Sundt Connections

A welding student works on a project at Central Arizona College.

We’re cementing our relationship with Central Arizona College with donations that will expand training opportunities for construction and concrete technology program students.

To complement our workforce development partnership, we are covering costs to pour 320 cubic yards of concrete for a 142-foot-by-92-foot pad. Students in the heavy equipment operator program will begin leveling and grading the area this spring and construction technology students will build the concrete forms. The pad should be complete by fall 2018.

“This will provide students with valuable hands-on experience that will benefit them in their careers,” said Sundt Craft Instructor Darry Welker.

In another support of the partnership, we donated to the heavy equipment operator program for the purchase of GPS equipment. We also have given tools and supplies to the construction technology program.

“We appreciate all that Sundt is doing to help expand programming and training opportunities for CAC students,” Agriculture and Advanced Technology Division Chair Kristen Benedict said.

We are teaming with CAC and have established our own Center for Craft Excellence to help offset a lack of skilled craft workers needed to build our nation’s projects. An Associated General Contractors of America survey finds that construction companies will be short 2 million craft professionals by the year 2020.

The two eight-story towers will house 980 students and a dining facility.

Sundt’s impressive student housing resume in California keeps getting bigger. So do our projects there.

We’re starting work on the Cal Poly Pomona Student Housing Replacement Project. Once complete, the university will have two new eight-story towers that will house 980 students and a 35,000-square-foot dining facility. Both housing towers are structural concrete that we are self-performing, giving us better control of schedule and cost.

This is the largest project for Cal Poly Pomona and the biggest for our California Building Group. We’ve had tremendous success working for the California State University System (Channel Islands, San Jose State, Chico State and San Diego State), University of California System (UC Davis and UC San Diego) and private universities (Western University, University of the Pacific and Pepperdine).

“We were awarded the project because of how well we know student housing in California,” said Project Manager Mary Homan.

The project takes up a little more than 10 acres; the site is 16 acres. Included is a storm drain running between the footprints of the two housing buildings and main water transfer lines running between the dining hall and one housing building.

“It was not only challenging to design around these existing utilities, but it’s challenging to build around, over and under them,” Mary said.

This is the first collaborative design-build project for Cal Poly Pomona and the fourth for us with CSU.

“The collaborative design-build process has been working very well for the team and university,” Mary said. “We’re able to tackle issues as a team rather than working more independently, and the owner is fully engaged in the process, which helps with decisions being made in a timely manner.”

We’re scheduled to go vertical on the student housing next month followed by the dining hall in January. The project is scheduled to be completed in October 2019.

Sundt’s joint-venture work on the University of Arizona Biomedical Sciences Partnership Building in Phoenix trimmed two years off the normal schedule.

Sundt’s work on the Biomedical Sciences Partnership Building in Downtown Phoenix was one of the stars of the show at the recent American Institute of Architects (AIA) Arizona State Conference.

The joint venture with DPR Construction built a 245,000-square-foot high-rise facility where collaborative work in neurosciences, healthcare outcomes, cancer and medicine is expected to lead to groundbreaking discoveries with a direct impact on public health.

The team presented during the lessons learned segment of the conference, detailing how it worked with a fast-track schedule to construct the building in just 30 months. The efforts shaved two years off the schedule for the University of Arizona.

“You told a story that was moving and meaningful to conference attendees,” AIA Board Member and 2018 President Robert Miller said.

Time constraints on design resulted in only six months from the start of programming to shovels in the ground. Construction needed to start well before the design was finished, which meant no room for waste in the design and construction process.

Collaboration between the University and the design and construction teams was essential to maximize work hours. By pricing design concepts on an ongoing basis with an integrated team rather than waiting for a complete set of documents to identify overages all but eliminated re-design. Similarly, a rapid parametric model-based estimating effort allowed the design firm to adjust its model and see the costs of those changes in real time.

To keep pace, design decisions and assumptions were made early on and with limited information, requiring trust among all partners to work through and accept associated risk. Key trade partners were brought on early to help mitigate risks and reduce over-design and re-work.

The facility earned an Engineering News-Record Southwest Best Project Award. It’s part of the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, a city initiative bringing bioresearch and education to downtown. At build-out, the campus is anticipated to generate an annual economic impact of $2.1 billion.

Being a recent college grad can be an overwhelming experience, but having a degree like construction management can lead to a direct career path that offers financial stability and room for growth. Sundt Project Engineer Dominic Nelson and Field Engineer Daniel Kovach chimed in with their thoughts on the value of their construction management degrees.

Project Engineer Dominic Nelson (right) with fellow Sundt employee-owners at the Kellogg Drive replacement, which is part of a student housing replacement project at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Construction management degrees allow individuals the opportunity to explore multiple aspects of the building process.

“I have always been fascinated with architecture and design, but knew that I wanted to be more hands on in the process of building, so I decided to try out construction management. I enjoy the business and engineering sides that a degree in construction management allows you to experience without locking you into a certain avenue of design or business,” said Dominic.

“After researching the industry and the many different routes I could take, I decided I wanted to learn more about the construction side rather than the business side,” Daniel noted.

What was their take on how the construction management degree prepared them for their roles at Sundt?

“Classes that helped me included Small Business Management, Leadership Cohort, and my Senior Capstone Project. Each of these classes, while different, taught core values behind being an effective leader, communicator, and business developer/entrepreneur,” Dominic stated on his personal experience.

“I took all kinds of classes to help prepare me for this role with Sundt and I really credit that to the Construction Program at CSU. I took estimating classes, schedule classes, CAD design classes, MEP classes, and many others,” added Daniel.

Are you a construction management student? Sundt recruits aspiring young professionals through its College Connection Center. If you are interested in working at Sundt contact Mike Morales or follow us on our Sundt College Connections LinkedIn page.

Sundt Construction will construct a new science building for Sacramento State students and faculty.

Faculty, students and community members gathered at California State University, Sacramento to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Science Complex last month. The Design-Build project is a 96,000-square-foot, five-story facility that will centralize the College of Natural Sciences’ Biology and Chemistry departments.

The building’s design is intended to invite collaboration and interaction through clustered laboratory spaces and shared study spaces for students. The complex will have 30 glass-walled teaching and research labs; a 2,500-square-foot planetarium with 120 seats for full-dome, high-definition “sky shows;” and a retractable-roof observatory housing two telescopes.

The building is being constructed to meet U.S. Green Building LEED Gold^® certification standards. Key sustainable features include a rooftop green terrace that will act as a mini-park to capture stormwater runoff and help insulate a section of the building, and outdoor benches and tables made from campus trees that were removed for a gas pipeline upgrade.

Sundt is scheduled to complete construction by fall 2019.