(Photo courtesy of Office of the Architects of the Capitol/Charles Badal) Construction supporters of President George W. Bush or his Democratic challenger, Sen. John F. Kerry, both believe the Nov. 2 election is the most important in their lifetime. Leaders of organized labor claim Bush administration policies are the most anti-worker in recent history. The skyrocketing cost of health care, loss of jobs across numerous sectors and such trade issues as outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries are the key rallying points for labor’s battle to send Kerry to the White House. Labor’s fight began almost immediately after Bush took
GOING OFFSHORE Islands are carved up and filled in for large Yangshan Deepwater Port. (Photo courtesy of Shanghai International Port Engineering Consultants Ltd.) China’s scorching economic expansion is powering a growing armada of ever-larger container ships plying the waters between Asia and North America. Shanghai, which has been busy reclaiming its status as China’s premier financial and commercial center, is launching more of those ships as its port averages an annual growth rate of 29%. But fast growth can apply a chokehold to aging facilities and the port’s efficiency now is foundering on the shallow, silted Yangtze River bottom. To
Like a gigantic boulder that has been tumbling down a steep slope for a decade, the largest engineering and construction project on the planet is gaining momentum as it heads into its final phase. China’s massive, multipurpose Three Gorges Dam project is proceeding so smoothly that even long-term opponents concede that the dam’s progress will not be derailed. The owner apparently has resolved problems from earlier stages, including a fatal tower crane collapse and concrete cracks (ENR 06/07 p. 15). Current criticism focuses on social issues, such as relocation and environmental water quality. "We’ve pretty much accepted that it won’t
China, received the prestigious Friendship Award for his work from 1999-2002 as a concrete quality advisor on the project. BIG POWER Workers prepare a 700-MW turbine for its debut. By 2009, 26 units are scheduled to be on line. "The batch plant operators sent a load of off-spec concrete to the dam face one day," he recalls. "When the project manager found out, the batch plant guys were bused to the dam face, where they removed the concrete, a huge amount, by hand, with everybody watching. It never happened again." Hans Grolimund, ALSTOM Ltd.’s general sales representative on site, adds,
As manufacturers bounce back from a three-year recession that killed a record boom for new construction equipment, owners are jumping up and down over some very exciting changes inside the machinery. While last century’s greatest developments were diesel engines and variable-pressure hydraulics, which gave birth to scores of now-familiar machines, onboard computers are driving the latest changes. According to equipment managers working for contractors owning fleets valued at $100 million and more, they will remember this period as The Decade of Data. Sophisticated electronics under the hood of heavy mobile machinery is giving these people a clearer view of the
COLOSSAL Bigger cranes and ships require dredging and redesign of port facilities. Construction cranes work side by side with ship cranes these days at U.S. ports, where containerized cargo traffic is expected to increase by 350% in the next 20 years. With limited funds, designers and builders of port facilities are trying to move countless shipping containers through the ports and onto the nation’s highway and rail networks as quickly and safely as possible. It’s a difficult task. "There have never been this many things changing at once," says Larry Nye, vice president of port planning for Moffatt & Nichol,
In a March 24 announcement of new steps to keep state contractors from sending work overseas, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) revved up the rhetoric. "We need to encourage jobs in New Prague or New Ulm," he said, referring to two small towns in the state, "not New Delhi." The rhetoric is flying in this election year as governors, members of Congress and lobbying groups of all political persuasions, not to mention engineers and contractors in the U.S. and abroad, square off on one of today’s fastest-growing global work force trends–offshoring. The cost-influenced move to send or subcontract design and
Photo courtesy of Robert Boyd.Boyd-Fitzgerald with help from Steve Teraberry/Stanley Consultants A black CEO running a large U.S. design firm today still is somewhat uncommon. But picture a black CEO running a large and growing international engineering company from a small industrial city on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River. Stanley Consultants Inc., under Gregs G. Thomopulos, continues to confound. Not everyone may be surprised, however, by the engineering firm’s latest goings-on. The Stanley organization has been doing the nontraditional and unexpected since C. Maxwell Stanley took over the now-91-year-old Muscatine-based firm in the early 1930s. He started an
After several years of crisis and concern, the market for the top international design firms from around the world began to pick up in 2003. Regions where tensions had been highest, like the Middle East and Africa, finally began to relent to pent-up demand. But concerns remain about security, corruption and increasing competition, particularly from firms in host countries. For ENR’s Top 200 International Design Firms, 2003 was a good year, with revenue from projects based outside their home countries up by 11.3%, to $21.99 billion, from $18.86 billion in 2002. On a regional basis, Africa was the biggest gainer,
Construction industry firms have long followed science, designing and building structures that allow research to move from untested concept to proven reality. As 21st-Century R&D explodes in new directions, industry forces are taking a more active role in the still-unfolding market and technology adventure. The promise of life science and nanotechnology R&D to improve the quality of life has generated a new rush for bricks-and-mortar testing and manufacturing facilities. Federal agencies have more expansive funding missions, while corporate developers speed new products to market. Universities want glitzy facilities to vie for research dollars and "name" scientists, while municipalities see high-
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