2019 ECA Awards- Conco

The Conco Companies is honored to announce and congratulate Doug Marquis of Conco Pumping on being awarded Engineering Contractors’ Association (ECA) Personal Safety Award.

At their annual installation of officers, the Engineering Contractors’ Association (ECA) awarded Doug Marquis of Conco Pumping with their Personal Safety Award. Doug was recognized for his exceptional work in the construction field forwarding worker safety. His achievements include working with equipment manufacturers to improve the safety of boom pump operators in 2018. He improved their safety by collaboratively developing systems to create tie off points when working on boom pumps. The tie-off points aid in fall prevention and related injuries.

In 2019, Doug further improved safety in the field of concrete pumping by developing two training programs. First, he developed a procedure for new and existing operators that guides and educates employees on proper concrete hose inspection before use. Second, he developed a 180 minute online safety course that reviews concrete boom pump operation and safety, as well as, hose inspection and cleaning procedures, illness and fall prevention.

Since 1976, the ECA has helped Southern California construction professionals by providing leadership and continuing education for its members.

We congratulate Doug on his ECA award and commend him for his commitment to safety and contributions to The Conco Companies.

At The Conco Companies, we are one of the leading concrete contractors in the Western U.S. and offer a wide range of quality services and products. Our experience includes providing services for commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects. We serve California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada.

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The Marriott Hotel is slated to open a new franchise, the Moxy Hotel in Portland, in the Pearl District in summer of 2020. Construction began in June 2019 on the new project and promises to bring a unique, contemporary take on the hotel experience to the lively neighborhood in downtown Portland. Several notable groups have come together to develop and execute the project, including development company Graves Hospitality, DLR Group Architecture, and Portland commercial concrete contractors The Conco Companies.

A Franchise for the Young and Young-at-Heart

As a new franchise from the well-known Marriott Hotel, the Moxy Hotel is looking to attract a new sector of hotel guests. The stylish interiors, contemporary designs, and vibrant urban locations are being offered at an affordable price for leisure travelers and business professionals alike. With the vision of immersing guests in the cityscape around them while providing smart, modern accommodations, the Moxy Hotel boasts several unique features. The 197 guest rooms will offer views of the city and Mt. Hood through floor-to-ceiling glass walls in their corridors, while the hotel’s public spaces will offer a range of sought-after amenities. The Moxy Hotel promises an open and engaging ground floor space that is designed to draw guests out into the surrounding city. The space will feature large operable glass walls, a full-service bar and lounge area, game rooms, and food carts. Additionally, the exterior is designed with deep canopies extending over the sidewalk for food cart goers to enjoy the offerings no matter the weather.

A Challenging Site for The Moxy Hotel

This exciting project is not only unique in its vision, but also in its dimensions. Situated on less than a quarter of a block, the 12-story hotel has a dainty building footprint. Benjamin Graves, the president and CEO of Graves Hospitality said of the project, “We’re creating an amazing addition to this neighborhood by defying the unthinkable and building 71,232 square feet of ground-up construction on an incredibly compact 7,500 square foot site.” In order to overcome this challenge of construction, the Conco Companies was brought on to provide an array of concrete services. Known for their ability to execute complex projects on time and on budget, Conco will provide concrete pumping, concrete reinforcement and rebar, concrete formwork, and shotcrete services for the Moxy Hotel.

The Conco Companies’ mission is to be the best supplier of concrete services in the Western U.S. and to bring expertise and incomparable quality to each project. We continue to upgrade and expand our facilities to better serve the growing market for commercial, educational, parking structures, public works projects, and other development. Contact us to learn more about the services from one of the most trusted concrete contractors in Portland.

