Now wrapping up their third summer of a five-year, $435 million wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) expansion, our Industrial team in San Mateo, California has been busy forming connections and hitting milestones. Their work will enable the city to replace aging infrastructure, increase treatment capacity during heavy rains, and meet water quality regulations and sustainability goals well into the future. To keep work flowing on such a large and vital water project, the team placed special emphasis on partnering with key stakeholders.
The project’s time-lapse footage, though satisfying to watch, doesn’t do justice to the long hours and hard decisions required to get to this point. According to Project Executive Doug Lenz, there’s no “easy button” for this kind of construction.
“We’ve overcome site challenges with excavation and building on bay mud, supply chain issues, craft labor availability, and restrictive California COVID requirements,” said Doug. “Despite all of this, our team partnered closely with the city, program manager, engineer, and our vendors and subs to persevere through these challenges.”
The concrete structure is complex and will consist of about 33,000 cubic yards of concrete when finished. Subcontractors Kiewit and R&W Concrete Contractors, a certified small business that specializes in infrastructure concrete work in Northern California, will perform this scope.
According to R&W President Brian Rodrigues, structures like the new headworks facility are far more complicated than the curb-and-gutter work R&W started out with in the ’90s when Brian took over the business from his father. Also, in a number of ways, this is not “his dad’s construction market” given the obstacles posed by the pandemic and rising inflation. Still, Brian’s crews have met the project’s high standards for quality and productivity at every turn, and Sundt’s collaborative approach set them up to do their best work.
“Sundt views us as a partner. They listen to our opinions. The trust we’ve built—especially for a project this complex—has allowed us to get more done and solve problems faster. Even when plans have changed, we’ve been able to schedule and staff up accordingly, and pay our people on time. As a small business taking on large scopes, this makes a huge difference.”
– Brian Rodrigues, President, R&W Concrete Contractors
The job is now running “full speed ahead,” said Doug. By end of year, concrete is expected to finish, and yard piping and the new LEED Silver-designed administration building will be close to completion. Overall, the project is on schedule to complete by the end of 2024.