New Mexico's Souder Miller & Associates is aggressively expanding with the addition of six new staff members.

The firm hired Thomas Long as a staff scientist. He holds a bachelor's degree in geology from the University of Mississippi.

Cesar Ramos was hired as a senior engineer. With 25 years of experience, he holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas, El Paso.

Loal G. Tucker was hired as a civil engineering designer. Tucker holds an associate's degree in civil engineering applications from the Universal Technical Institute in Phoenix.

David Rogers has also joined SMA as a civil engineering designer. He received two bachelor degrees from the University of New Mexico in civil engineering and biology.

Jerry May is coming on board as a senior engineer and project manager. He has 20 years of experience and holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of New Mexico and an associate's degree in drafting and design from a Florida college.

Yvette Lopez is a new staff geoscientist and project manager. She holds a degree in geology from New Mexico State University.

Robert Grubbs AIA has joined the architecture, engineering, surveying, and planning firm of CLC Associates. Grubbs, with a 25-year history in planning, architecture, and construction, will serve as a project manager and a senior project architect for the firm.

He is accomplished in retail, commercial, mixed-use, and residential development, with his experience ranging from the $122 million Jimmy Connors Tennis Ranch, located in Henderson, Nev. to the planning of a major master planned resort to be located on the Cozumel, Mexico waterfront.

CFA Inc., a Northern Nevada planning and engineering firm, recently hired Paul Moss, as a civil designer and Kenny Liao as a landscape designer.

Paul Moss graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Brigham Young University. He has more than four years experience in the civil engineering field and worked as an engineering intern for a firm in Virginia.

Kenny Liao received his Master's degree from the University of Texas at Arlington in Landscape Architecture in 2004. He worked as a graduate teaching assistant for the School of Architecture at the University of Texas and was a research assistant while attending Taiwan University in the Agricultural Engineering Department, where is received his Master's degree in Agricultural Engineering.

Matthew Motil and Josh Bunting recently joined Sundt Construction's heavy civil division.

Motil is a new project engineer and a 2002 graduate of the University of Toledo with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering.

Bunting is a new field engineer and a 2004 graduate of Oklahoma State University with a bachelor of science in construction management.

Oakview Construction recently announced that Gretchen Amsbaugh is the new director of business development.

The firm also recently hired Jeff Casale as a project manager.

The Nevada Contractors Association, a nonprofit trade group, named Justin Fenton as the inaugural recipient of its annual Howdy Wells Memorial Scholarship Award.

Fenton, a junior engineering student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, will receive a $1,000 stipend to cover his expenses over the next year. The newly created scholarship is named after NCA's founder, Howard "Howdy" Wells, Jr., chairman of Well Cargo Construction.

HDR Engineering, Inc. has named Laurie Roden president of its construction services subsidiary, HDR Construction Control Corporation.
She works out of the company's Phoenix office.

Roden has more than 19 years of experience in marketing and managing construction services. She has held positions of increasing responsibility within
HDR since 1999, most recently as vice president and manager of construction services for the western United States.

Company News

Ribbon Cut On Davis County's Tallest Building

Opening of Renaissance Medical Centre Marks Completion
of Phase 2 of Mixed-Use Development in Davis County

Renaissance Towne Centre, a mixed-use development that will combine retail, entertainment, restaurants, recreation, office and medical buildings, announced the official opening of the new Renaissance Medical Centre in mid November.

The opening marks completion of the second phase of the development - the largest private construction project in Davis County - which is revitalizing the former site of Five Points Mall in Bountiful.

The five story, 110,000 square-foot Renaissance Medical Centre, which is the tallest building in Davis County, is over 85 percent leased with more than 30 physicians and medical practioners representing various practices including orthopedics, ophthalmology, plastic and cosmetic surgery, dermatology with in-suite esthetics, pediatric dentistry, and physical therapy. The Renaissance Medical Centre also houses a full service pharmacy and an imaging center.

The new facility includes the MountainWest Surgical Center which features the four operating rooms for outpatient surgical procedures. The Surgical Center is managed by Nueterra Healthcare, a leading national manager of ambulatory facilities.

The structure also includes 493 parking spots over three levels, which patrons will be able to access from the South, East and West with the recent completion of a new access road.

The Renaissance Medical Centre was designed in a similar approach to the Huntsman Cancer Hospital. The Medical Centre was designed to provide a warm and welcoming environment void of the institutional feel that is common in most Utah medical facilities. The building's interior design team, from Babcock Design, and architects, from Schiel Architects, worked with general contractor, Okland Construction, to masterfully create a welcoming atmosphere including exterior elevator lobbies that offer views of the city to the East. There also are wood-paneled walls and stylish suites uniquely designed by the tenants.

The first stage of the Renaissance Towne Centre was completed in September 2003 with the opening of the 45,000 square-foot Xcel Spa & Fitness Center. After the retail stores, entertainment facilities, office buildings and recreational space are completed, health care providers will represent approximately 17 percent of the development's total occupants.

Roger Knight Construction has just completed construction of the building shell and site for the first Hollywood Video in Chubbuck, a suburb of Pocatello, Idaho. Developer of the 6,045 square foot, free-standing building located at 4809 Yellowstone Avenue is Salt Lake City-based Chubbuck DME, LLC. Architectural firm is Dixon & Associates, also of Salt Lake City. The new Hollywood Video building was handed over for outfitting on October 11, 2004.

Boise State Begins "Green" Improvements

The blue-and-orange Bronco campus is going ³green.² Energy system improvements all over campus at Boise State University are underway to make the university a showcase of energy management and to enhance the learning environment and overall comfort.

³This project is one of the single largest steps forward in Boise State¹s energy conservation program, said Einar Norton, P.E., assistant director of Facilities, Operation and Maintenance at Boise State.

The energy conservation measures are revenue-neutral, meaning that the guaranteed cost-avoided energy savings pay for the project over a prescribed period of time. The project, referred to as an Energy Performance Contract or PC in engineering terms, is a partnership between Boise State University and Siemens Building Technologies Inc. Energy Services and Solutions.

The PC includes approximately $8 million worth of facility improvements to the lighting, heating and cooling systems, water regulation and other energy/utility systems throughout the campus. The retrofit and installation projects will span about 15 months, from September 2004 through December 2005.

Providing a boost to the local economy, Siemens will employ mainly Idaho contractors for the campus projects. ³Keeping Idaho¹s money in Idaho is one of the key benefits provided by this project, said Norton.

Covering approximately 2 million square feet of facilities and 35 buildings, a few samples of the energy conservation measures included are: