R&O Construction began work this week on the new 63,000 square ft., three level office building for Woodbury Corporation at the University of Utah’s Research Park. Located at 630 Komas Drive, the building will have both office and laboratory space for at least two tenants. It is also designed for maximum energy efficiency. Komas is expected to be completed in December 2012.

AGC’s Platinum Safety award honors contractors with “Achievement of Safety Excellence” for safety ratings 25% below the national average. This is the third year in a row that R&O has achieved a platinum rating.

ABC presented R&O with a National Platinum “STEP” award for “Ongoing efforts in the Development of a Quality Safety Program”, and a Workplace Safety Award from the Utah Labor Commission and ABC Utah.

R&O’s has consistently maintained one the best safety ratings in the construction industry. They are headquartered in Ogden, Utah, with a regional office in Las Vegas, Nevada, and have projects in 18 states.

The ribbon was officially cut for the new State of Utah Workforce Services Department yesterday at 557 West State Street in Lehi, Utah. The general contractor is R&O Construction. In attendance were many from the Department of Workforce Services including the Executive Director Kristen Cox, Lehi Mayor, Bert Wilson and Lehi Chamber of Commerce President, Donna Milakovic. Raymond Caldwell, the Facilities Manager recognized R&O for their construction work, and meeting the project’s deadline. R&O workers worked Saturdays to accomplish the deadline, which meant the facility was completed in 132 days.

The attractive 7,890 square ft. building is owned by Ken Kelter and his partners, and the architect is Dixon & Associates.

Mike Holland was recently named Vice President of the Federal Division at R&O Construction. Mike has been with R&O Construction since 1998. Previously he worked as the Senior Estimator and Project Manager for R&O’s Federal Group. He graduated from Weber State University in Construction Management, and is a LEED® green associate. R&O is actively working on several federal projects located on three United States’ borders. Mike will oversee the project selection, estimating and operations of R&O’s federal projects as a business unit.

Mike Phillips was recently hired by R&O Construction as Vice President of Project Development. Mike brings 35 years of construction experience to the company. According to Slade Opheikens, Chief Operations Officer: “Mike Phillips will help us improve our project development approach focusing on conceptual estimating, budgets, and presentations on larger, complex projects, taking us to a higher level of service.”

R&O Construction began construction at the mall in 2008. To date, there has been 100,000 square feet of new and remodeled space included in the new construction, and all construction has been accomplished while the mall has remained open for business.

The theatre is expected to be completed this November.

The four story hotel has 124 suite-size rooms in a 72,581 square ft. building on a 2 ½ acre site. Amenities include a complimentary hot breakfast, pool, hot tub, and meeting space for large or small groups.

The awards are judged by the following criteria: 1) Overcoming challenges and teamwork; 2) Safety; 3) Innovation and contribution to the industry and community; 4) Construction quality and craftsmanship, and 5) Function and aesthetic quality of the design.

Accepting the award for Falcon Hill was Gary Stewart from Hunt Development, Travis Lish from Woodbury Corporation, Mark Davis from Architectural Nexus and Clint Costley and Will Haymond from R&O. The Harmon’s award was accepted by Frank Lundquist of Harmons, and Barbara Taylor and Jeff Hawks of R&O.

The AGC Utah is an organization of qualified construction contractors and industry related companies dedicated to skill, integrity, and responsibility.

During phase 1, R&O Construction completed the 35,000 square ft. security forces squadron building or SFS. All base security operations for Hill will be consolidated here with new office space and warehouse for the security vehicles, plus a centralized emergency communication center. The center is a joint operation between the base’s fire department, security forces and medical emergency response team. The SFS provides force protection, physical security, law enforcement and combat arms training for the five wings of the Ogden Air Logistics Center.

Also nearing completion by R&O is a five story office building to be occupied by Northrup Grumman plus a new west gate. R&O utilized Building Information Modeling or BIM in the office building for more efficient construction.

After the ribbon cutting ceremony, ground was broken on a new three story office building or Building 1580 which signals the beginning of the second phase that will be built just south of the Northrup Grumman facility, also to be constructed by R&O.

There were 61 entries in various categories and projects had to be located in any of the five states of the Mountain States region. Entries were judged on safety, how well they overcame challenges through the use of teamwork, innovation and their contribution to the community or the industry. Overall construction quality and craftsmanship were big factors as well.