Construction Dive’s Friday Punch List is a series dedicated to sharing major building headlines that contractors may have missed from the week.
Coming off a holiday weekend, construction saw a lot of major industry news this week.
Buckling columns on a New York City office-to-apartment conversion job caused evacuations and emergency shoring work, and Turner Construction won a $282 million contract to build an arena for a minor league hockey team.
But that’s not all. Read on for more news construction pros should know about.
San Francisco Bay Area bridge to get a $107.5 million makeover
San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge was the center of attention for the area’s 4th of July celebration, but not for the right reasons. Fireworks launched from the span’s iconic towers were quickly enveloped by fog and the bridge’s closure resulted in hours of gridlock.
Meanwhile, a lesser-known Bay Area bridge was getting ready for its own close up. The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge will soon get a total makeover, according to Certified Coatings Company.
The Fairfield, California-based firm on Monday announced a $107.5 million award from Caltrans to paint and repair the bridge, the biggest award in the company’s history. CCC, a subsidiary of Hamburg, Germany-based Muehlhan Industrial Service, said it submitted the lowest of five competing bids.
Scope includes a full abrasive blast and repaint of navigation spans and 29 bridge towers on a 5.5-mile section. The double-deck cantilever bridge carries I-580 across San Pablo Bay, connecting Richmond and San Rafael. Originally opened in 1956, it is one of the most heavily traveled and structurally complex bridges in California, according to the release.
The job is CCC’s third project on the crossing to date.
—Joe Bousquin
Jacobs wins multiyear contract for military facilities upgrades
The Navy’s engineering and facilities command tapped Jacobs to deliver architectural and engineering services for Navy and Marine Corps installations in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia, according to a company news release.
The Dallas-based firm will plan and design new buildings, as well as provide upgrades to existing facilities for the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Washington. Scope also includes improvements to infrastructure such as utilities, roads and site systems, according to the release.
Jacobs will deliver the work under an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity single-award task order contract. The firm did not disclose the contract’s value.
“Jacobs has extensive experience supporting the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps with military facilities that are safe, reliable and built to perform in secure environments,” Susannah Kerr, Jacobs executive vice president, said in the release. “By improving how these installations operate and connect to essential infrastructure, this program will help bases meet current operational demands and adapt to future mission requirements.”
—Sebastian Obando
Skanska pens $94M deal for Virginia data center
Skanska signed a $94 million contract with an existing client to build a data center in Virginia, the Stockholm-based builder announced Tuesday.
The work is for a new building on an existing campus. The single-story, 190,000-square-foot facility will contain four colocation data halls and electrical, mechanical, civil, telecom and security systems. The project has a designed capacity of 38.4 megawatts.
Skanska has built in the state before, winning a $242 million contract in 2024, also from an undisclosed client. It is unclear if the two projects are related at this stage.
In September, the contractor combined its data center construction team with its semiconductor group to better meet demand in both sectors. The goal was to create mobile groups of subject matter experts to expand Skanska’s technical expertise across the regions where it builds.
Work on the new job will begin in October and is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2028.
—Zachary Phillips
Balfour Beatty invests in VC fund
London-based infrastructure giant Balfour Beatty has invested 10 million pounds ($13.4 million) in Pi Labs, a venture capital fund focused on the built environment, the contractor announced on Tuesday.
Pi Labs, which was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in London, has made more than 100 investments spread across 15 countries, according to the announcement. It gives firms access to a pipeline of early stage startups across fields such as artificial intelligence, data and robotics.
Balfour Beatty plans to use the investment to improve the firm’s access to emerging tech that could improve productivity, delivery certainty, safety and performance across its major infrastructure initiatives. Using Pi Labs’ connection to early-stage startups, the contractor will look to find relevant innovations sooner and build targeted partnerships, per the announcement.
“Our investment in Pi Labs will give us earlier access to entrepreneurs and technologies that could improve delivery, build capability and capacity and create long-term value,” said Philip Hoare, Balfour Beatty’s CEO, in the news release. “This is a strategic investment in practical innovation, focused on the partnerships and insight our key markets need for the years ahead.”
—Matthew Thibault
