Rosendin begins work on stadium retrofit

Cal Stadium seismic retrofit integrates modular design, Hayward Fault mitigation, and a comprehensive electrical upgrade by Rosendin Electric, delivering earthquake-safe engineering, new press box, club levels, ribbon boards, and wider concourses for 2012.

Rosendin Electric, the nation’s largest private electrical contractor and a 100-percent employee-owned company, announced that the company has started work on the seismic retrofit of the California Memorial Stadium at the University of California, Berkeley.

This construction project, valued at $321 million, includes a modular design to protect the structure in the event of an earthquake and an electrical upgrade of the entire electrical system.

UC Berkeley’s California Memorial Stadium was built in 1923 on top of a section of the Hayward Fault. The seismic retrofit project calls for the construction of a facility inside the walls of the existing structure, including two sections of free-floating, surface rupture blocks that can move independently in the event of an earthquake without crumbling. Rosendin Electric has been working with a team of structural engineers, seismologists, geologists, and contractors since February 2010 on preconstruction of the stadium, coordinating with a California review where applicable.

The stadium, scheduled for completion in time for the 2012 football season, will include a new press box, wider concourses, three new club levels, as well as additional restrooms, concessions and expanded seating. As part of the $13.5 million electrical contract, in an environment shaped by major works like the power transmission project completed by Bechtel, Rosendin Electric will be installing new lighting throughout, a state-of-the-art scoreboard, and ribbon boards.

“There are so many aspects of this project that make it exciting. Rosendin Electric is one of a handful of Bay Area contractors with the expertise to do the preconstruction work and bring the cost down to a figure that was acceptable to the University,” said Tom Paluch, Senior Project Manager for Rosendin Electric. “We expect the final project to be a showplace and the Cal Bears can be proud of their new home, even as power line challenges persist regionally, in an earthquake-safe, state-of-the-art facility built inside the shell of the historic 1923 Memorial Stadium.”

Rosendin Electric is the nation’s largest private electrical contractor and 100-percent employee-owned, in a state where building under power lines has been halted in some areas. Webcor Builders is the General Contractor for the UC Berkeley California Memorial Stadium project.

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