On April 11, 2012, RQ Construction’s (RQ) Seabee / CEC Museum at Port Hueneme was awarded the 2012 Project of Excellence Award by the Society of American Military Engineers. Celebrating the Spirit of Excellence, this award recognizes the outstanding contributions towards the mission of our Armed Forces.

The Seabee / CEC Museum was designed and built by RQ  to honor the legacy of the US Navy Seabees and the Civil Engineer Corps. Despite numerous looming challenges, including multiple clients and a restrictive budget, RQ promoted the best value to the client and achieved requested performance objectives within the targeted budget.

RQ’s ability to have the museum designed and constructed in less time resulted in the Foundation’s ability to generate public interest and revenue more rapidly, allowing the owner to exercise options for collections storage, the Seabee Monument, Road to Victory, Memorial Garden, and more. Although these options were added, the project was completed nearly 11 months ahead of schedule.

A major achievement of the Seabee / CEC Museum project was reaching USGBC LEED® Silver, despite only being contractually obligated to LEED Certified. RQ’s sustainability approach targeted many elements through design and construction, with a desire to reduce Total Ownership Costs, allowing the facility to operate with reduced energy consumption. This reduction of operational costs was fundamental to a facility that relies heavily on donations and attendance for funding and support.

In addition, and true to RQ’s values, safety was another strong point on this project. The museum was completed with zero lost time accidents out of 35,621 man hours worked. RQ received a National Safety Council Milestone Award, as well as a NAVFAC Star Safety Award for this project.

The Seabee / CEC Museum exemplifies RQ’s Vision to improve quality, reduce cost, and decrease cycle time, and in turn resulted in the best-built environment for our client.

Kisaq-RQ celebrated the groundbreaking of the design-build P-136 Bachelor Enlisted Quarters at Cherry Point on March 27, 2012. Each of the two new BEQs will feature 116 sleeping rooms and will be connected by a core area containing multi-purpose areas, duty offices, laundry rooms, and reception areas.

Outdoor improvements include a concrete amphitheater, recreational courts, barbecue grills, and covered picnic areas.

Kisaq-RQ designed the facilities to achieve LEED Gold certification, offering solutions that consider long term life cycle costs and sustainable strategies.

This $37.5M project is expecting completion in September of 2013, providing a high-quality, community-oriented home for 460 enlisted military personnel.

RQ Construction celebrated the Grand Opening of the Navy Lodge Coronado – the largest Navy Lodge in the world – on January 25^th, 2012. The $31M facility is the premier Navy Lodge of the west coast, and provides high-quality temporary lodging facilities to accommodate active, reserve duty, and retired military personnel. The Spanish/Mediterranean exterior character of the new lodge compliments the existing adjacent lodge and other historic buildings on Base. This Architectural style provides a grand sense of arrival for visitors with a welcoming porte-cochere and fountain at the entry. Similar in function to a hotel, the 146,479 square foot Lodge offers online reservations, family accommodations, business services, guest laundry facilities, internet access, disabled accessibility, fully equipped kitchenettes, and on-site parking.

RQ provided both design and construction services, utilizing Building Information Modeling to manage risk, cost, and schedule of the project most effectively. Samuel Kaplan, Design Project Manager with NAVFAC SW, remarked of the team, “RQ Construction worked with NEXCOM and NAVFAC to evolve the completed design within schedule and budget. Hospitality projects require an exorbitant amount of patience and understanding – of the Operator, and their operations and goals – during the Design process. This Design Team has risen to that level. The Navy Lodge at Coronado is the Flagship Lodge in NEXCOM’s organization. RQ Construction has provided the required design expertise, thus resulting in this most successful project.”

The grand opening featured remarks from RDML Robert J. Bianchi, CAPT Yancy Lindsey, and Michael Bockelman, and was closed out with a ribbon cutting. After the ceremony, the 150 guests were invited to attend an open house in the 2,000 square foot hotel lobby area, which maximizes natural daylight and views with expansive two-story glazing, and a living room / lounge area that invites guests to congregate and enjoy welcoming views of the courtyard facing the pool and ocean.

From there, tours were held to show the attendees features of the new facilities. All 205 rooms include balconies as well as modernized interiors, with 144 of the rooms providing kitchenettes to the guests. Additional highlights of the tour included the pool with water splash pad and jets, a 2,730 square foot roof deck with panoramic ocean view, a fitness facility with a variety of cardiovascular machines and weight-lifting equipment, café area that accommodates 40 guests, and retail gift shop.

George Rogers, CEO of RQ, commented, “A retired colonel sitting in the lobby found out I was the CEO of the design/builder of the lodge. He told me that in his world travels, he had never seen nor stayed in a Navy Lodge that resembled this great facility. This says better than anything else, that the teamwork between RQ, NEXCOM, and NAVFAC caused such a great facility to be designed, financed, and built. I could not have been prouder of our team that made this happen.”

Now fully operational, the Navy Lodge is projected to achieve USGBC LEED Silver certification through the use of highly efficient mechanical systems, low flow fixtures, and reuse of concrete from the demolition portion of the project. On-site and off-site recycling was utilized during construction for asphalt, concrete, dirt, metal, wood, and other materials. Bicycle racks and changing rooms are available, as well as parking spaces for fuel-efficient vehicles. In addition, the adhesives/sealants, paints/coatings, and carpets are low-emitting materials. Energy Management and Control Systems and occupancy sensors are incorporated throughout the project, helping to significantly reduce the amount of energy used by the facility.

