High Rise Second Place Winner for the Premiere on Pine

The residential tower, Premiere on Pine (formerly known as 815 Pine) is a Second Place Winner of the American Concrete Institute’s 2017 Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards in the High Rise category. This is quite an honor as there were only 12 winners from around the world. The winners were recognized at the “Celebrating Concrete Innovation and Excellence Across the Globe” Awards Gala during the ACI Concrete Convention and Exposition. Recipients of the award for the Premiere on Pine’s project include its owner and developer, Holland Partner Group; architect, Weber Thompson Architects; engineering firm, Cary Kopcznyski & Company; general contractor, Holland construction Inc.; and concrete contractor, The Conco Companies.

815 Pine St, Seattle, WA — Premiere on Pine (formerly known as 815 Pine), won second place of the American Concrete Institute’s 2017 Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards in the High Rise category.

The tower’s use of high-strength concrete and reinforcing steel created maximum floor space for the small site and is the first building in Seattle to have a specified concrete strength of 15,000 psi in its columns. Along with showcasing the technological advancements in the concrete industry over the last couple of decades, it allowed the high-strength columns to be smaller than those found in similarly sized projects. Conco is extremely honored to receive the award from the ACI. We are proud to have been selected for this innovative project and to have been a part of this exceptional team.

2017 ACI Excellence Awards - The Conco Companies

2017 ACI Excellence Awards - The Conco Companies -2

2017 ACI Excellence Awards - The Conco Companies - 1

At The Conco Companies, we pride ourselves on finding solutions that meet and in some cases exceed the challenging demands of our projects. One example is 970 Denny, a 44-story apartment building under construction in the South Lake Union neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. The redevelopment project is from the Holland Partner Group and Holland Construction is serving as the General Contractor.

Up until now, Conco had been pleased to construct a complete floor on a 5-day cycle using a single shift such as we did on the 815 Pine project, another 40 story residential tower in downtown Seattle. Now we are proud to report that on the 970 Denny, we successfully achieve a 4-day cycle with a single shift and without working Saturdays! The 970 Denny project has 6 levels of below-ground parking and rises 44 floors above the street. We achieved the 4-day cycle on levels 26,27 and 30 to 35, for a total of 8 floors.

As Gerard McGlynn, Holland Constructions’ Regional General Superintendent, notes it was only a few years ago that 6-day and 5-day deck cycles were barely achievable and typically required overtime and weekend work. He wholeheartedly commended the entire 970 team for proving that “with planning, collaboration among subcontractors and hard work this elusive 4-day cycle is achievable within a work week.”

McGlynn also instructed the 970 team to plot out the new hourly 4-day deck cycle poster. At the next subcontractor meeting; the old and now outdated 5-day cycle will ceremoniously be torn down and replaced with the new 4-day cycle. With this pace, we anticipate topping out at R4 the first week in January, 2018.

Conco has built a reputation for delivering projects on time and on budget. Often, we are selected as much for our premium concrete services as for our ability to accelerate the construction process and get the job done regardless of the challenges. By working closely with general contractors and owners, Conco strives to find solutions that meet the unique demands of each of our projects.

Conco is one of the leading concrete contractors in the Western U.S. and offers a wide range of quality services and products. We continue to upgrade and expand facilities to better serve the growing market for public works projects, commercial, parking structures, educational, and other construction development. We serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada.

The Conco Companies is providing a full range of concrete services on the 4th & Madison apartment project currently under construction from the San Francisco based owner and developer, Carmel Partners. The builder on the 90,000 SF project is CP Construction West, Inc., and the architect is KTGY Architecture + Planning. Located in Oakland’s Historic Jack London Square Waterfront Warehouse District, the project consists of two buildings directly across the street from one another.

Building “A”, which will be seven stories and offer 240 housing units, is within the Historic Warehouse District so it was designed with “boxcar-like” elements that evoke the district’s activities. It will also have a total of 3,000 square feet of retail space with each of the building’s corners flanked by a shop or restaurant. Building “B” is not required to conform to the historic guidelines so KTGY designed it with a more contemporary look that “references a dynamic stack of shipping containers and the “boxcar” look of Building A.” It will offer 90 housing units that include configurations such as an extra loft and two-or three bedroom floor plans.

Conco’s responsibilities on the project include providing concrete pumping, reinforcement, formwork, finishing, shotcrete, and Confoam™ services. During the course of the project we expect to place 19,000 cubic yards of concrete as well as shotcrete and Confoam™. We are also providing 1,050,000 pounds of rebar and PT reinforcement.

