On Feb. 22, the Mission Rock Parcel F team celebrated topping out the level 6 "Mesa" podium, pouring out level 1 built-up slab (BUS), and completing trade coordination early with a classic Webcor BBQ featuring our custom-made grill and trailer. Nearly 200 team members from Webcor Builders, Webcor Concrete, Webcor Drywall, Webcor Carpentry, PSG, ISI, Marelich, CEI, CMI, Spencer Masonry, Alliance, Clark Pacific, and Air Systems gathered for the topping out celebration at the waterfront project site in the heart of San Francisco's rapidly developing Mission Rock neighborhood.

"We're proud to share that the recent atmospheric river events did not pose any delays-in fact, we were able to accelerate our schedule from 6-day cycles to 4-5-day cycles," says Project Manager, Concrete Kenny Hua. "It's a powerful reflection of One Webcor's impact and the way we blend our roles and responsibilities as a unified team across multiple Webcor divisions."

During the BBQ, Kenny and Sr. Superintendent, Concrete Sergio Valencia congratulated attendees on the excellent teamwork performed amongst all trade partners/companies involved and thanked them for keeping the project site clean and organized throughout construction. "We look forward to finishing the project strong-safely and on schedule," Kenny says.

Parcel F is one of two projects Webcor's delivering for Mission Rock Partners, the second being Mission Rock Horizontal-Street Improvement Package (SIP) & China Basin Park (CBP). Parcel F expects to achieve LEED Gold® certification. Once complete, the 315,000-square-foot, 254-unit residential tower will offer 96 below-market rate apartments and ample amenity and retail space. The building's podium-aka the Mesa-creates multiple terrace levels that overlook the lively public space, cultivating an open community atmosphere.

A long-awaited groundbreaking took place at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose on Wednesday with several Webcor representatives in attendance.

Webcor is the general contractor for the Child, Adolescent, and Adult Behavioral Health Services Center, a 77-bed inpatient behavioral health facility that will also include outpatient urgent care for minors and adults, emergency psychiatric services, a pharmacy, administrative offices, and a pedestrian skyway bridge connecting to the existing emergency department.

The groundbreaking ceremony featured remarks by several dignitaries, many of whom focused on the mental health crisis that has been declared in Santa Clara Valley. County Supervisor Joe Simitan, who has been advocating for the facility for eight years, noted that children attending the same high school from which he graduated are experiencing mental health crises but have nowhere to go nearby. They and their parents wait hours in an emergency room before an ambulance transports them to facilities as far away as Vallejo and Sacramento. Parents are left to pay thousands of dollars for ambulance transportation because liability rules prevent them from driving their children to these facilities.

Simitan also noted that teen suicides are a growing problem in the area, highlighting the need for the facility. What is now a hole in the ground, he said, "will soon be the kind of acute care center we've so long needed, right here, close to home."

Michael Elliott, president and executive director of the Valley Medical Center Foundation, said there were two things of which he was sure the day the building opens. "The building will be state of the art, and things we can't anticipate will be needed." To ensure those unanticipated needs can be met quickly, he said, an endowment is being established.

Among Webcor representatives attending the groundbreaking were Executive Vice President Jit Pahilajani, Senior Vice President Tom Taylor, and Vice President Tolga Acar.

Highlights of the groundbreaking are covered in the SCVMC video below; you can also read architect/designer HGA's detailed account of the groundbreaking.

By Shayne Chun, Webcor Senior Project Engineer

The New Hospital at UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights (NHPH) is being developed in a collaborative culture with a team of designers, builders, and the client through an Integrated Form Of Agreement (IFOA) approach. The Herrero Boldt Webcor (HBW), a tri-venture partnership between Herrero Builders, Inc., The Boldt Company, and Webcor, is the general contractor partner for the NHPH. The Site Make Ready (SMR) projects consist of over 20 projects, in addition to the new hospital, which range from $400,000 to $20 million.

For this update, we would like to highlight our SMR 1 deep sewer relocation project that utilizes a jack and bore operation (a trenchless method of underground utility construction) for the sewer installation. This project relocates a main sewer line that runs through the future hospital site. It is a particularly challenging project, as it's up to 30 feet deep on an active road and next to an active hospital.

To execute this work, the team had to use the jack and bore. This jack and bore method utilizes an auger bore machine, steering heads, a crane, welding machines/generators, and a bentonite pump to install 36"x10' steel casings for 18-inch Combined Sewer and Sanitary (CSS) installation on Medical Center Way.

The jack and bore method for sewer construction commences with the excavation and shoring of a launch pit and receiving pit to the required depths. For this particular jack and bore operation, the launch pit is 29 feet deep and the receiving pit is 27 feet deep. With the completion of the excavation and installation of the slide rail shoring system, the ground in the launch pit gets leveled to set the auger bore machine rail.

Next, the auger bore machine gets hoisted down into the launch pit. The actual jack and bore operation begins by drilling a hole horizontally to place the steel casings at the bottom of the launch pit to the receiving pit. Once the casing is jacked in place, the augers are removed from inside the casing tunnel. The pressure grout operation follows next to secure the steel casing in place.

When the casings are in place and secured, the 18-inch PVC CSS is installed through the steel casings to the receiving pit from the launch pit. The pictures above demonstrate the installation of the 18-inch PVC CSS in the launch pit to the receiving pit on Medical Center Way.

The jack and bore operation for the CSS installation on Medical Center Way is certainly challenging with unforeseen conditions under the ground, but it's also a unique way of installing the CSS line when it cannot be trenched.