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Utah’s Voice of the A/E/C Industry

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By Brad Fullmer 01 Mar, 2024
Adobe’s 680,000 SF Lehi Campus is an iconic project in Lehi that was completed in two phases, with the first phase opening at the beginning of 2013 and signaling a new era of development along the Silicon Slopes corridor. (photo by Dana Sohm) Inset: Aerial view showing an illustration of Texas Instruments’ new 300 mm semiconductor wafer manufacturing plant—referred to as “LFAB2”—which broke ground last November and marks the single largest investment (over $11 billion) in state history. (photo courtesy Texas Instruments)
By Brad Fullmer 01 Mar, 2024
Work continues to grind forward on the mammoth new Salt Lake City Water Reclamation Facility (WRF)—a critical $850 million project being built by a joint venture of the Salt Lake regional offices of Sundt Construction and PCL Construction that will replace the current facility in North Salt Lake once it's turned over to SLC's Department of Utilities (SLCDPU) in July 2026. As it stands, this is the second-largest project in City history, trailing only the recent $2 billion-plus Salt Lake International Airport Redevelopment (Phases 3-4 ongoing), and one of the most technically challenging projects in the state. "We are up for the challenge every day—the magnitude of this thing is unreal," said Manny Diaz, Project Manager for Salt Lake-based Sundt, as he drove around the massive 30-acre site in late-January, a worksite teeming with 300 current employees (it will peak at 400 workers this summer) and myriad complicated structures being built simultaneously. Diaz is a long-time veteran of the water reclamation facility industry—this project marks plant No. 26 in his own personal history—and he was brought in a year ago by Sundt because of his expertise. When he arrived in Salt Lake at the beginning of last year, it was right smack dab in the middle of what proved to be a record-breaking year for snowfall. "It was quite a welcome to Utah!" Diaz chuckled. "We keep very close tabs on the weather." And while crews haven't been subjected to the same inclement weather this winter, site conditions are still generally wet and muddy, and the difficulties associated with building the various structures are constant. Crews are nearing the halfway mark, so certainly it's a milestone worth acknowledging, even though a mountain of construction is still left to climb. "It's such a huge accomplishment to be this far," said Jason Brown, Deputy Director of Public Utilities for SLC. "We've faced a lot of challenges, Covid, material shortages [...] it's amazing to be part of a team that works so well together. We still have a long way to go, but we'll get there. We've made a lot of progress and should be proud, but it's hard to celebrate success with so much work still ahead." Diaz, along with PCL Project Manager Shayne Waldron, said crews recently achieved a major milestone: one million hours worked, a notable accomplishment. “Achieving the ‘one million hours worked’ milestone is a testament to the coordination and collaboration required of a project this size," said Brown, adding that the new WRF project benefits from regular and ongoing staff collaboration, under the watch of Sundt/PCL, designers AECOM and Jacobs, and SLCDPU leadership. “This [milestone] is the culmination of many different efforts,” added Mauricio Ramos, District Manager for PCL’s Civil Infrastructure Division. “From local engineers to pipe layers, journeymen, construction trade workers, foremen, and general laborers, every team member has been instrumental in reaching this benchmark. The collaboration between PCL and Sundt has been a testament to our shared commitment to excellence and innovation.” "Our crews are working together seamlessly to ensure that the final product meets the goals and needs of the community," said Sam Reidy, Senior VP and District Manager for Sundt. "Celebrating this milestone recognizes the hard work and commitment each member of the project team has made to this project and the Sundt/PCL partnership." Diaz and Waldron said soil conditions challenged the team right out of the gate and took significant time to stabilize the site. "At the very beginning, the project was designed to be built on top of where the sludge beds were at, but it turns out the sludge beds were on shaky ground," said Diaz. "This whole area is young in age, so it's all soft clays and sands," added Waldron. "Soft clays are compressible, so the big issue is settling. It would have [cost] $80 million in piles to shore it up, and then in between buildings you have all the pipe and utility duct banks, so they would almost need to be built on piles." Waldron said the idea came up to pre-load the whole site, where crews built a flat pad, installed wick drains, then pre-loaded 30 ft. of dirt, with drains going down 125 feet and providing a way for water to be pushed out of the clay. "We had over seven feet of settlement," said Waldron. Crews also set up sophisticated monitoring equipment "to see where ground was settling and what layers were compressing the most. It was really scientific—a lot more than I've seen before." Diaz said it took six months to haul in the fill dirt where it remained in place for eight months, then took another six months to excavate out—close to one million yards of total material. It was an exhaustive process, with an average of 400 trucks per day and close to 500 trucks hauling 18,000 tons on the