During the last several decades, California has been making efforts to replace or retrofit aging and seismically unsafe structures to meet higher standards. At Conco our concrete services have been used to help out in these efforts. A project we had worked on several years ago was the new state-of-the-art University of California, Berkeley – Davis Hall that houses science and research facilities.
The project’s contractor was Hathaway-Dinwiddie, the architect was the Smith Group, Inc., and engineered by Forell/Elsesser Engineers. The cost of the new building was $18 million and is approximately 185,000 sq. ft. The expanded building now includes the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department as well as the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS).
According to the University’s website, CITRIS “was established to sponsor collaborative information technology education and research that will ultimately provide solutions to grand-challenge social and commercial problems affecting the quality of life of all Californians and others around the world.” The building includes nanofabrication facilities, labs, and classrooms. Some of the types of projects they are working on are technologically advanced medical alert sensors and information systems that will be used to respond to emergencies and disasters such as earthquakes.
California’s UC system has spent more than $1 billion since 1979 and the CSU system has spent more than $480 million on retrofitting buildings. The intent is to make buildings safer and reduce the risk of damage and injury in an earthquake. While it has been a huge undertaking, it is believed that the majority of buildings on California’s campuses pose only a minor risk of injuries or death in a major seismic event.
Conco is one of the leading commercial concrete contractors in Sacramento and has been delivering first-rate services in the area since 1959. We are experts at creating cost-effective solutions that take advantage of the most up-to-date techniques. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects and highways.