TxDOT, Parks & Wildlife and MSU Partnership Nets Environmental Honors

Native Prairie Restoration Project earns the 2007 Environmental Achievement Award

TxDOT Wichita Falls District Receives Environmental Award

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls were recently honored by the Texas Department of Transportation. The recognition was for TxDOT’s Wichita Falls District, which earned the 2007 Environmental Achievement Award for the Native Prairie Restoration Project at Holliday.

The three entities worked together to restore mesquite shrub land to native prairie. Native grasslands are a conservation priority in Texas.

TPWD developed and TxDOT implemented the restoration plan.

MSU will take over maintenance of the site once vegetation is established. The site serves as an outdoor classroom for the Biology and Environmental Science Programs at MSU.

TACA Competition Features High Strength Concrete Competition

Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association recently held its third Annual High Strength Concrete Competition at the 50th Annual Short Course and Tradeshow in Fort Worth.

TACA began the competition in 2006 to showcase material innovations and techniques in the Texas marketplace.

First place was awarded to Southern Star Concrete--Houston Division with a 28-day compressive strength of 18,370 psi. Second Place went to Southern Star Concrete--Dallas Division for helping develop a compressive strength of 16,470 psi. Texas Concrete Materials Ltd. of Austin received third place with a 28-day compressive strength of 16,360 psi.

Competitors each cast six cylinders of fresh concrete and cured the cylinders for no more than 28 days in moist or wet environments. Three of the cylinders from each company were tested at the end of the 28-day period by a third-party independent laboratory and an average of those three cylinder strengths was used to determine the compressive strength. The remaining three cylinders will be tested at 90 days to provide longer term strength development data.

The competition was sponsored by the Industry Promotion and Marketing Committee and Specification Committee of TACA. Entries included those from Campbell Concrete of Houston, Frontier Materials of Houston, Lattimore Materials of McKinney, Raba-Kistner of San Antonio, Redi-Mix Concrete of Carrollton, Southern Star Concrete of Irving and Texas Concrete Materials Ltd. of Austin.

ASA Names Hill & Wilkinson Outstanding GC of the Year

Dallas-based Hill & Wilkinson Ltd. was named Outstanding General Contractor by the American Subcontractors Association - North Texas chapter. It is the fourth time the company has won the award; third in the past seven years.

Criteria includes treating subcontractors and suppliers as equal members of the construction team; submitting contracts and purchase orders in a fair and timely manner; efficiently running a well-coordinated construction project; maintaining and providing a safe work environment; processing subcontractor's monthly payments, project completions and owner acceptance and disbursement of retainage accurately, in a timely manner; and utilizing ASA members as often as possible.

Construction Industry Ethics and Compliance Initiative Forms

Earlier this year, 13 construction companies came together to form a non-profit association dedicated to promoting ethical behavior and full compliance with the law. The organization is known as the Construction Industry Ethics and Compliance Initiative.

The CEICI is not a lobbying organization; it will focus on construction companies' best practices for encouraging ethical behavior. Its goals are to identify and spread such practices throughout the construction industry.

The Texas contingency of the 13 founding members of the CEICI are Austin Industries Inc. of Dallas; Balfour Beatty of Atlanta, Ga., and Dallas; and Zachry Construction Corp. of San Antonio.

Corgan Selected as Building of America Award Winner

Dallas-based Corgan Associates Inc. was honored as a Building of America award winner by the Construction Communications' editorial board.

Corgan was selected for its work on the new Richardson ISD Eagle/Mustang Stadium Press Box.

Meeks+Partners Wins National Association of Home Builders Award

Houston-based architectural firm Meeks+ Partners has won the Pillars of the Industry Awards for Best Garden Apartment Community from the National Association of Home Builders.

The award, for The Dakota In The Village in Dallas for Lincoln Property Co., was presented to Meeks + Partners at the NAHB Annual Conference in recognition of excellence in multifamily design, construction, finance, management and marketing.

Intertech Named Top Flooring Contractor by National Manufacturers

Commercial flooring and LEED flooring specialist Intertech Flooring of Austin was recently named one of the top commercial flooring contractors nationwide by two major flooring manufacturers.

Holland, Mich.,-based Haworth Inc. awarded Intertech its Top Flooring Contractor award in April. Intertech is one of only three companies worldwide, and the only one in Texas, to receive the award.

Also, Houston-based Tarkett presented Intertech for the third consecutive year with the Tarkett Top Performer Award, recognizing Intertech as the top Tarkett dealer.

Speed Fab-Crete Celebrates 10 Years Under Current Ownership

Speed Fab-Crete Design-Build General Contractors of Fort Worth celebrated a 10-year anniversary in April.

Speed Fab-Crete has specialized in design-build since 1951. The firm boasts the most official “Designated Design-Build Professionals” in the Southwest, awarded by the Design-Build Institute of America.

The firm's 10th anniversary also marked a major grant to Speed Fab-Crete for the replacement of five aging diesel vehicles under the Texas Emissions Reduction Program. The $388,000 grant, by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, allowed Speed Fab-Crete to acquire four 2008 Mack semi-tractor trucks and a John Deere front wheel loader.

Cubellis Opens Dallas Office

Architecture, interior design and engineering services firm Cubellis has established a new office in Dallas near the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

The office will be led by Scott Windle, AIA, who recently joined Cubellis from Jacobs Carter Burgess, and will serve as principal, national restaurant business unit leader, heading a team of 19 focused on restaurant design and national accounts.

Specialized Carriers & Rigging Assoc. Elects Joyce of Longview

The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association elected Joe Bob Joyce of Longview-based Joyce Crane for the crane and rigging group on the organization's board of directors for the 2008-2009 term.

The SC&RA is an international trade association.

NRMCA Honors Reese as Dallas Business Leader

Silver Spring, Md.,-based National Ready Mixed Concrete Association named Barrett Reese of Dallas-based Texas Industries as the recipient of the 2008 Promoter of the Year Award, which was presented to him at the Association's Annual Convention in Las Vegas.

Reese has furthered the concrete and cement industries for more than 40 years in his career at TXI, serving on multiple industry boards, committees, subcommittees, task forces and groups during that time.

Reese is active with the Texas Aggregates and Concrete Association as well as the Cement Council of Texas. On the national level, Reese has worked with Portland Cement Association and NRMCA.

Gensler Opens Austin Location, 30th Office Nationwide

Gensler, a global architectural, design, planning, and consulting firm, opened an office in Austin recently. It is Gensler's 30th office.

Gensler's presence in Austin will be led by office director Todd Runkle, who worked in the company's Washington D.C., Detroit, and Houston offices. He is joined by project manager John Mapes, AIA, who worked in Gensler's San Ramon, Calif., location.

Currently, Gensler's Austin office is providing design services for an expanded client base including The Domain, phase two, which includes over 500,000 sq ft of retail and is anchored by Nordstrom.

Trammell Crow Affiliate Develops Dallas Area Transit Projects

Anticipating the arrival of light rail in 2010, the city of Carrollton signed an exclusive master developer contract to spearhead private investment for three Transit-Oriented Development areas with Dallas-based High Street Residential, a subsidiary of Trammell Crow Co.

High Street has been assigned three sites to create high-density residential, office and retail incorporating enhanced pedestrian amenities. The areas include the Downtown Carrollton Transit Center District, the Trinity Mills Transit Center District and the North Carrollton Station Development Site. Each site anchors an existing or planned Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail line.