best day. Having a cohesive, highly collaborative team of designers and construction experts has been a boon to the project schedule. Once completed, Salt Lake City’s new WRF will serve over 200,000 residents as well as those who commute downtown to work or visit Utah's capital. It will replace the City’s current—and only—wastewater treatment facility, which is over 55 years old and near the end of its service life. Maintaining reliable operations at the existing facility while constructing the new WRF nearby has been critical for the project’s success. Since breaking ground in 2019, the project team has completed approximately 65% of structural concrete work as well as soil mitigation, deep foundation work, and the installation of underground utilities. In late January crews began excavating dual 63-in. diameter pipelines, along with a 78-in. effluent pipe that is being hauled one giant piece at a time from Canada, a new type of corrugated HDPE with welded joints that should provide greater durability. All in all, crews will ultimately pour 93,000 CY of concrete and install 22 million pounds of reinforcing steel, along with 89,000 LF of underground pipe ranging in diameter from 1.5-in. to 78-in. "The camaraderie among the team members allows for a very cohesive team," said Diaz. "The only way you can tell who works for who is by the color of the truck. We have a 'one project' mentality. The complexity of the job and being trusted to lead this effort [...] have been [important] for me. It's been a great job so far." Diaz, who said his first wastewater treatment plant was in North Miami Beach in the late 80s right after he graduated from college, hopes to remain in Utah once this job is completed and turned over to the client by mid-2026. “I plan on staying here and continue to work on treatment plants in Utah,” he said. “There’s a lot of work here. We have vast experience, and we have a lot of people who want to be in Utah—it’s a great place to live. Let’s do it!”
By Brad Fullmer 01 Mar, 2024
It's been more than 45 years (1978) since The Cars released their debut album highlighted by the wildly popular song Good Times Roll, but if there was ever a tune to sum up the general sentiment of local A/E/C professionals regarding Utah's 2024 Economic Outlook, Good Times Roll would be up there. "Our members are expecting another good year," said Joey Gilbert, President/CEO of the 650-member Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Utah. "For our contractors in both the building and highway markets, the outlook is good. Many still have decent backlogs to keep them busy through 2024 and in some cases, even 2025. The public sector is strong, and on the private side, owners are still investing in some big projects." Robert Spendlove, Chief Economist for Salt Lake-based Zions Bank, reported at the AGC's Economic Outlook meeting last November that commercial construction was up 1.6%, while Utah as a whole reported 2.5% growth overall, and believes both will continue to fare well in 2024. "Utah also has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the U.S. [2.5%]; when it gets too low, you get real struggles of labor shortages," he said. "It prevents companies from growing and is one of those defining economic characteristics of this past cycle. If we get above 4-5% we get nervous that it's a sign of a recessionary environment." Spendlove said tailwinds include strong consumer spending, a strong labor market, and an overall robust economic Intermountain West region, while headwinds could include a lack of new workers, government shutdowns, energy prices, and international uncertainty. Another bonus is that Utah remains one of the strongest states economically, regardless of what is happening nationally. "I would say uncomfortably optimistic," countered Dejan Eskic, Senior Research Fellow for the Kem Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah, citing a number of factors potentially slowing down the design and construction industry such as housing, labor, and material price fluctuations—basically the same post-Covid headwinds Utah-based firms have been battling the past couple of years. "On paper, we should have a decent economic year in Utah. Because it's an election year, it brings more optimism generally. Stock performance does better in an election year, jobs do better. You have to stick to those basics. Eskic has been with the Gardner Institute for eight years, including the past five in his current role, explained that some of the uncomfortableness facing the local economy stems from having virtually no labor pool in certain segments, including construction—which continues to face a dearth of skilled craftsmen in virtually all subcontractor trades. "We still have red flags," he said, noting concerns with still-high housing costs. "Maybe it's too early to call if we've cracked inflation. 2023 ended up way better than anybody expected—it was supposed to be a recession year, but the recession never came, and the labor market exceeded expectations. "I'm bullish on Utah," he added. "I look at the numbers and how we're going, and we're in a very strong growth pattern with the economy. Things will continue to expand." Indeed, despite nasty rising interest rates that put the brakes on some speculative development projects, Utah-based owners continued to plow ahead on projects, and by-and-large most market segments continued to see a healthy amount of activity as firms set about tackling healthy project backlogs.
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