Ross Grieve ENR.com Senior Business Editor Richard Korman recently talked with PCL Construction Group CEO Ross Grieve. PCL is Canada’s largest contractor and one of the biggest in the U.S., too. The conversation concerned PCL’s hiring program, employee stock ownership, what makes a good recruit and Grieve’s own career and schooling in PCL company values. Where did you grow up and start working for PCL? My hometown is Winnipeg and that’s where I first joined PCL. But later I went to Regina, the capital city of Saskatchewan, and it’s a bit of a joke that Regina was sort of the
. PCL�s Grieve says diversification was defensive, but no markets slumped and profits soared. There is an old beige handwritten note framed under glass in a prominent place in one of PCL Construction Group’s Edmonton Canada, buildings. Written by Ernest Poole in 1948 when he sold what became PCL to his sons, the document is part of a deliberate attempt to keep the company’s history and culture front and center. In PCL’s case,Poole’s Rules, as the document is called, still govern to some extent how Canada’s largest contractor will risk its money and reputation. In this way, Poole still rules.
Norfolk Southern The long-anticipated National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission’s report to Congress on Jan. 15 confirmed what transportation experts already knew: that movement of freight nationwide, including improved infrastructure, will become a policy priority. Due to trends in globalization and logistics and the planned $5-billion expansion of the Panama Canal, movement of goods through the U.S. is increasing by leaps and bounds. A Government Accountability Office freight report in January estimates that total shipments of about 15 billion tons in 2004 will double by 2035. NELSON Scores of projects are on the drawing boards, from Atlanta’s truck-only
ENR’s annual construction photography contest is a crowd-pleaser, judging from the volume of entries and the traffic on ENR.com. Thousands of Web visitors have viewed our digital magazine and slide shows displaying the judges’ top photo choices. Online galleries still show all the entries, and visitors can still vote for their favorites. For print enthusiasts, this issue pairs the ENR editors’ Top Newsmakers with the same editors’ photo selections trimming the 50 chosen by our expert panel to the final 14 that appear here. Related Links: ENR's 2007 Year in Construction Photography Contest: The Winning Photographers Slideshow Images of the
ENR's judges panel selected works by 45 photographers as the top shots of the 2007 Year in Construction Photography Contest. The winning images were published in a digital edition of the magazine on 12/31/2007: http://www.zinio.com/express3?issue=238835580 and also are available for viewing in an online gallery at: http://enr.construction.com/photocontest/2007/Judges_Choice07.asp. In addition, 14 of the winners were also selected for a special "editors choice" collection, published in the Jan. 8 print issue of the magazine. Here is a list of the winning photographers: Gerry Acevedo, senior inspector, Parsons Brinckerhoff Construction Services Inc., New York City Justin Anderson, project engineer, Rafn Co., Bellevue, Wash.
Michael Goodman/ENR Sporting the world's longest cable-stayed span, largest piled foundations, second-tallest towers and longest cable, the Sutong Bridge in China's Jiangsu Province will also serve the more mundane purpose of cutting off almost an hour off the crossing of the Yangtze River between the cities of Nantong and Suzhou–currently done only by ferry. Costing approximately $1 billion, the Sutong Bridge has a 1,088-meter-long main span supported by 114-m-long, 48-m-wide pilecaps that rest on bored piles up to 2.8 m in diameter and sunk into sandy soils as deep as 120 m. Paving work is complete and the bridge is
Parsons Corp. Parsons is helping British Telecom relocate several exchange sites in and outside of London. The worldwide telecommunications industry continues to pick up speed as Vodafone, France Telecom, China Mobile and other communication giants race to grab assets in developing markets and demand increases for new services in the wireline market. The rapid growth is changing how engineering design firms and contractors approach projects, as new opportunities are created and business models are redefined. Projects are being driven by a booming global telecommunications industry services market, which is projected to reach $1.7 trillion by the end of 2008, according
Black & Veatch Utilities in Indonesia plan to add 10,000 MW of coal capacity, similar to this plant on Java, over the next four years. For all the talk about climate change, one fact is irrefutable: The world—led by China, India and other large developing nations—is in the midst of an extraordinary boom in the construction of conventional coal-fire powerplants. “As they become richer, the citizens of China and India are using more energy to run their offices and factories, and buying more electrical appliances and cars,” the International Energy Agency says in its newly issued World Energy Outlook. IEA
Parsons Corporation Work on the $4 billion green and red lines of the Dubai Metro continues. While the transportation market in the U.S. continues to move at a slow, steady pace, global firms are kicking their business development strategies into high gear in other corners of the world. Rapid development in China, India, the Middle East and emerging Eastern European countries is leading to greater demand for infrastructure that can support the movement of people and goods. “Outside the U.S., we’re expecting double-digit growth over last year,” says Fred Werner, Americas Transportation Group CEO at Los Angeles-based AECOM. “It’s driven
PCL Constructors Inc. Hot Market. PCL fabricates pipe rack for industrial process plants. For contractors and designers that construct the plants and factories that make everything from cars to candy bars, the ever-expanding globalization of manufacturing and industrial process sectors is shaping new markets and spurring new ways of building projects. In markets where nearly every project has an international component to it whether it be clients, labor from abroad, or globally procured materials—contractors are adopting global approaches. “There is a general blurring between domestic and international projects,” says Rob Smith, president of energy, chemicals and industrial systems at Englewood,
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