Dive Brief:
- Property Group Partners (PGP) announced Wednesday that it has awarded Balfour Beatty a $196 million contract for the North Block Phase of its Capitol Crossing Development in Washington, DC.
- Balfour Beatty will build 960,000 square feet of mixed-use office space divided between two 12-story buildings, which will be connected by a glass bridge. The first building will feature 25,000 square feet of retail and 410,000 square feet of mixed-use space.
- PGP said the entire Capitol Crossing project, which is located on top of a three-block elevated deck over I-395, will be the first "eco-district" in Washington, DC. Project officials also indicated that the development would exceed LEED Platinum requirements.
Dive Insight:
PGP plans to use EcoChimneys, which are made of plants that can filter garage exhaust. Green roofs, water recapture systems and a cogeneration plant that can produce electricity and heat at the same time are also elements of the project.
The developer also said that Balfour Beatty will use lean and the most current construction technologies — such as building information modeling, GPS equipment and RFID chips in workers' hardhats — to comply with the project's "progressive" environmental design.
Earlier this month, Caltrain announced that it had awarded Balfour Beatty a $697 million contract for the electrification of 52 miles of railway. The project is not only expected to meet the system's current ridership demands, which are currently 125% of capacity, but it will lay the groundwork for future use by the California High-Speed Rail Authority's bullet train, which will connect Southern and Northern California.
The Caltrain contract marks Balfour Beatty's biggest project in the U.S. to date. CEO Leo Quinn said that Balfour Beatty is positioned for success because of its extensive experience with "complex rail projects," but experts are also looking at the major project as a way for the company to make up some lost ground due to recent losses inits U.K. business unit.
