AUSTIN, TX

Even before its official February 13 grand opening, the JW Marriott Austin (the city’s largest hotel and the largest JW Marriott in North America) had more than 520,000 room nights reserved through the year 2021. To accommodate the demand, the 1.2-million-sq.-ft. luxury hotel was completed ahead of schedule for an early opening. The 34-story JW Marriott, completed in a joint venture with Hunt Construction, is targeting LEED® Silver certification and has more than 112,000 sq. ft. of event space, 42 meeting rooms, and more than 1,000 guest rooms.

STANFORD, CA

More than 1,200 construction workers, donors, hospital and medical staff, and executives signed the steel beam that was hoisted into position during the “topping off” ceremony of the $1.1 billion Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford expansion in January. The ceremony marked the completion of structural steel erection. Designed by architects HGA and Perkins+Will, and being built by DPR, the project will add 521,000 sq. ft. to the existing hospital, making it the Bay Area’s largest facility for pediatric and obstetric care when the facility opens in early 2017. The expansion, which is targeting LEED Gold certification, includes 149 new hospital rooms, increased surgical and diagnostic suites, and new treatment rooms. Additionally, the expansion will provide 3.5 acres of healing gardens, green space and tranquil areas for patients and families.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Zero incidents continues to be the goal on every DPR project. In 2014, DPR achieved the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) incident rate of 1.07, based on more than 5 million hours worked, compared to the industry average rate of 3.8. The Construction Employers’ Association (CEA) honored the company’s commitment to safety with an Excellence in Safety Award for the 12th year in a row as well as the President’s Safety Award for the seventh consecutive year. DPR first began winning CEA safety awards in 1992, two years after the company was founded.

NATIONAL

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Emissions Challenge: Reduce employee greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2015. In 2007, DPR began tracking emissions and using a combination of solutions to reduce its carbon footprint to meet its goal. Initiatives included encouraging reductions through an internal educational campaign, targeted reduction strategies, such as switching to more efficient fleet vehicles, and improving overall energy efficiency of its offices. Office improvements ranged from simple energy audits to replacing systems to net-zero energy (NZE) renovations (to date, two DPR offices are NZE certified, and one is targeting NZE). This eight-year reduction effort led to a 31 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, exceeding the goal by 6 percentage points. In recognition, the U.S. EPA honored DPR with a Climate Leadership Award in Excellence in Greenhouse Gas Management (Goal Achievement). “Reducing our carbon footprint is one way we have been able to measurably demonstrate our environmental record, ‘walking the walk’ of sustainability,” said DPR’s Ted van der Linden, who accepted the award.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

As posted on the outside of the building three years ago, the new 289-bed, six-story, 878,000-sq.-ft. UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay did indeed open on time on Feb. 1. About 130 patients from the medical center’s two other campuses were transferred via ambulance across San Francisco to the new facility, which is the culmination of more than 10 years of planning, design and construction, using an integrated team approach. Starting in May 2009—more than a year and a half before construction began—more than 250 architects, engineers and contractors co-located in the Integrated Center for Design and Construction (ICDC) on the 14-acre site to build a high-performing team focused on “first, doing what’s best for the project.” The result is one of the greenest urban hospitals in the nation, which received LEED Gold certification prior to occupancy. The facility, delivered eight days early despite implementing nearly $55 million in changes, also passed the California Department of Public Health’s licensing inspections with “no deficiencies,” which is unprecedented among new California hospitals. In addition, the medical center will employ approximately 2,600 faculty and staff, and it will handle close to 10,000 inpatient and outpatient surgeries in its first year.

ATLANTA, GA

When DPR Hardin renovated its office, it acted as owner, client and contractor to create a space that represented its values and culture. The 23,145-sq.-ft. design-build tenant improvement focused on making an open office space that fosters shared leadership, community and enjoyment, while building responsibly. After seven months, the renovated office is complete. Using DPR Hardin’s self-perform capabilities, the space includes areas for innovation and collaboration and an energy-monitoring dashboard via Lucid Dashboard. Visitors won’t have to go too far to check out the new space; it’s in the same building, just one floor up.

