Announcements Archives | Page 8 of 9

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On Monday, February 29, 2016, the Conco Companies topped off the core of the Wilshire Grand Center building in downtown Los Angeles. With over 150,000 cubic yards of concrete poured, and an intensely dedicated crew peaking to over 160 men and women on site, the Conco team has finally reached the milestone to lead the way for the interior finishes.

Once completed, the Wilshire Grand project will be the tallest building west of the Mississippi at a height of 1,099 feet. It will surpass the U.S Bank building, also in downtown Los Angeles, by 81 feet.

The Conco Companies is supplying the entire cast-in-place concrete for this project. This includes:

Record breaking mat foundation of 21,200 cubic yards in a single pour
High strength concrete found inside the core walls
Lightweight deck fill concrete on all floors
Structural deck concrete, below grade walls and columns
Shotcrete perimeter walls

Conco deployed the most powerful concrete stationary pumps in the industry. The primary pump was Conco’s electric powered 14000E pump whose primary benefits are its low carbon footprint and low noise generation. These two significant benefits were crucial in topping off the core, as the pumps were positioned less than 40 feet from an occupied Class A office building. Conco’s 14000E pump is the only one of its kind on the west coast.

Pumping for this project has been trouble-free, allowing us to push both hard rock and lightweight concrete to the top of the structure with power to spare. The 14000E pump has allowed us to move concrete nearly 1,100 feet vertically, and 400 feet horizontally bringing the total pumping distance to nearly 1,500 feet.

Conco has two pumps and supply lines on site to address any unforeseen issues that may arise. The work has been fast-paced with no room for error. The safety of our employees as well as public safety has been our number one priority, and we are proud to announce that the project was a success for both our client and Conco.

The Conco Companies is thankful for a team of dedicated, hard working employees and a great partner, Turner Construction Company. It is with their support and collaborative efforts, that we were able to accomplish this extraordinary feat.

About The Wilshire Grand Center

The Wilshire Grand is a $1.2 billion 73-story mixed-use building. The Wilshire Grand will be a combination of retail and office space with a world-class hotel at the top. When completed in 2017, the Wilshire Grand will become the first Class A space constructed in downtown Los Angeles since 1997.

Lifting Los Angeles to New Heights Topping Off Core - The Conco Companies

Lifting Los Angeles to New Heights Tallest Building - The Conco Companies

Lifting Los Angeles to New Heights Concrete Finishing - The Conco Companies

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Wilshire Grand - Conco Concrete Finishing

Wilshire Grand - Conco Commercial Concrete Contractors

This past holiday season, John Hughes, one of Conco’s hard-working 58-meter concrete pump operators, spearheaded a toy drive to solicit donations from Conco employees that work out of our Martinez facility. Joining forces with the local Martinez Gun Club, he and his wife Carrie succeeded in collecting nearly 500 new toys. The toys were then distributed to needy families in the area by our local U.S. Marine Corps.

The charity drive was capped off on the Wednesday before Christmas when The Martinez Gun Club held their Wednesday Night Dinner and treated the Marines who came to pick up the toys to a special night filled with activities. The event included shooting and dinner, and later on in the evening, karaoke and dancing.

Conco Employee John Hughes Helps to Organize Successful Toy Drive

The Conco Companies are proud of all of their employees who participated in this important fundraiser and helped to make Christmas a little brighter for less fortunate children in our communities. The Toys for Tots program is run by the United States Marine Corps Reserve and was started as a way to get toys, books and other gifts into the hands of children whose parents cannot afford to buy Christmas gifts. Founded in 1947 by reservist Major Bill Hendricks, more than 97% of donations go directly to the mission of providing toys to children.

The Conco Companies 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. Currently we serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada.

A job in the construction industry is a great career choice for young men and women and an ironworker is one of those highly-skilled positions. To get started, an interested candidate should contact their local iron workers union about apprenticeship training programs available in the area. You may not be aware that the Iron Workers Union actively seeks to encourage and recruit women into the field and report that they have almost 2,000 active members.

An apprenticeship is done on-the-job so you have the opportunity to work alongside journeymen ironworkers. There is also a classroom component where an apprentice must attend approximately 160 hours of classes per year over a period of four years. During the apprenticeship period, an ironworker’s salary starts at about half of that as a journeyman’s wage and increases with experience. Once an apprentice successfully completes the four year program, they become a journeyman ironworker and receive full pay.

