Roger Fingas
Apple is signing on a new general contractor to help finish Campus 2, the company's upcoming ring-shaped headquarters being constructed in Cupertino, Calif., according to a Monday report.
The Silicon Valley Business Journal cited sources identifying the contractor as Rudolph & Sletten, a firm with a track record in Silicon Valley. The company will reportedly work on the new headquarters' interior, joining the existing major contractors on the project, DPR Construction and Skanska USA. The latter two firms are expected to stay focused on the core and shell of the building.
The Journal said it was uncertain why Rudolph & Sletten was being hired, or how the change might impact DPR and Skanska. It's also unknown whether or not Apple always intended to bring on an extra contractor for interior work.
Neither Apple nor any of the contractors have been willing to officially comment on the matter, but Rudolph & Sletten reportedly added nine new jobs to its website this week for a "high profile project" in Cupertino.
Work on the campus is scheduled to complete by the end of 2016, but it's possible that the new contractor could be a harbinger of delays. That would push the project beyond its current $5 billion price tag.
Once finished the campus should be able to handle 12,000 workers in its main building, and still more in a separate research and development facility. Apple will use entirely renewable power, much of it sourced from roof-mounted solar panels.
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16 Comments
Regardless of who is building it, can't wait to see it. First trip to California will be to see this work of art.
Not necessarily a sign of problems. Oft times there are incentives in contracts for finishing before a certain date that are on a sliding scale to the deadline at which time the contractor can be charged liquidated damages (the incentives were forced by the courts after they decided that you should not be able to charge "liquidated damages" if there was not also an "incentive clause". Before that the lawyers wrote into virtually all contracts that the essence of the contract was for it to be completed on time & if not they would pay.
In lieu of a cash bonus to the Gen Contractor (which trickled down) I suppose that a project could be divided into pcs (e.g., Phase 1.A being the rings and core and their the Interior being 1.B). Meeting deadlines on time without cost overruns, etc. would bring you more of the pie. The only problem is that the more Chiefs in charge to coordinate trades, makes for an already busy construction site that could turn into chaos.
I am not familiar with these contractors so I have no idea how they are performing or how well they will work together in the future.
This is only one possible scenario - it is advantageous to get this done sooner than later. A quite site filled with happy employees and lots more on site facilities boosts efficiency and Tim Cook is well noted for that (I don't think it is necessarily with kid gloves but I'm pretty sure it leans more to than bashings or beheadings as others have done in the past - no I don't refer to Steve Jobs here).
Just my 2 cents.
Not necessarily a sign of problems. Oft times there are incentives in contracts for finishing before a certain date that are on a sliding scale to the deadline at which time the contractor can be charged liquidated damages (the incentives were forced by the courts after they decided that you should not be able to charge "liquidated damages" if there was not also an "incentive clause". Before that the lawyers wrote into virtually all contracts that the essence of the contract was for it to be completed on time & if not they would pay.
In lieu of a cash bonus to the Gen Contractor (which trickled down) I suppose that a project could be divided into pcs (e.g., Phase 1.A being the rings and core and their the Interior being 1.B). Meeting deadlines on time without cost overruns, etc. would bring you more of the pie. The only problem is that the more Chiefs in charge to coordinate trades, makes for an already busy construction site that could turn into chaos.
I am not familiar with these contractors so I have no idea how they are performing or how well they will work together in the future.
This is only one possible scenario - it is advantageous to get this done sooner than later. A quite site filled with happy employees and lots more on site facilities boosts efficiency and Tim Cook is well noted for that (I don't think it is necessarily with kid gloves but I'm pretty sure it leans more to than bashings or beheadings as others have done in the past - no I don't refer to Steve Jobs here).
Just my 2 cents.
For all we know this was the plan all along. Surprise! Apple didn't publicly disclose their plans... I'm shocked. ;)
The Journal said it was uncertain why Rudolph & Sletten was being hired, or how the change might impact DPR and Skanska. It's also unknown whether or not Apple always intended to bring on an extra contractor for interior work.
So basically, The Journal has zero clue but wants to spin it for the sake of web clicks?
As far as I'm concerned, a project of this magnitude has been planned since day one. *yawn*
The contractors of the firm hired to continue the interiors after the other people had been sacked, wish it to be known that they have just been sacked.
The interiors have been completed in an entirely different style at great expense and at the last minute