The residents of 4th & Madison will have a full array of amenities available including a fitness center, pool and spa, demonstration kitchen, multipurpose room, media room, sky terrace and BBQ area, and much more. In addition the new buildings are conveniently located approximately a half-mile from the Lake Merritt BART light rail station.

The architect, KTGY Architecture + Planning, has already won a Gold Nugget Merit Award for the project in the category of “Best on the Boards Multifamily Community.” Additionally Conco is excited to be working with Carmel Partners, a company “focused on sustaining a culture committed to the principles of responsibility, integrity and alignment of interests.”

Conco is one of the foremost suppliers of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in 1959 in the Bay Area by offering clients the best value on a broad range of concrete services and products. Since that time, we have taken a leading role as top concrete contractors in the region. We have regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington.

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Conco’s Martinez facility was honored by Central Contra Costa Sanitary District with an annual Pollution Prevention Award. The award recognizes local businesses that go above and beyond in their pollution prevention and environmental protection practices.

Some of the practices that Conco has adopted in our Martinez facility include using recycled water to wash trucks, pretreating water before it enters the storm drain through an innovative sand-oil interceptor and installation of a new sawdust collector, and installing solar panels and LED lights to reduce the electrical usage of the facility.

We at Conco are honored to receive this award and are committed to reducing the impact of our facilities on the environment. As technologies evolve, it is our goal to continue to invest in projects like these that make not only good business sense but also generate positive environmental results.

Construction markets have heated up to levels not experienced for many years. In fact, in every market we do business in, The Conco Companies expect construction activity to be greater in 2017 than it was in 2016.

In Northern California, the increased business activity has been compressed over a shorter construction season due to the unprecedented amount of rain the area experienced during the first half of the year. This forced some projects to be pushed back while other jobs continued to be added to the backlog causing difficulties throughout the entire construction supply chain. As the rubber band is being stretched, structural challenges are being exposed that are not easily remedied.

Labor

Shortages of qualified workers are rampant throughout the industry. Many people do not perceive construction to be a glamorous or lucrative profession, which has greatly limited the pool of people drawn to the industry. This starts with the truck drivers that haul materials such as steel, aggregates, cement and ready-mixed concrete. Concrete producers tell us about trucks parked with no qualified drivers available or running out of raw materials due to a shortage of material haulers. The amount of people drawn to the trucking industry has dropped while the logistics created by an online shopping economy has increased the need for these valued professionals. As companies such as Amazon and Walmart are able to offer steadier work than the construction industry, the pool of qualified drivers is shrinking, making it increasingly difficult to attract drivers.

In addition to drivers, there is an industry-wide shortage of qualified cement masons, carpenters and ironworkers. As seasoned, experienced tradespeople retire, we have not been able to replace these folks at the levels required, and once again, must learn how to attract talent to our great industry.

Materials

Another problem involves the fact that the raw materials used to produce concrete are no longer in abundant supply. Twenty years ago, virtually all materials were produced locally. Now, all fly ash is railed in from coal-burning power plants outside of California, slag comes from Japan, and cement is imported from countries such as China and Korea. Even 30% of the aggregates used in concrete in the Bay Area are imported from British Columbia. Achieving a steady supply of concrete now not only depends on local trucks but on the railroads and international deep-water ships. Furthermore, the issue of raw material availability will most likely worsen in the future. Some examples of the dilemma are:

Only one cement plant remains in operation in the Bay Area. This plant is under environmental pressure initiated by some members of its neighboring community who perceive the plant’s operation to be incompatible with the cities that have developed around it. This opposition is occurring even though the cement plant has been in existence for more than 100 years.
Local reserves continue to be depleted and no replacement reserves are being added. The problem is further increased by the high cost of land combined with environmental opposition resulting in lengthy land approval delays. The time to permit a new deposit has been extended to an average of 7 – 10 years with no guarantee of success. In all three of Conco’s major markets (Northern California, Southern California and Seattle), the same scenario is playing out which begs the question: Where will aggregates come from in the future?
Fly ash is a by-product of coal-burning power plants, and because the use of coal is being phased out for power plants, the availability of fly ash will shrink. Studies are currently being done to determine the feasibility of replacing fly ash generated from power plants with natural pozzolans. The replacement will inevitably transpire when the economics of doing so makes it a viable option.

Our industry and our economy depend on quality people and quality raw materials. At this point, both are in short supply. We must ask ourselves if this is just a result of an overheated construction market or a glimpse into what we can expect in the foreseeable future.

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