Organized Labor

While there are no cranes towering over the building to signal a major construction job is in progress, work at the historic building at 50 UN Plaza is expected to generate a considerable number of jobs for construction workers in San Francisco. Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co. has begun work on what may be one of the largest construction projects in the city this year.

The San Francisco-based company was selected as general contractor on the $121 million upgrade of 50 UN Plaza. The project is funded by the economic stimulus package enacted by Congress in the February 2009 – American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Hathaway Dinwiddie describes the project: “The 50 United Nations Plaza Renovation project includes an historic renovation, seismic retrofit, and interior reconfiguration of the existing structure. Renovation work will include a seismic upgrade, high-performance energy efficiency and accessibility improvements, and installation of new electrical, heating, and plumbing systems.

Interior spaces will also be reconfigured to create more efficient office space.”

The six-story 50 UN Plaza has been vacant since 2007 and will remain unoccupied during the renovation, which will be completed in late 2013 or early 2014. When the renovation is complete, 50 UN Plaza will be occupied by the General Services Administration Region 9 offices, which are currently located in the Phillip Burton Federal Building at 450 Golden Gate Avenue.

Organized Labor was recently given a tour of the site by Hathaway Dinwiddie’s Senior Vice President of Operations, Pat Callahan, and Senior Project Manager Carolyn Wolf, along with GSA’s Regional Public Affairs Officer Gene Gibson and the project’s Superintendent Pete Hicks, a member of Carpenters Local 217. Work was in progress on the first phase of the job, which began in January and will continue until the end of May.

Silverado Contractors, Inc. is the subcontractor for the selective demolition, including exposing some interiors structural sections and removing floor tiles and material on some of the interior columns; Sterling Environmental Corp. is the subcontractor for hazardous materials abatement. Other contractors on Phase I include Security Management Group International; A.S.F. Electric, Inc.; Marelich Mechanical and Potter Fire Protection, Inc.

Because of the age of the building, floor tiles include asbestos or vinyl and much of the paint is lead-based. The Laborers union members began on the sixth floor and have moved down through the building, sealing off offices and removing the hazardous materials, which are then bagged, sealed and stored in a covered waste bin for transport to a hazardous waste facility.

Gene Gibson of the GSA explained that because the building is a historic structure, the integrity of the building’s original elements like doors, stairways, hardware, fixtures and windows must be preserved. In order to do the abatement work, doors are removed and stored, and the stairways and railings are covered. A crew of carpenters is removing interior doors, which are catalogued and stored in a temperature controlled basement room; many of the doors will be re-installed after other interior work is completed.

Callahan said that the seismic work will consist of installing six or eight sheer walls inside to strengthen the building. He said Hathaway Dinwiddie did similar work in the mid-1990s for PG&E on their Market Street headquarters.

Callahan said that after the first phase of the project is completed, a design team will finalize the design and Phase II would begin in November. He said that over the three year span of the project between 500 and 600 construction jobs would be generated, with four times that amount working for suppliers off site. “We hope to touch a couple of thousand people through this project,” he said.

The design team consists of HKS Architects and Architectural Resources Group. The building was originally designed by Arthur Brown Jr.—the architect of San Francisco’s City Hall and three other landmark Civic Center buildings. It was built between 1934 and 1936 and served as a federal building. A plaque just inside the lobby notes that the building was erected during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who created millions of jobs during the New Deal in the 1930’s.

According to an article on the California Construction website, “The building and its environs have a long history in the city. In 1906, after an earthquake decimated San Francisco and destroyed more than 28,000 buildings, the city rebuilt and adopted a plan for a civic center, first developed in 1899 by English architect B.J.S. Cahill, to consolidate government buildings into a central location.

The last building completed for the San Francisco Civic Center, the federal building was a critical component of the seven-building complex that included government buildings, a library, and an opera house. The civic center design incorporates City Beautiful planning, a concept that relies on Beaux Arts design principles and classically inspired, monumental architecture. San Francisco’s Civic Center is one of the nation’s most successful examples of the City Beautiful movement.”

The current remodel will retain the exterior in its current state and keep much of the historic integrity of the interior intact. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

While preserving the historically significant building, the contractor will also use sustainable design and construction principles to pursue LEED Gold or Platinum certification. The 50 UNP project will result in a high-performance green building incorporating many sustainable design strategies, such as a photovoltaic panels, an ultra-efficient mechanical system, reduced electrical loads, and environmentally friendly materials, and is slated to achieve LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Carolyn Wolf said the building would be cooled through natural ventilation and would also use natural light. The building surrounds a small courtyard and the design allows for cross ventilation. New windows will be more energy efficient while retaining the historic design.

Hathaway Dinwiddie will have information on the pre-qualification process for contractors on their website. Contractors will be needed for reinforcing steel, miscellaneous metals and stairs, HVAC, historical elevator restoration, plumbing, fire protection, electrical, telecommunications, metal roofs and roofing.
Callahan said that under general union rules and city requirements, for every member of his crew that job superintendent Pete Hicks brings in he hires one city resident. Callahan said that while Hathaway Dinwiddie isn’t a signatory to master agreements with some building trades unions, “We use union labor and union contractors.”

He said that he hoped to a have Project Labor Agreement in place before Phase II starts in November. “We want this to be an all-union project,” he said.
The GSA’s Gibson said that the $121 million project is one of several her agency is working on from Hawaii to Puerto Rico, that are funded by the federal stimulus program. She said that the GSA was awarded $5.5 billion in funding, with $500 million being spent in the western region that includes California, Hawaii and Arizona. She said the UN Plaza project was “a good example of what’s going on with ARRA money. It probably would not have happened without the federal stimulus dollars.”