CCERF Presents Annual Partnering, Friend of Education Awards

The California Construction Education & Research Foundation presented a special Friend of Construction Education Award along with two Excellence in Partnering awards during AGC of California's Awards Banquet earlier this month in San Francisco.

Bob Earl, a Northern California construction industry veteran of over 30 years, received the Friend of Construction Education Award. The award recognizes contractors and individuals who have made significant contributions and investments in developing the construction workforce.

Earl is a licensed civil engineer and founder of Earl Construction Co., which he sold to Sundt Construction Inc., and from which he recently retired. He currently heads Earl Consulting Co. LLC, which provides consulting services to the real estate and construction industries.

Earl has been an active member of the California State University, Sacramento Construction Management Industry Advisory Board for 24 years. He is a founding member and the current president of the Sacramento Construction Management Education Foundation. In addition to his involvement in these supporting bodies, Earl also has been teaching the Sacramento State Construction Management Program's Capstone Class for the last 11 years and, prior to that, spent four years as a volunteer lecturer. Through these efforts, Earl has influenced and motivated dozens of construction students to become successful construction professionals.

CCERF's Excellence in Partnering Awards are designed to recognize successful projects that come in on or ahead of schedule, under budget with high quality and excellent safety records, despite unforeseen challenges, due to a successful commitment to partnering, innovation and teamwork.

Two project teams received the Excellence in Partnering Awards this year: the team from McCarthy Building Cos. that constructed the Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian Sue & Bill Gross Women's Pavilion in Newport Beach, and the project team from Caltrans, MCM Construction Inc. and O.C. Jones that constructed the Highway 37/29 Interchange in Solano County.

Sue and Bill Gross Women's Pavilion

The $212 million Sue and Bill Gross Women's Pavilion is the first major construction project on the Hoag Hospital campus in over 20 years. The jobsite was located on the east side of the existing medical campus in an open area and at the hospital's main entrance, which was relocated during construction. The site was surrounded with operational buildings on three sides and the primary hospital entry road on the other.

The project team encountered a host of construction challenges on the project, and yet completed it 60 days early and $1 million under budget with an outstanding safety record. A strong partnering strategy was the primary driver behind the success of this technologically and logistically challenging project. Goal setting was fundamental to the partnering process.

Early on in construction, the team encountered a significant challenge when Hoag Hospital decided to redesign the first floor by adding an MRI unit while steel erection was already underway. To meet the challenge, the team established a partnering goal and then devised strategies to accommodate those changes while still delivering the project early. That feat among others demonstrated the true partnering spirit on the job.

Route 37/29 Interchange Project

Partnering also played a major role in the success of the Route 37/29 Interchange project, constructed by contractors MCM Construction Inc. and O.C. Jones. The interchange in Vallejo is the principal arterial highway from Highway 101 near Novato in Marin County to Interstate 80 in Vallejo-Solano County. This major project was set in a highly congested area with complex construction and traffic control staging plans.
Extensive coordination, cooperation and open communication by all project stakeholders proved vital to the project's success.

Commitment to partnering at all levels was exceptional. Subcontractors, local businesses, local governments, permitting agencies, law enforcement and the media were informed and involved with the construction. The project motto was "No problem cannot be resolved." As a result, the project finished on time and under budget for Caltrans and the contractor, without a single claim and with an excellent safety record. Innovation and cost reduction incentive proposals resulted in more than $450,000 in savings to Caltrans and the taxpayers.