SAN RAFAEL, CA

Raising the last piece of structural steel into place at the end of December, the project team celebrated the topping out construction milestone at BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.’s corporate campus. The team initially broke ground on the 85,000-sq.-ft., three-story research-and-development laboratory building and six-story garage in August of last year. Once completed, the new laboratory adds space for 200 additional researchers for BioMarin, which specializes in medications that treat chronic and degenerative genetic conditions. The company’s product portfolio comprises five approved products and multiple clinical and pre-clinical product candidates for patients with serious unmet medical needs.

TAMPA, FL

Recently named the coolest redesigned office space by the Tampa Bay Business Journal, DPR’s office transformed its space in late 2014 to reflect the history and culture of the local community. The renovated 4,900-sq.-ft. open office boasts a pirate/nautical theme, complete with a signature wine bar/boat––named José Gaspar, after the city’s popular folklore figure. Other transformations include portholes and captain’s chairs and themed conference rooms such as the “Swashbuckler, “Crow’s Nest” and “Buccaneer.”

GREENSBORO, NC

The 119,000-sq.-ft. University of North Carolina at Greensboro Dining Hall Renovation won a 2015 Wood Design Award. According to WoodWorks, while the project “showcases the beauty of heavy timber on a grand scale, much of the advantage of using wood came from its light weight.” The light weight of the glulam wood allowed the team to erect individual arches over the building’s interior; the crane reach that was required for a heavier building material would not have been possible. During construction, the dining hall continued operations. The project was completed in 2014 through a tri-venture of Hardin Construction, Rodgers and Davis. DPR acquired Hardin Construction in April 2013.

“Collectively, this year’s award-winning projects celebrate the kind of innovative thinking that continues to expand the possibilities for wood use—and bring wood’s cost, sustainability and other advantages to a wider range of projects.” - Jennifer Cover, PE, Executive Director

PHOENIX, AZ

DPR won three Arizona Commercial Real Estate (AZRE) magazine Real Estate Development (RED) awards this year (bringing the total wins since 2009 to eight). This year’s awards include:

• The 145,000-sq.-ft., LEED-NC Silver SkySong 3 at ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center won Best Mixed-Use Project for converting a former shopping mall into a space for innovation and economic development.
• The zero defects, 111,904-sq.-ft. Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center Phase II Clinic Expansion won Best Healthcare Project, thanks to the team’s use of co-location, integrated project delivery (IPD) principles, lean methods and Last Planner scheduling to improve productivity.
• DPR took top honors this year as General Contractor of the Year. According to AZRE Magazine, “DPR Construction has certainly left its mark on higher education in Phoenix, from the beautiful McCord Hall on Arizona State University’s Tempe Campus to the Phoenix Biomedical Campus and incoming Arizona Center for Law and Society.”

SAN ANTONIO, TX

For the 13th consecutive year, DPR hosted a hospitality event for clients, partners and colleagues attending the 2015 ASHE PDC (which stands for American Society of Healthcare Engineers’ International Summit & Exhibition on Healthcare Facility Planning, Design and Construction). After learning about forward-thinking healthcare strategies at the summit, nearly 450 people attended the soirée in the historic arts village of La Villita.

RICHMOND, VA

A Houdini trick: That’s how one of the latest milestones was described at the multiple-phase Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (VCUHS) renovation project, which is spanning four years. The challenge for the project team is to minimize disruptions at the occupied and fully operational facility at the tight downtown site. On the latest phase, the team erected scaffolding and netting to completely cover the construction area. When the team took the scaffolding and netting down five months later in early March, an additional 1,000-sq.-ft. waiting room (seemingly magically) appeared directly above the hospital’s main entrance. Due to the concealed scaffolding and off-hour construction, passersby were unaware that the team was expanding the waiting room at all. While the overall project continues through 2018, this particular addition proves that sometimes in construction, now you see it, now you don’t.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA

With a passion for education and a love for their alma mater, DPR’s Kristy Beal and Alison Lind-Kang led the effort to coach students from the University of Southern California (USC) for The Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) 2015 Student Competition in February. The team was comprised of DPR interns. The months-long effort resulted in first place wins in both the commercial and preconstruction competitions, as well as third in virtual design for the USC team. To prepare, the coaches mentored students in practical construction concepts, such as plan reading, estimating, scheduling, site logistics, value engineering, safety and subcontractor selection.