Construction Supplies San Diego

Two firms land $512M prison hospital contract

Award of the main portion of a new prison medical facility in Stockton - a contract worth about $512 million - will go to a joint venture of Clark Construction Group of Bethesda, Md., and McCarthy Building Cos. of St. Louis, state officials announced Tuesday.

The California Health Care Facility, Stockton, estimated to cost more than $900 million, will provide long-term care to 1,722 mentally and physically ill state prisoners when operational in 2013.

Officials say the two-year construction project could generate 5,500 temporary jobs, with as many as 1,700 construction workers on-site at one time. Once open, the 1.2 million-square-foot prison will employ 2,400 doctors, nurses and correctional staffers with an annual payroll of $220 million.

Clark/McCarthy is responsible for constructing housing for the facility's inmate patients, a diagnostics and treatment center, common areas and administrative support buildings - 33 buildings in all.

"It's a big day for us," said Bobby Hood, a representative for the joint venture, speaking from Clark's regional office in Oakland. Clark also has offices in Costa Mesa and San Diego, while McCarthy has regional offices in Sacramento, San Francisco and San Diego.

"Our team is committed to maximize the benefits of such a large, dynamic project for the city of Stockton and the surrounding communities," he said.

A project of such scope carries concerns for San Joaquin County, as well, which led local civic and business leaders to initially oppose its development and sue the state.

Douglass Wilhoit, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce, who helped raise objections over potential impacts on local government revenues, San Joaquin General Hospital, employment for area residents and the shortage of skilled medical personnel, said a settlement reached last year should resolve most concerns.

The agreement provides San Joaquin County as much as $1 million in sales taxes on construction equipment and supplies, and the state is paying to remodel a 25-bed unit at San Joaquin General to serve patients from the state prison system.

Wilhoit, who served as a non-voting member of the selection committee, said Clark/McCarthy proposed an outstanding local hiring program.

We Party Patriots » Blog Archive » San Diego's History Is the ...

This is a cross-post by Tom Lemmon, business manager of the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, that originally appeared in the San Diego Source …

San Diego’s history is the struggle for water. A century ago, one man became known as “Mr. Water” for his key role in bringing water to the arid region. History books credit Fred Heilbron for leading the charge for sustainable sources of water, through projects such as the El Capitan dam in Mission Gorge and the Colorado River Aqueduct, which made development possible in San Diego. What is less known about Fred Heilbron is that he was a plumber tradesman who founded the Plumbers Local 230.

Fred Heilbron’s vision did not end with securing sources of water for San Diego. He also created a skilled workforce that made San Diego proud of its sanitary health. In 1901, in response to unprecedented challenges in bringing water to the region, the plumbers and gasfitters of San Diego established the second apprenticeship program to be certified in the state of California. (What was California’s first certified apprenticeship program? Cigar rolling!)

The history of trained plumbing is tied to the history of our city itself. For their role in the development of the city, plumbers were honored at the 1921 Balboa Park Exposition. Six years later, journeymen plumbers of Local 230 aided in creating a modernized Indian Village in Balboa Park, with workmen’s services donated to provide sanitation and an outdoor bathing pool. The result was an innovative system of water supplied by three lines into what was then the largest outdoor swimming pool in San Diego.

Heilbron’s legacy lives on in San Diego’s thriving business-labor partnerships for workforce training. Today, more than 200 apprentices in San Diego are being trained under a state-of-the-art curriculum jointly designed by contractors and the trades. This is part of a $100 million yearly effort by the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing, Pipefitting, Sprinkler Fitting Industry (UA) to train 100,000 tradesmen in North America. With a network of 400 training facilities, the trades are able to meet any need, equipped with a work ethic to do it right the first time.

Although technology changes over time, the basic needs of sanitary water, sewer and ventilation systems do not change. Plumbers and steamfitters are skilled, trained crafts-workers who install, maintain and service all plumbing, process piping, vacuum, oxygen, natural gas, hydraulic heating, refrigeration, air conditioning and cooling systems, as well as the industrial instrumentation and the sophisticated automatic control systems that control these processes.

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