are expected to be substantially complete and generating electricity in late 2009 and mid-2010 respectively.

Fluor estimates that the Oak Grove project will create approximately 2,400 construction jobs at its peak. Fluor is soliciting qualified project workers from throughout central Texas, in particular working with state and local government representatives and community and technical colleges. For more information about positions on the Oak Grove project, visit  www.fluor.com/craft.

Starwood Hotels Building Seven aloft Hotels Across State

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. headquartered in White Plains, New York, and its new lifestyle brand, aloft hotels, announced today it has signed deals with four development companies to open seven aloft hotels in Texas. Developers involved with the aloft projects include HAC Partners, Summit Hotel Properties, Santa Fe IV Hotel and 5434 Westheimer. 

The seven Texas sites identified for construction of the new aloft hotels are Las Colinas, Plano, Frisco, San Antonio, Grapevine, Houston and Dallas. Groundbreakings for all seven properties are scheduled for 2007 and 2008, with the first already occurring on March 20 at the Las Colinas property. The first aloft hotels are targeted to open in first quarter 2008. 

SpawGlass Named One of the Best Places to Work in Austin

SpawGlass was named the No. 9 Best Place to Work in Austin among medium-sized businesses Best Places to Work 2007 at the Austin Business Journal luncheon and Pep Rally recently.

More than 150 Austin area companies were nominated for the honor and the top 50 were selected for recognition as one of the Best Places to Work in Austin. SpawGlass earned a score of 93.25 out of a possible 100 based on employee participation in a survey in which anonymous responses were sent directly to the Austin Business Journal.

TAS Commercial Concrete Construction Recognized as OSHA Partner

The Houston and Dallas offices of TAS Commercial Concrete Construction were recently accepted and recognized as part of the state of Texas Partnering Agreement between Texas AGC Members and Region VI OSHA. This makes TAS the first, and currently the only, specialty contractor to be recognized in both Houston and Dallas as an OSHA Partner.

The partnership was established to formalize an effort between AGC Members and OSHA to recognize companies with exemplary safety and health programs and encourage companies to continue building their safety and health performance. Ultimately, the goals are to increase OSHA’s ability to dedicate its enforcement resources to seeking compliance from non-partnering firms as well as creating a cooperative effort for maintaining safer job sites by reducing fatalities and injuries among construction workers

Contractors wanting to participate in the program must have an experience modification rate of .65 or less; an LWDII (Lost Workday Incidence and Injury) rate at least 15% below the latest BLS National published rate; a written safety and health program; and an identified safety representative for the company. Any contractor qualifying for the program will undergo a “focused inspection” by OSHA on one of their job sites and if no violations are noted, this contractor will not receive a programmed inspection on any of their job sites from OSHA for a period of one year.

JQ Opens Fort Worth Office

Jaster-Quintanilla, the structural and civil engineering firm founded by David Quintanilla, P.E. and Gary W. Jaster, P.E. in Austin, expanded its operations in the North Texas region by announcing its recently opened Fort Worth office at 1227 W. Magnolia Avenue.

Architecture, Construction, Engineering Students Earn Awards

The ACE (Architecture, Construction, Engineering) Board of Directors awarded $24,000 in scholarships to six students from among 13 juniors and 31 seniors from DFW area schools at its annual end-of-the-school- year presentation and scholarship event hosted by ACE Mentoring of DFW.  Four student teams presented their design projects to the ACE Board, mentors and an audience of family and Dallas school officials. 

ACE of DFW organized mentors from top-tier Dallas firms into four teams, each having architecture, construction and engineering components that model the relationships among disciplines in real construction projects.  Throughout the school year, ACE teams met weekly to explore the industry through hands-on experiments, firm tours and high-rise construction site visits.  Each team also chose a single major project that they conceptually designed through drawings and models. 

Student projects included a sports-anchored multi-use development centered around the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. Each team designed a separate building within the development.

The six students who received scholarships were Ricardo Leon of Bishop Lynch High School; Jesse Montgomery of Wolfe City High School; Genaro Berrones of Skyline High School; Matt Leinart of Bishop Lynch High School; Joe Cannon of Skyline High School; and Jose Ramirez of Molina High School.

Mentoring and board member firms are Auerbach Albert and Gold LC, BECK, ccrd partners, Balfour Beatty Construction, Dallas County Community College District, Dallas Independent School District, GSR-Andrade, HKS, HOK, Hunton & Williams LLP, Jaster-Quintanilla, Johnson/McKibben Architects, Inc., Lopez Garcia Group, Manhattan Construction Co., McCarthy Building Cos. Inc.,  Perkins+Will, RTKL Associates, Skanska, Thornton-Tomasetti, Turner Construction, UT Arlington, Vidaud+Associates Inc., Walker Engineering and Walter P Moore. 

New Trinity River Audubon Center Reclaims Landfill

Dallas’ new Trinity River Audubon Center site is a reclaimed landfill, which will feature construction materials including recycled, low-emitting and rapidly renewable building materials. A Gold LEED certification is the goal.

The center will include significant sustainable features recommended by the U.S. Green Building Council, among these: on-site waste water treatment; vegetative and reflective roof; rainwater collection system; permeable parking; on-site environmental education; indoor air quality; energy efficiency; water efficiency; daylighting and night-sky light pollution reduction.

The Trinity River Audubon Center will serve as a gateway to a myriad of opportunities for citizens from the Metroplex, including nature viewing, hiking, biking, picnicking and river access. 

The project team includes the City of Dallas, owner; Audubon Texas, operator; Dallas-based Brown Reynolds Watford Architects Inc., architect-of-record; Antoine Predock Architect PC, design architect with offices in Albuquerque and Los Angeles; and Dallas-based Jaster-Quintanilla, structural engineer.

The project will be the first LEED-certified Dallas Park and Recreation Department project.