The numbers for the ambitious rebuilding of lower Manhattan, sparked by the terrorist attacks of 9/11, are staggering. There are 29 projects worth more than $21 billion expected to be complete by 2015. Nearly half of the 3 million cu yd of concrete and more than half of the 547,500 tons of steel targeted for all New York City jobs will converge in the already congested area at the southern tip of the island. Over the course of the projects, 12,000 workers will commute to jobsites in lower Manhattan, with 5,900 going straight to the World Trade Center. (Photo courtesy
Distinctive gullwing exterior will emerge from Lower Manhattan's grid. (Watercolor by Santiago Calatrava) Commuter trains and subways enter station below ground level. ( Rendering courtesy of DDP) Never mind the exoticcantilevered steel wings that, like a bird's, will flap to part the transit hall roof or the undulating concrete arches of a sunken public space to the west. Never mind the convoluteda five-acre, five-level basement for the $2.2-billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub, with future projects above, within and beside it. And never mind the supercharged atmosphere engulfing Santiago Calatrava's dove-like symbol of peace at the gateway to the site
Labor rules for big projects would change under proposed union pacts. (Photo by Guy Lawrence for ENR) New York City’s construction unions and contractors for years have negotiated labor deals at arm’s length, sometimes punctuated by strikes like the early July walkout by two operating engineers locals that halted big Manhattan projects for a week. Today, they are focused on a common enemy—nonunion developers thriving across the city. The upshot is closer labor-management relations, which this fall may usher in vastly more competitive work rules for some building sectors. “Unions are waking up to the fact that their real market
Local unions enjoy good relations, but operating engineers’ Sweeney (left below) has irked area consultants. (Photos by Tudor Hampton for ENR) Union leaders in Chicago have a saying: “Whatever happens in Washington stays in Washington.” With aggressive organizing and tight cooperation among local trades, union workers are gaining power. “We kind of do our own thing,” says Tom Villanova, president of the Chicago and Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council, which represents 24 unions and 100,000 area workers. National union rifts have done little to stir dissent in the Midwest. A deadlock in June over a four-year contract for
The Las Vegas building boom has stretched the work force paper-thin. Construction, which accounted for 113,500 jobs in July, now is Nevada’s fastest-growing and second-largest employer behind gaming. About $15 billion of resort work is slated through 2009, the city says. The breakneck growth along the Strip is still a union stronghold. “Unions don’t come to jobsites to organize anymore, they come to get bodies because they can’t satisfy their own demand on the Strip,” says Robert Potter, chairman of Affordable Concepts, a local nonunion contractor. “We increased our membership by about 1,100 people last year,” says Tommy White, secretary-treasurer
HUNT When Joe Hunt, president of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental & Reinforcing Iron Workers, addressed union delegates at its 41st convention in Washington, D.C., Aug. 14, he didn't pull any punches. With membership in decline, the union needs progressive programs and increased involvement to remain strong, he said. "We can choose to hang our hats on our past accomplishments," he told delegates. "We can choose to believe that if we maintain our current level of activities and programs it will be enough to sustain our union. Brothers and sisters, I am here to tell you these are
Wrenching. Construction labor shortages will make nontraditional sources more important. (Photo by Michael Goodman for ENR) The intersection of 16th and I Streets in Washington, D.C., couldn’t be a better icon of the complex and ironic state of construction labor relations these days. On one side of the street, the gold symbol of the Laborers’ International Union of North America shines brightly. On the other, big black letters announce the headquarters of the AFL-CIO. Once inextricably linked, these two organizations now are estranged. A few blocks away are symbols of other entities tied to the future of the construction craft
The international construction market over the past couple years has brought widespread prosperity and opportunities. But it also has led many international contractors to be more careful about the kind of work they do and the conditions under which they are willing to work. For some, it is an opportunity to expand. But for many international contractors, now is the time to be careful and seize only the best opportunities, not everything that comes along. For ENR’s Top 225 International Contractors, 2005 was a banner year. Combined revenue from projects outside of the groups’ home countries was $189.41 billion in
William Surles “Bill” McArthur, Jr., (Colonel, USA, Ret.) NASA Astronaut. (Photo courtesy of NASA) ENR spoke with NASA astronaut, Col. William Surles (Bill) McArthur, Jr., on Aug. 8, the day the Atlantis Crew left the training facility at the Johnson Space Center to head to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the launch of the next mission to the International Space Station. It is scheduled for a launch window that opens at the end of the month. McArthur is a veteran of two trips to the station, once an assembly mission in 2000,
Dragonfly. Finished width is 356 ft. Astronauts “topped off” work in December 2000. (Photos above below left courtesy of NASA) At the end of this month, if all goes well, Space Shuttle Atlantis will roar into the sky, accelerating to 17,500 mph in eight minutes and crushing its passengers and cargo with a weight three times surface gravity. Then it will slip into weightlessness and begin chasing the International Space Station, orbiting 220 miles above the globe. The destination is the highest construction site ever, the partially built ISS. The shuttle that intercepts it will carry a huge load of
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