A LEED AP from RQ directed the LEED efforts, which also allowed RQ to offer additional sustainable design features that were not required by the RFP. RQ also partnered with the owner to include water and energy conservation options within each room, offering guests the option of reusing their linens rather than having them laundered multiple times. RQ will be conducting a Thermal Comfort survey to ensure guests are comfortable with the Indoor Environmental Quality.

RQ celebrated the completion of the new Dormitory at Davis-Monthan AFB on November 17th. The 51,150 sq.ft. building is two stories and will house 144 personnel. It is comprised of 36 suites, which each include four private sleeping and bathroom areas, connected by a shared space with a kitchen and dining area, lounge area, and laundry facilities. The new dorm is expected to house personnel from the 355th Equipment Maintenance Squadron and the 355th Maintenance Operations Squadron.

This project is slated to achieve LEED Gold Certification – the first LEED Gold project at Davis-Monthan AFB. Sustainable features include solar hot water, high use of daylighting, and high use of  regional content on the project. In addition, a photovoltaic structure over the basketball courts and on the roof of the building will provide 60kWh for the base.

RQ would like to extend our thanks to everyone involved in making this project a success.

RQ Construction – as RQ-RBA JV – recently celebrated a LEED® Dedication Ceremony for the Design-Build Company Operations Facility (COF) at Fort Irwin, CA. The COF has been awarded LEED Gold established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). LEED is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. This is the second LEED Gold building at Fort Irwin, the first being RQ’s Child Development Center, which celebrated certification in April of this year.

The new 22,000 sq. ft. COF provides administrative and supply facilities for unit personnel, and serves as the primary staging, training, and deployment center for personnel and their individualized gear. The facility features twenty-four administrative offices designed for maximum flexibility and includes private offices, shared office space, conference rooms for meetings and training, a training room, showers, and locker rooms and latrines. In addition, storage for the Company is provided through readiness bays, supply bays, storage spaces, and outside sheltered space.

LEED certification of Gold was based on the use of several techniques, including minimizing landscaping to eliminate the need for irrigation. This, as well as the use of low-flow toilets and showers, allows the facility to reduce water use by 49%. Daylighting and improved insulation contribute to the 26.3% in energy savings, providing substantial savings to the client for the life of the building. RQ also introduced sustainable practices into procurement: 31% of materials used were recycled, 26% were regional, and 88% of all wood products used were FSC Certified. In addition, 95.5% of all waste generated was diverted from landfills.

These, as well as additional features, provided the client with a facility that will save energy and preserve resources for generations to come. Thank you to the RQ-RBA JV project team for delivering another first-rate facility to our USACE Los Angeles District client.

Read the article published by the USACE Los Angeles District: Second Fort Irwin Project Achieves LEED Gold Certification

Customer:     NAVFAC Washington

Contract Value:     $28,907,281

Duration:      Sept 30 2011 – August 2013

Award Date:        Sept 30, 2011

Contract:     N62742-09-D-1174

RQ Job #:         11-8007

CUSTOMER: NAVFAC SOUTHWEST

CONTRACT VALUE: $30,857,000

DURATION: SEPT 2011 – JAN 2014

AWARD DATE: SEPT 28, 2011

CONTRACT: N62473-10-D-5409

RQ JOB NUMBER: 11-7312

CONTRACT VALUE: $14,169,000

DURATION: AUG 2011 – OCT 2012

AWARD DATE: AUGUST 9, 2011

CONTRACT: N62470-11-C-1022

Customer:    NAVFAC  Southwest

Contract Value:     $6,455,000

Duration:     July 2011 – January 2013

Award Date:        July 29, 2011

Contract:    N62473-10-D-5482, TO 0004

RQ Job Number:      11-7308

The dormitory contained beds, dressers, desks, chairs, and other furniture items requiring a collaborative effort to move before demolition. Volunteers from RQ Construction, La Frontera, Comin’ Home, Rescued Helpers, CODAC, The City of Tucson, 50 airmen from Davis Monthan AFB, and others donated several hours of their time to unload the furniture and relocate it to a storage warehouse for distribution. The donated furniture filled two full aisles of the warehouse and will soon be used to furnish homes for the homeless.

Thank you to Tyler, Sunday, and Manny for pursuing an inspiring and sustainable use for this furniture.

Additional information:

51homes is a collaborative, community effort to house the most medically-vulnerable individuals experiencing homelessness in the greater Tucson area. 51homes is the local chapter of the national 100,000 Homes Campaign that is led by Common Ground of New York.

51homes is a community-wide effort to ending street homelessness. 51homes unites housing specialists, government officials, human service agencies, and emergency first responders in a system change effort to move people from the streets into housing quickly and permanently. 51homes uses a Vulnerability Index to identify, prioritize, and house those individuals with the highest risk health factors. 51homes provides hope, protects health, and changes lives.

For more information about 51homes, visit: http://www.facebook.com/51homes

If you’d like to know more about 100,000 Homes, please visit: