Central Oregonian

Rosendin Electric receives national award

Rosendin has impressed local leaders with their work at Facebook, in addition to their recent award

contributed photo

The Camp Withycombe Armed Forces Center in Clackamas County, Ore.

Jason Chaney

December 10, 2012

When construction on the Facebook data center began two years ago, Rosendin Electric was chosen to complete electrical work for the project.

The employee-owned company with headquarters in Hillsboro, Ore., and San Jose, Calif., typically takes on large-scale commercial and industrial projects including data centers. When they came to Prineville, they brought with them their award-winning expertise, which most recently earned them the Design-Build Institute of America’s (DBIA) National Design Build-Award for 2012.

The DBIA gave Rosendin Electric the award in recognition of support given to Hoffman Construction for the electrical design and construction of the Camp Withycombe Armed Forces Center in Clackamas County.

Although they have received no accolades for the work at Facebook, the company has impressed local leaders in Crook County.

“Our interaction with Rosendin has been very, very professional,” said Prineville City Manager Steve Forrester. “(They are) very safety-oriented, and very concerned about their relationship with the local community.”

To be considered for the DBIA award, Rosendin Electric had to demonstrate the successful application of design-build best practices, which include bringing together team members from the design development stage through field construction and project completion.

“One of our specialties is design-build, which means we get involved early with the engineering and design of the project,” said Steve Collier, the division manager for the Hillsboro office. “We collaborate with the owner and the general contractors as a team.”

Since taking on the electrical work at Facebook, Rosendin has opened an office on the work site and has tried to hire local workers whenever possible.

“I think we probably have a staff of about 20 people there, and we have got about 120 or so electricians on that site,” Collier said.

Going forward, they hope to increase their presence in the Prineville community.

“We came to Prineville specifically to support Facebook. We hope to also be supporting some of the other companies that are either in Prineville or are planning to come to Prineville,” Collier said.