UEB Project News: The Hub at Tucson - Going Vertical

Work continues on The Hub at Tucson student housing/mixed use project adjacent to the main gate at the campus of the University of Arizona. The building will be a 13 story, 297,931 sf cast in place concrete structure with 167 residential units/592 beds planned with ground floor commercial space and an above grade parking garage. The building is on schedule to be topped out by Thanksgiving and will be ready for the students to move in for the Fall 2014 semester. The project architect is Antunovich Associates.

UEB's Dallas Office Hosts Open House Event

UEB’s spectacular growth is owed to the continued support of our clients, family and friends.  The evening of June 6th did not only celebrate seven years of building on great design, but the folks that have made it possible to nurture the passion and dedication UEB aims to keep alive in the building process.  Through relationships, education and collaboration, UEB looks forward to many more years in contributing to the field of design and construction.   

Georgetown Behavioral Health Institute in Georgetown, Texas Officially Breaks Ground

UEB is excited to join Signature Healthcare Services, GLMVArchitecture, CCRD and San Gabriel Project Management in constructing the second inpatient/outpatient behavioral health facility in Georgetown, Texas.   The Georgetown Behavioral Health Institute will be a 73,500 square foot hospital with 118 beds offering specialized services to all ages as well as active military members and veterans.   The facility located at 3101 S. Austin Avenue is anticipated to open in spring 2014 bringing approximately 300 jobs to the Georgetown community.  

UEB Project News – Time-lapse of Tilt Wall Construction - SWFA Outdoors, Midlothian, TX

The video is a time lapse video illustrating the process UEB Builders recently took erecting tilt wall panels on the SWFA Outdoors project. The white exterior consists of temporary form liners holding the inset thin bricks. With the form liner technology in tilt wall construction, it is an obvious advantage over standard masonry construction when justified by a larger scale project. Typical advantages of Tilt Wall Construction (sometimes called Tilt-Up Construction):

• Form liners allow intricate masonry designs in concrete tilt wall construction without the time and cost of a standard masonry facade.
• Tilt wall is cost effective for large buildings, as repetitive walls can be formed and cast quickly.
• Tilt wall concrete is extremely durable. Many structures built in the 40’s are still in operation today.
• The fire resistance of even the most demanding building codes are met with tilt wall construction.
• The strength and control afforded by tilt up concrete walls allows for a very secure facility.
• Both temperature and sound insulation properties are better than other standard building types.
• Savings in construction cost typically improve even more as the scale of the building increases.
• Excellent application for warehouses, storage facilities, retail stores, office buildings, and education facilities and schools.

How does thin brick work?

Form liners accept thin brick (masonry) inserts. Thin bricks are actual bricks, but are less than an inch thick. When the concrete panel is poured the thin brick is inset in the panel. When raised, the panel looks as if it is a standard brick wall.

The two story building for SWFA Outdoors in Midlothian, TX was designed by GSO Architects and is scheduled to open October of 2013.

UEB Employee Summer Event Series Off To A Great Start!

The UEB Summer Event Series started out on a spectacular night in June with both offices enjoying Classic Rock Bands, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. The Dallas office celebrated their Team Event night at the Dallas Arboretum rocking the night away to the Rolling Stones Tribute Band. The Scottsdale office cranked it up at The Desert Botanical Garden to the Beatles Tribute Band. What an outstanding night of great music, fun, food, and UEB Team Building! 

Looking forward to many more to come!

Community Spotlight: UEB participates in McKinney's Christ Fellowship Church Memorial

UEB is very proud to participate in the design-build and installation of the Dick Best Memorial Cross that was set in place recently on the Christ Fellowship Church. UEB was more than pleased to participate with GSR Andrade Architects, JQ Engineering, and church officials to work with a finite budget comprised of donations. The top of the cross stands 63 feet off the ground, and spans nearly 50 feet in length.

The memorial and dedication service will be held on June 16^th at the church service as a memorial to the late Mr. Dick Best. Christ Fellowship (formerly McKinney Fellowship) held its first public service on March 16, 1997. The church has grown considerably over the years as they have served their community, and now they are located on 48 acres in the heart of McKinney.

UEB Rolls Out the Tardis System!

From an Information Technology point of view temporary construction trailers and offices can pose major connectivity challenges. With the methods of construction leaving the printed pages of plans and heaps of paper in the past, more and more employees at the job site need dependable access to company files and resources.

The UEB IT department is proud to announce the TARDIS box. This self-contained, all in one networking box is the result of months of planning and development. It contains all the necessary pieces of network and infrastructure hardware needed to maintain a well-connected job site trailer. Featuring enterprise grade Wi-Fi, routing and automatic VPN establishment to a central UEB office, as well as many other handy and critical features.

By combining all of these components into one box we can simplify setup of trailers, so we can get working faster, and ensure high reliability so we can see the job through to the end.

UEB Project News - The Yard’s First Restaurant, Culinary Dropout is a Smashing Success

The grand opening of The Yard’s first restaurant, Culinary Dropout, was marked as Fox Restaurants Concept’s busiest opening week in the history of the company’s restaurant openings.  The Yard, which previously housed old Ducatis and Kawasakis, is now a newly transformed space inviting community members to dine and relax.  The ability to the see the potential of the previous motorcycle garage and  identify the value in repurposing the space into a community dining and gathering destination was a vision accomplished through the joint efforts of WDP Partners, Fox Restaurant Concepts, RSP Architects, TKI and UEB.

UEB Breaks Ground on New Legacy ER & Urgent Care in Allen, Texas

The official groundbreaking for Legacy ER & Urgent Care in Allen was held on March 21, 2013. The freestanding emergency room and urgent care center will have three emergency department exam rooms, two trauma rooms, five urgent care exam rooms, an on-site laboratory and a radiology suite complete with CT scan.  Wonderful support for this exciting event came from many members of the community including  Allen Chamber of Commerce, 5G Architects as well as Legacy ER & Urgent Care friends and family.  UEB is hard at work with plans to have the Legacy ER & Urgent Care doors open by fall 2013.

2013 UEB Hoops Tournament Results

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Annual UEB March Madness Hoops Tournament and made this year fun and entertaining! This tournament was a success thanks to you!

Congratulations to Kaitlin Signoretto for winning First Place and scoring a $150 gift card to Amazon! We would also like to Congratulate Sandy Voyles for winning Second Place and a $50 gift card to Target! Third place belongs to Jayson Boyse who was awarded a signed basketball from the UEB Estimating Department. You are "the man" Jay!

Final Results:

1.  Kaitlin Signoretto 95.5

2.  Sandy Voyles 83.9

3.  Jayson Boyse73.8

4.  Shane Keilty 72.3

5.  Tom Keilty 70.5

6.  Conor Keilty 52.5

7.  Joe Funk 52.5

8.  Sergio De Araujo 51.2

9.  Ripley Mack 34.2

10.  Cedric Robinson 31.7

11.  Matt Blanchard 29.3

12.  Mike Partridge 24.4

13.  Tara Helming 19.9

14.  Kelli Smart 19.9

15.  Dori Bang 19.9

16.  Justin Miller 17.8

17.  Garth Bryner 3.9

18.  Nick Crutchfield 1.5

19.  Justin Wilson 0.0

20.  Julie Wilson 0­­.0

Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

Cold beer, warm sun, beautiful people, tasty food...oh, and there was baseball too. On a glorious Thursday afternoon UEB hosted a group outing at Scottsdale Stadium to watch the World Champion San Francisco Giants play the Japanese National team. The event was hosted at the amazing Charro Lodge which is run by the The Scottsdale Charros, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening our community by providing support and funding for youth programs, educational scholarships and grants to local charities. A great time was had by all!

Check out the Slide Show!

UEB Announces Fitness and Wellness Challenge

Personal fitness and wellness are inseparable and core values of UEB’s culture. The evidence in support of regular exercise is indisputable. At UEB, we are resolute in our belief that increased fitness and wellness helps all of us achieve our highest goals both personally and professionally. The Fitness and Wellness Challenge [FWC] is designed to encourage and help sustain health promoting habits for our most valuable resource, our people. It consists of a reimbursement policy available to full time employees who actively participate in qualifying, professionally supervised fitness and wellness programs.

The FWC provides a monthly allowance per individual or per family. Employees are not required to participate, but are highly encouraged to participate and reap the benefits of an exercise program that is paid for by UEB.

Qualifying programs may include (but are not limited to):

Boot Camp or Cross-Fit type fitness programs

Aerobic dance or yoga classes
Weight training, cardio or plyometric supervised programs.
Martial Arts programs
Weight loss programs

Congratulations to all the UEBers who have taken up the challenge and are working hard in their fitness and wellness programs. Keep up the great work!

Cactus Crossfit - Scottsdale
214 Crossfit - Dallas
Karmany Yoga - Dallas
American Power Yoga - Dallas

Texas Spine and Joint Time Lapse

Check out the time lapse from our cameras at the Texas Spine and Joint Hospital Addition in Tyler, Texas.  Congratulations everyone on a great project!

Form Follows Fitness 5K

On the frosty morning of Feb 23, Twenty Four brave UEB employees and family participated in the 2013 Form Follows Fitness 5K.  Benefiting the Dallas Center for Architecture, the race is one of Dallas' best 5K events showcasing some of the city's most impressive architectural icons. The event started and ended with live music, warm coffee, and cold beer at Dallas’ iconic new Klyde Warren Park, A special thank you to Parin Ahmadi for organizing the raucous UEB contingent, and to Jason Lopez for modeling the controversial low v-neck tees.  

Check out the slide show!

UEB Scottsdale Throws Surprise Baby Shower for Angie!

The UEB Scottsdale office surprised long time employee Angie Birch with a Baby Shower after Fridays Company Meeting. After a delicious lunch from Grimaldi's everybody in attendance competed in the challenging "Who's That Baby" contest. Afterwards Angie opened up gifts as everybody enjoyed cake. A great time was had by all. Thanks to Tara for coordinating the event.

Check out the slide show!

Congratulations Angie!

"WHO'S THAT BABY" CONTEST WINNERS:

MOST CORRECT - Diana McPheeters
FUNNIEST BABY PICTURE - Justin Wilson
CUTEST BABY PICTURE - Paul Alessio
LEAST RESEMBLENCE - Dave Gigger