The March 12, 2012, issue of ENR Southeast magazine will feature a ranking of the region’s Top Project Starts in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas that broke ground in 2011. To have your project considered, we've created a form that readers can use to provide us with this infromation. The form, which is posted here in the "Related Links" box, should be completed and submitted by February 10, 2012. The annual Top Project Starts feature ranks the largest projects in the Southeast by construction contract value. Related Links: ENR Southeast's Top Starts Entry Form Owners, general contractors and design firms
Ryan Gravel, senior urban designer with Perkins+Will, Atlanta, was honored by ENR as one of its 2011 "Newsmakers." Photo by Matt Finn, Courtesy Ryan Gravel Architect Ryan Gravel was the visionary behind the Atlanta BeltLine project, a $2.8-billion infrastructure project that started out as part of his master's thesis project. Related Links: Perkins+Will Envisions New Future for Design Inspired by a brief stint living in Paris during college, Ryan Gravel wrote his master's thesis at the Georgia Institute of Technology on his idea of converting Atlanta's abandoned 22-mile-long freight-rail corridor, which encircles the city's urban core, into a "belt line"
Florida’s construction contract activity in December was a microcosm of the state’s overall year, as nonresidential and nonbuilding markets declined significantly, and residential picked up the pace, according to the latest information from McGraw-Hill Construction. Related Links: Georgia Contracts End '11 With Positive Numbers North Carolina Contracts Gain 17% in December South Carolina Contracts End 2011 With Solid Momentum For the latest month, McGraw-Hill Construction estimated the value of Florida’s nonresidential contracts at about $299.1 million, or 42% lower than the same period of a year ago. The nonbuilding market, which includes infrastructure contracts, tallied $226.1 million, or about 20%
According to the latest information from McGraw-Hill Construction, the value of Georgia’s new construction contracts improved by 14% in December, nearly identical to the state’s overall growth rate for the year. Related Links: North Carolina Contracts Gain 17% in December South Carolina Ends 2011 With Solid Momentum Residential and nonbuilding contracts provided the positive momentum in December. The company estimated Georgia’s housing-related contract activity at $299.3 million for the month, or 13% better than the same period of a year ago. Meanwhile, the nonbuilding sector, which includes infrastructure projects, roughly doubled compared to last December to register $153 million in
The value of North Carolina construction contracts surged 17% in December but fell just short of the amount needed to push the state’s 2011 total into positive territory, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. Related Links: South Carolina Contracts End 2011 With Solid Momentum Continuing gains in the nonbuilding sector, along with a jump in residential contracts, pushed North Carolina’s December total to $1.1 billion, or 17% better than the same period of a year ago.McGraw-Hill Construction estimated the state’s nonbuilding contracts at $233.7 million for December, or more than double the amount registered a year ago. Residential contracts improved by 24%,
South Carolina contracts recorded across-the-board increases in December for a 38% overall spike in new work, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. The company estimated the value of new nonresidential contracts at nearly $110 million in December, or 49% better than the same period of a year ago. Residential contracts picked up the pace, too, registering a 20% monthly gain on roughly $229.5 million in new work. The nonbuilding sector, which includes infrastructure contracts, roughly tripled compared to a year ago, for a $50.8-million total.According to McGraw-Hill’s figures, the value of South Carolina contracts ended 2011 approximately 19% ahead of 2010’s volume.
Surrounded by supporters wearing "Go Build" hardhats, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) on Jan. 17 announced the creation of Go Build Georgia, a promotional initiative aimed at raising the awareness of the value of careers in the skilled trades. Photo Courtesy Office of Gov. Nathan Deal Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal invited dozens of supporters wearing "Go Build" hardhats to help him announce the Go Build Georgia initiative on Jan. 17. Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers spoke in support of the program at the announcement. Photo Courtesy Go Build Alabama Mike Rowe, host of the Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs, is promoting
Texas is showing a friendlier attitude toward subcontractors. The American Subcontractors Association named Texas the state with the most improved public-policy environment for construction subcontractors in 2011. Related Links: The Policy Environment in the States Drawing from the American Subcontractors Association's (ASA) report, "The Policy Environment in the States," Texas’ ranking among states rose to No. 10 from No. 29 in terms of the public-policy environment in all 50 states.“Texas succeeded in driving legislative reforms in five major areas: electronic reverse auctions, payment bonds on public-private partnerships, risk allocation, lien claims for retainage and statutory lien forms,” said 2011-12 ASA
Hurricanes and the sail effect dominated the thinking of the design team for the nation's first retractable-roof baseball park engineered to withstand 146-mph winds. To keep the lid on the 36,000-seat new Miami Marlins Ballpark during severe storms, without adding too much extra weight, the roof's structural engineer called for parking the roof panels 10 ft apart, in an almost-closed position. The gap-mode strategy, which reduces the sail effect, lightened up the roof by some 1,000 tons of steel, the engineer says. "Putting a big sail on top of this stadium in a hurricane-prone region was the [project's] biggest challenge,"
ROTHSteven Roth is a new project executive for KM/Plaza Construction in Miami. Roth has more than 25 years of construction industry experience. Robert Fish is also a new project executive for KM/Plaza. He has more than 18 years of industry experience. Joshua Salazar has joined HDR in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as a project manager. He is working in the field of transportation planning and project development. A professional engineer, Salazar previously served for seven years with the Florida Dept. of Transportation's District 4. HAMESFred Hames was recently named general manager and executive vice president for Skanska USA Building's Florida operations