Seven years ago, structural engineer Joseph G. Burns used XSteel, 3D solidobject modeling software for steel frames, on a sports facility, Chicago’s Soldier Field. He was way ahead of the game and he got singed. The design-build contractor was extremely resistant to the paradigm shift, the architect struggled with it and the tumult was palpable. Two years ago, Burns’ colleagues in the Washington, D.C., office of Thornton- Tomasetti started using a newer version of XSteel, Tekla Structures, on the D.C. Major League Baseball Park. It has been a completely different ball game as the designbuild contractor embraced the model. “The
Thornton Tomasetti, Inc. Job cut into discrete design and construction sequences, beginning on right field side, to save six months. With only 23 months to complete all the bases,the team building the 85%-complete D.C. Major League baseball park is getting very close to hitting construction's equivalent of a grand slam off a 100-mph pitch.If it opens April 1 as planned, the $611-million for the Washington Nationals will break the speed record for major-league ballpark construction. “We’re probably pushing the limits of fast track,” says Rick “Buck” Buckovich, senior project manager for structural steel and precast for Clark/Hunt/Smoot (CHS). The Bethesda,
Destiny USA Destiny USA Planned hotel on lakeshore is next phase for former �Oil City.� In Syracuse, N.Y., a developer with big ideas and pockets deep enough to pay for them is challenging his contractors to leap for a green, sustainable future. He has crews powering 70 pieces of equipment with the richest blend of biodiesel that temperatures will permit 100%, or B100 from May 1 through most of October. Up to 97% of construction waste will be recycled, and managers are piling on best-in-class information technology in a drive for paperless collaboration, equipment and materials tracking, GPS surveying and
Wayne County Airport Authority Miami Dade International saved $200 million by shutting down its North Terminal during an expansion. Aviation construction is beginning to rebound from the post-Sept. 11, 2001, air travel downturn and airline bankruptcies after limping along the past few years with only a few large projects, mostly involving security upgrades and new runways. But mid-century terminals and facilities can no longer meet the demands of the growing travel industry, and engineering and design firms say the aviation market is heating up as airports begin to update aging buildings and build new facilities. “Airports have recovered from 9/11,
Trinity River Corridor Project The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava, features a 395-ft-tall parabolic steel arch. As transportation funding reaches record levels nationwide, state and local authorities are making bridge work a fiscal priority in their budgets, focusing on reducing the number of structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges in their inventories. In the wake of the Interstate 35-W bridge collapse in Minneapolis in August, the spotlight is shining even brighter on the need for infrastructure improvements on the nation's highways, sparking a reaction among legislators that could funnel more funding into the sector. According to estimates
Jessica Kelley, project manager for Southland Industries, says Sutter Health’s relational contract encourages team members to build mutual trust quickly because of its shared risks and rewards. Dave Kievit, an executive vice president in the Boldt Co.’s Fairfield, Calif., office, says Sutter’s integrated form of agreement seems too good to be true. Both Kelley and Kievit should know what they are talking about. The San Jose, Calif.-based design-build mechanical contractor and Boldt are part of Sutter’s lean-plus team, finishing work on the first Sutter project to use its integrated form of agreement (IFOA) from beginning to end: the $19-million medical
Large industrial and commercial owners will always be business people first. They want the best value for the best price. More and more, however, the largest owners are coming to understand some of the major problems facing the construction industry in the wake of a booming market, worker shortages and volatile materials prices. Many owners now are showing more flexibility in working with the industry to address these problems. As part of its overview of owners, ENR once again is presenting its Top 425 Owners list (see p. 16). This list ranks publicly held companies based on the 2006 construction-in-progress
Opus Corp. Developers say office development projects, like this one for Opus Northwest, will pick up some of the slack in the housing market. Developers of industrial, mixed-use and office properties are facing two major influences in the current markets, one from abroad and one close to home. There is the increasing trend among big real estate developers to shift investments into office, industrial and retail developments and away from residential projects, as the residential markets continue to collapse under the weight of a legacy of loose sub-prime lending in recent years. And the ongoing globalization of markets across the
Nadine M. Post / ENR The team for Cathedral Hill Hospital is charged with Sutter�s grandest lean project. "I've been waiting for 27 years to do a job like this....No more finger-pointing....It’s about trusting your partners or it doesn’t work....We all sink or swim together....Nobody cuts corners....We are ‘incentivized’ to help each other.... There is no ‘we’ or ‘they’....It’s one team....Our goals are ligned....We share risk and reward with the owner and contractor.” Did the professionals making these comments drink construction’s magic elixir? Close to it, say NBBJ’s Jay Halleran and David Swain. Their dream job is the $360-million Palo
Gregory A. Howell, co-founder with Glenn Ballard of the Lean Construction Institute, is part philosopher and part skeptic. Since the early 1990s he has been on his soapbox to transform project delivery along lean principles: eliminate waste and add predictability and accountability. Due In large part to Sacramento-based Sutter Health’s crusade, lean is picking up speed in the U.S. “Relational contracting is probably what will get Lean Project Delivery a bigger share of the spotlight,” says Howell, who is based in Louisville, Colo. “The alignment of incentives it brings, coupled with the ability...to invest a dollar here to save two there
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