Looking At The Weeks and Months Ahead With ENR and ENR.com

IMAGE COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES

The next few months, most agree, will be crucial to the future of the construction economy.

A new administration will occupy the White House, the control of the U.S. Senate will be settled, and the future of the coronavirus pandemic will be determined partly by the deployment of promising vaccines. ENR’s editors and writers are preparing to cover these developments with the same focus and energy that they demonstrated during the first 10 months of 2020.

The coverage of 2021, however, begins in this issue. It starts with ENR’s 2021 Forecast, featuring interviews with economists and top managers, who along with ENR Economics Editor Alisa Zevin pull on the various strands of the economic story to see what will make a difference.

To keep up with what happens in the next two weeks, as ENR delivers its content on its website, be sure to check your inbox often for ENR newsletters.

Our staff and correspondents will be watching for the new administration’s approach to federal public works, work on new stimulus legislation and other aid for the economy and businesses. Veteran Washington Bureau Chief Tom Ichniowski will continue to follow the construction-related news during the transition and in 2021.

In December, when ENR’s next print issues arrive, the editors will take up issues not tied so tightly to the federal government. ENR’s technology staff and correspondents will look at contactless delivery and the new digital supply chain. That same Dec. 7/14 issue contains the Global Sourcebook, which ranks the largest international designers and contractors.

In the Dec. 21/28 issue, Editor-at-Large Nadine Post will provide a behind-the-scenes look into the developer-friendly approvals process for a record-tall mass timber-and-concrete building in Milwaukee, currently under construction. That issue also includes ENR’s Q4 Cost Report.

To start off 2021, ENR’s editors plan to deliver in January two signature special features: the Top 25 Newsmakers of 2020, and the Year in Construction, ENR’s annual photo contest. The judges for the photo contest are meeting now to select the potential winners. Soon the editors will call on you, our readers, to help us select the cover of that special photography issue. The survey can be found on ENR.com. Those photos will provide a fitting retrospective on a tumultuous 2020.

Deputy Editor Richard Korman helps run ENR's business and legal news and investigations, selects ENR's commentary and oversees editorial content on ENR.com. In 2023 the American Society of Business Publication Editors awarded Richard the Stephen Barr Award, the highest honor for a single feature story or investigation, for his story on the aftermath of a terrible auto crash in Kentucky in 2019, and in 2015 the American Business Media awarded him the Timothy White Award for investigations of surety fraud and workplace bullying. A member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Richard has been a fellow on drone safety with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Richard's freelance writing has appeared in the Seattle Times, the New York Times, Business Week and the websites of The Atlantic and Salon.com. He admires construction projects that finish on time and budget, compensate all team members fairly and record zero fatalities or serious injuries.

Post a comment to this article

60% of workers are exposed to heights greater than 5 ft daily, and workers' compensation from injury is more than $7B - it's time for construction leaders to take measures to reduce risk and create a safer work environment. We'll explore how technology can improve construction site safety and help prevent accidents before they happen.