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The Moxy Hotel - Portland commercial concrete contractors - The Conco Companies (3)

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The Moxy Hotel - Portland commercial concrete contractors - The Conco Companies

Moxy Hotel Portland Commercial Concrete Contractors - The Conco Companies

The Moxy Hotel - Portland commercial concrete contractors - The Conco Companies (2)

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The Grand is an immense, much anticipated mixed-use development project in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Bunker Hill that commenced construction in May 2019. To kick off the project, Los Angeles commercial concrete contractors, The Conco Companies delivered an impressive demonstration of its skills and expertise. For the first of the two towers to be erected for the project, Conco provided the second-largest continuous casting of a foundation in Los Angeles in a mere 15 hours. The project with the top honors in this category and the recipient of Guinness World Record recognition in 2014 was the Wilshire Grand Center, also completed by Conco.

The metrics for the foundation mat pour of this 39-story residential tower designed by Frank Gehry are staggering: 140 skilled Conco employees placed 13,275 cubic yards of concrete at an approximate rate of 1,000 cubic yards per hour. The 39,303 square foot concrete mat varies in thickness from 6 feet to 12 feet and weighs roughly 27,000 tons. Throughout the 15-hour mat pour, eight state-of-the-art concrete pumps worked to pump and place the concrete while 1,348 truck trips to six batch plants were completed.

In addition to the speed of its service delivery and the seamless coordination with multiple stakeholders such as developer Related Companies, the Los Angeles City Council, and the Department of Transportation, Conco also achieved the feat of zero injuries during this first phase of the project. Conco prides itself on prioritizing job site safety, and true to Conco’s focus, despite the dizzying speed of the mat pour, there were no injuries. The experience and expertise behind Conco’s reputation as the top supplier of commercial concrete services – no matter the scale or difficulty of the project – was certainly on full display during this massive mat pour.

The Conco Companies’ mission is to be the best supplier of concrete services in the Western U.S. and to bring expertise and incomparable quality to each project. We continue to upgrade and expand our facilities to better serve the growing market for commercial, educational, parking structures, public works projects, and other development. Contact us to learn more about the services from one of the most trusted concrete contractors in Los Angeles.

Within the concrete construction industry there are several avenues for recognition for Los Angeles commercial concrete contractors, such as for the design, scope, or execution of a project. And while an award for outstanding concrete work on a restoration project is impressive, awards garnered for the safety of a project or overall operations are particularly important to the industry. One such award is the Albert H. Atwood Safety Achievement Award which seeks to recognize a significant contribution to safety and accident prevention by a company or individual of the Southern California Contractor’s Association (SCCA). For 2019, SCCA announced that the Conco Companies were selected as the winners of Atwood Safety Achievement Award.

Conco Pumping receives the 2019 Albert H. Atwood Safety Achievement Award.
The award is presented in recognition of distinctive achievement by a company, individual, or crew that made a substantial contribution to safety and accident prevention.Pictured left to right: Mike Martinez – Conco Pump Sales; Jon “JP” Madigan – Conco Pump Service Manager; Dora Veronica – Conco SoCal Office Manager; Doug Marquis – Conco Pumping SoCal GM; Gary Brandt – Conco Pump Sales; Robert Thacker – Conco Safety

Conco’s Innovations in Safety Practices

In order to be considered for the Albert H. Atwood Safety Achievement Award, candidates must submit an application to the award committee that outlines the safety issue they worked to address and the practices or initiatives the candidate employed to mitigate the issue, along with the impact of those efforts. As a prominent commercial concrete contractor offering a range of concrete services, Conco Pumping recognized a gap in safety measures with concrete pumping and belting technologies: there was a general absence of fall protection systems on concrete boom pumps, separate placing booms, and Telebelt mobile conveyors. Conco’s concrete pumping safety team worked diligently over the course of four years to address this significant and unnecessary safety risk by partnering with manufacturers to provide fall protection systems on its equipment.

Years of Work to Increase Safety

Conco’s concrete pumping safety team used a combination of approaches to shift the safety provisions of concrete pump and conveyor manufacturers. For new equipment, they ordered and purchased the technology with the contingency that fall protection systems would be provided with the delivered equipment, which was already a common practice in Europe for standard boom pump models. Conco also worked with engineers and manufacturers to develop and test new fall protection systems, and then required that they be installed on the concrete boom and placing pumps and conveyors they utilize. Conco has shared their work openly with the industry at large, leading to a increased adoption of these fall protection systems in the industry.