Like other construction work, ironworkers must be physically able to perform all the duties of the job. The work can be challenging and the Iron Workers Union states that applicants must be willing to work in high places, have a good sense of balance, and be alert for potential danger to themselves and others. Comprehensive safety training is included in the classroom portion of the program. In addition an apprentice must be able to follow directions and work well with others.

Ironworkers are involved in many aspects of a construction project. At Conco, workers perform all reinforcing work in connection with field fabrication, including but not limited to the pre-assembly of reinforcing cages, loading and unloading, handling, racking, sorting, cutting, bending, hoisting, and the intermittent use of forklifts.

For more information on joining the Conco team take a look at our career page.

For over 50 years, Conco has been providing premium concrete services and is one of the most trusted concrete contractors in Seattle. We partner with clients on every project from the pre-construction stage right through to final completion to maximize efficiency and ensure goals and budgets are met. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects.

Cement masons and concrete finishers are the group of construction workers that place and finish the concrete. Interested persons can enter the field through a comprehensive apprenticeship program which includes technical training as well as on-the-job experience. Apprenticeship programs are usually sponsored by unions and contractor associations and provide participants the opportunity for advancement and higher pay.

A typical cement mason apprenticeship is a three-year program and consists of 4,200 on-the-job hours and over 430 related classroom hours. An applicant must be in good health and physically able to perform all phases of the work. The technical training that an apprentice receives includes understanding the basics of concrete, concrete form work, concrete finishing as well as construction related math skills and blueprint reading. The on-the-job training allows him/her to learn the tools of the trade with plenty of practical experience in finishing sidewalks, curb and gutter, floor slabs, and architectural concrete.

On large commercial concrete projects, cement masons and concrete finishers need to be able to follow directions from their supervisors and work well with the rest of the team on the jobsite. Concrete finishers are often responsible for pouring the concrete into forms and constructing the foundations, slabs, sidewalks, roads, and other ground-level tasks. The cement masons work with the finished forms and construct walls and other above-ground structures. These jobs demand a high level of skill as well as understanding and using jobsite safety procedures.

Job opportunities for cement masons and concrete finishers increase dramatically during growth in building activity, and right now the outlook is extremely positive for steady employment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 29% increase for cement masons and concrete finishers between the years of 2012 to 2022, which is a total of about 41,700 new jobs.

For more information on joining the Conco team take a look at our career page.

Conco is one of the leading concrete contractors in San Francisco offering a range of innovative, quality services. We have been honored to work on many high-profile projects and were recently awarded the concrete contract for the San Francisco 49ers Stadium. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects.

Conco is pleased to announce that we have taken a step toward helping to improve California’s crucial transportation infrastructure. Our $50,000 donation will go toward the significant work being done by Transportation California. This non-partisan, non-profit public interest organization’s mission statement contains “the belief that an excellent highway system is vital to the economic well-being of our state and the quality of life of our people.” Its membership is comprised of business and community leaders as well as individuals.

At Conco we recognize the benefits we receive from the strong growth and development going on throughout California, but at the same time, we understand our responsibility to give back to the community. Our sincere hope is that the contribution to Transportation California will encourage other business leaders to make similar donations toward the good work they are doing. By supporting a well-maintained, modern transportation system, we can all help to facilitate business growth and create more jobs.

The Transportation California’s leadership first became active in 1990 with their effort to successfully pass Propositions 108 and 111, which created the Transportation Blueprint used over the next 10 years. The group came back together after the Northridge Earthquake to formally create the non-profit organization. Their first task was to support Proposition 192 that created separate funding for earthquake retrofitting. This noteworthy bill helped to guarantee that the monies set aside for highway and bridge maintenance and repairs would stay intact. Today, one of Transportation California’s goals is to see that the State continues to address transportation programs that face “massive shortfalls resulting from decades of under-investment.”

While there remains the ongoing discussions of how to pay for new roads, and the repair and maintenance of existing ones, there is a general agreement that the infrastructure has been neglected for over 20 years. Conco’s first-hand experience in the industry gives us a unique perspective to the long-term benefits a strong transportation system provides to the State. We understand that together we can work to improve the roads and bridges that our families travel on every day.

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States. We got our start in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1959 by offering clients the best value on a wide range of concrete services and products. Since that time, we have steadily taken a leading role as one of the Bay Area’s top concrete contractors. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects and highways.