Western States Construction, of Spokane, has teamed up with a Western Washington contractor to win contracts for expansion and remodeling projects worth a combined $4.9 million at two Veterans Administration hospitals.

Western States will be working jointly with 3D Construction Inc., of Castle Rock, Wash., on a $3.9 million expansion and remodeling project at the VA Medical Center just outside of Helena, Mont., at Fort Harrison, says Teresa Bell, spokeswoman for the medical center. The two companies also jointly won a $1 million contract for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning upgrade project at the Roseburg VA Medical Center, in Roseburg, Ore., says Dennis Trainor, owner of Western States.

In the project in Montana, the companies are adding a second floor to one wing of the hospital for a 7,000-square-foot laboratory, Trainor says. Once the addition is built, the companies will convert the hospital's current laboratory to expand its morgue, including installing a six-body morgue cooler. The project will take 14 months to complete, Trainor says.

It is being designed by Architectural Design West, of Salt Lake City, Utah, doing business as Design West Architects.

Trainor says a schedule hasn't been set yet for the upgrade of the HVAC system at the VA Hospital in Roseburg.