14 May United Construction is Honored During Northern Nevada’s 19th Annual PINNACLE Awards
RENO, Nev. — Northern Nevada’s construction community showcased its best work of the past year at the annual PINNACLE Awards, sponsored by the Nevada Chapter AGC.
The Projects In Northern Nevada Achieving Construction Leadership Excellence, or PINNACLE Awards program, was established in 1999 to honor the “Best of the Best” in Northern Nevada construction projects; recognizing construction leadership, excellence and community spirit.
Independent judges from the Utah AGC Chapter, measured entries based on safety, craftsmanship, challenges met, client relations, innovation and “green” building practices. Projects must have been completed during the 2017 calendar year.
General Engineering Construction and Building Construction projects vie separately for the PINNACLE Award in two divisions: under and over $5 million. Specialty Contractors vie for the PINNACLE in the over and under $500,000 $500,000 category.
United Construction received an award for Building Contractors under $5 million: Meeting the Challenge of a Difficult Job for the University Studies Abroad Consortium Annex.
Foot and auto traffic congestion. Unforeseen soil issues. Spikes in material prices. Such were the challenges, and more, overcome by United Construction in building the three-story, 11,631-square-foot office structure in the core of the University of Nevada, Reno’s main thoroughfare.
Situated on the west side of North Virginia Street across from Nightingale Concert Hall, the University Studies Abroad Consortium Annex presented United with changing land elevations that required exterior design adjustments, notably increasing the top floor by three inches to compensate.
Additionally, the site featured heavy clay soil that required mass excavation and the addition of a retaining wall with soil nailing and helical piers. United worked closely with geotechnical consultants to ensure that the retaining wall supported the soil of adjacent properties as well.
Then came a significant escalation in the price of materials, in some cases by 30 percent. One of the building’s interior finishes was to be a wood composite, and the cost swelled by more than $30,000. United worked closely with USAC the architect, Van Woert Bigotti, to find an alternative cedar product at a more reasonable price but with a similar visual impact.
Their teamwork shows in a the iconic stature of the final product which was completed in August 2017 at a cost of $3.8 million.