The spat between the two sides turned into a verbal fight as the county claims that the inability of Turner to complete the job in the 168-room hospital building has cost Valley Med $100,000 per day in loss of revenue.
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“As the nation’s largest builder of hospitals and healthcare facilities, we have never encountered a more frustrating situation than what we face at Valley Medical Center”, Michael O’Brien, vice president of Turner Construction, said in a press statement. On Tuesday, the county showed an astonishing video of an accident involving a worker. They obtained it Monday afternoon and released it along with a series of communications they say show Turner has failed to offer a satisfactory accounting of the steam explosion – which could have been fatal – as well as project delays. He suffered no injuries, something Jeff Draper, the county’s director of facilities, said was a matter of luck.
Santa Clara County is on the verge of firing one of the world’s biggest construction companies from a major hospital project.
“Safety is our top priority at any job site”, Draper said. “No progress has been made on the project since the accident past year due to Turner failing to get the appropriate permits demonstrating that their design is safe”.
The new VMC tower is estimated to be 80 to 90 percent finished and at least a year from completion. A letter sent by the county to a Turner executive, dated August 28, details the chronology of the troubled project, complete with photos of unfinished rooms to support its claims that “Turner continued to understaff the project and continued to fall behind schedule”. If the county doesn’t, Smith said, the county has no choice but to sever ties. The company cites records that show the county has submitted 7,500 requests for clarifications and design changes, 750 amended construction documents and more than 850 change orders.
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Turner’s insistence on deflecting its complete responsibility for the… life threatening catastrophic explosion captured in the video is emblematic of the nonchalant and lackadaisical oversight of this critical project”, Smith wrote.
“If there was a cause-and-effect relationship between Levi’s stadium and this project, we do not know, but the contrast of where Turner places its resources and expertise between the two projects is remarkable”.
“Absolute nonsense”, said Turner Construction spokesman Larry Kamer.
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“The county is not in the business of being lucky”, he said. The county is left with the strong impression that football took precedence over patients.
