People protesting against Ebenal General Inc., general contractor for Western’s Buchanan Towers residence hall addition, were in the area of the Buchanan Towers construction site on south campus this morning. The Laborers Union has a labor dispute with Ebenal.
If Whatcom County's economy is hoping for construction to turn things around, it may be waiting at least another year.
While there are pockets of activity, this year is shaping up to be a challenging one for general contractors, particularly when it comes to commercial projects.
"2010 is looking bleak, but there are some opportunities to make money," said Liz Evans, northern district manager of the Associated General Contractors of Washington. "Local contractors are still looking outside the area for work, but there are a few major projects around here later this year."
Excavation for the new glass stairwell foundation immediately south of the Miller Hall bell tower began Thursday, Jan. 28. The contractor will continue excavation of the area this morning. Excavated earth will be hauled off site by trucks that will enter and leave the site in front of the bell tower.
Trucks will cross the pedestrian entry path to Miller Hall approximately every 30 minutes until the excavation is complete.
On Monday, Jan. 25, Dawson Construction will begin construction of barrier walls inside Miller Hall corridors. Shortly after that, demolition for the new electrical room in the dirt crawl space area of the basement in the north east corner of 1940s building will begin. Several other areas will be impacted as part of this work. The interior ramp at the north end of the building will be demolished, as will the adjacent office suite (Room 153) above the basement electrical room. Office suite 155, which is above suite 153, also will be part of the demolition area.
On Jan. 13, crews from Dawson Construction began removal and demolition of the brick wall at the north stair tower of Miller Hall on the Western Washington University campus. This is the wall south of the London Plane tree and south of the bell tower entrance.
As state legislators gather in Olympia to close the $2.6 billion budget gap, the chief concern for business owners appears to be not whether tax hikes are coming, but how big they will be.
The 60-day legislative session begins Monday, Jan. 11, and lawmakers are tasked with fixing the problem by making cuts, raising more revenue or both.
State Sen. Dale Brandland (R-Bellingham) visited the Western Washington University campus on Wednesday, Jan. 6, for a tour of the ongoing construction at Miller Hall.
During his tour, Brandland and WWU President Bruce Shepard stopped to say a few words to members of the construction crew, from Dawson Construction.
"As bad as the economy is right now, I shudder to think where we would be if we didn't have projects like this," Brandland said. "We're going to recover from this, and stuff like this is really what's going to get us back."
For many people, the decade from 2000 through 2009 brought a transformation of Bellingham and Whatcom County, leaving this community feeling less like an overgrown small town and more like a small city.
"There are a lot more new people in town," said Taimi Gorman, Fairhaven businesswoman. "I can go places and not know anybody."
Countywide, population rose by 26,274 people during the decade, according to state estimates, topping off at 193,100.
Debra Sams, a program coordinator with the Educational Leadership-Instructional Technology program, took these images of Miller Hall construction from her office window on Thursday, Dec. 17. The images show workers installing pilings for a new stairwell, Sams said.
On Thursday, Nov. 19, drilling and casting of augercast pilings will begin in the courtyard of Miller Hall. These pilings are being constructed to support the new “collaboration structure.”
The piling auger will be mounted on a small, diesel-run, excavator-like piece of equipment smaller than the forklift that has been on site. The hollow stemmed auger will be used to drill into the ground to a specific depth. A concrete mix will be pumped down the stem of the auger while the auger is slowly withdrawn, leaving a shaft of fluid concrete to ground level.
This is the eighth edition of my Desk Notes. Facilities Management has finished up with almost all of the "summer" projects at this point (Yes, I do realize it's fall. I think I was tipped off by the torrential down pours … either that or the consistently bad news coming out of Pullman and Seattle vis-à-vis football) and we are starting to gear up for next summer. We have four major on-going projects that will continue through the academic year.
High Street will be partially imposed upon on from roughly 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12. A lift truck will occupy part of the street in connection with the Wilson Library construction. Traffic should be able to pass by each other, but it will be tight. Those performing maintenance, making deliveries or performing other tasks in the area should avoid parking across the street. The contractor will block it off early in the morning.
This is the seventh edition of my Desk Notes. I got a number of responses to my query as to whether I should continue with these Desk Notes through the academic year. The consensus seems to be that they furnish some good information or, failing that, a bit of a diversion in a busy day. That being the case, I will continue sending these out until the FCC intervenes. For those of you who have more than enough e-mail, please just hit “delete” when you see the Desk Notes subject or, better yet, set up a rule that automatically will send it to the trash bin.
Update: Due to the late arrival of the mechanical equipment, the date of the High Street closure has changed to Oct. 10. Earlier versions of this announcement had the date as Oct. 3.
The contractor working on the remodel of Wilson Library will need to completely close High Street through the WWU campus from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10. Both lanes will be closed to allow the contractor to hoist some mechanical equipment into the library.
About 30 union members staged a protest at Western Washington University to urge the school to use contractors that better meet "community standards."
Members of the Laborers' International Union of North America Local 276 specifically targeted the Buchanan Towers addition Wednesday, Sept. 23, near Bill McDonald Parkway. The addition is being built by Ebenal Construction of Bellingham.
About 30 union members staged a protest at Western Washington University to urge the school to use contractors that better meet "community standards."
Members of the Laborers' International Union of North America Local 276 specifically targeted the Buchanan Towers addition Wednesday, Sept. 23, near Bill McDonald Parkway. The addition is being built by Ebenal Construction of Bellingham.
People protesting against Ebenal General Inc., general contractor for Western’s Buchanan Towers residence hall addition, were in the area of the Buchanan Towers construction site on south campus this morning. The Laborers Union has a labor dispute with Ebenal.
This is the sixth edition of my “Desk Notes.” For those of you who have not been here this summer, the original concept of the “Desk Notes” was to give a little more insight to staff and faculty on the ongoing construction during the summer. I am uncertain whether I should continue through the academic year as I am acutely aware of the competition for the time and attention of the staff and faculty. On the other hand, I guess you can just hit “delete.” Let me know your thoughts.
This is the fifth edition of my "Desk Notes." One of the best parts of doing this bi-weekly memo is the feedback that I am getting from all over campus. Sometimes the feedback is not necessarily something that I like to hear, but it definitely is something that I need to hear. I try to make sure that each question gets answered by either me or my staff. If I have missed replying, please try again, as I may have missed some because of the amount of message traffic or a random spam filter that seems to be functioning in my computer with the sole purpose of driving me nuts.
A major renovation of Western Washington University's Miller Hall has begun to revitalize the aging building.
The $60.4 million project, funded by the state Legislature, will have at least 50 construction workers on the project for the next two years. Additional employment will be created by the project among suppliers of equipment and materials.
A major renovation of Western Washington University’s Miller Hall has begun and will revitalize the aging building.
The $60.4 million project, funded by the Washington State Legislature, will provide a boost to the local economy with at least 50 construction workers with well-paying jobs for the next two years. Additional employment will be created by the project among suppliers of equipment and materials.
Through the use of affordable construction materials and a streamlined design approach, the design team of Western Washington University’s new Academic Instructional Center in Bellingham has been able to deliver a building with a level of detail not typically found in academic projects.
The $50 million project houses the university’s department of psychology and department of communication sciences and disorders in two wings joined by a central covered passageway.
Beginning Tuesday, July 21, no parking will be allowed east and south of Miller Hall.
The contractor for the Miller Hall renovation project, Dawson Construction, will be installing the construction fence starting Tuesday. The fenced area is represented by the dotted line in the image to the right.
