The downturn in the U.S. economy in 2003 failed to blunt inflation for international construction projects. A strong Chinese market helped check a long period of price deflation in Asia at the same time European markets were coming out of their slump. However, worldwide demand still remains relatively weak and global construction inflation is expected to ease in 2004, according to a forecast by Gardiner & Theobald Inc. In its twelfth annual survey of international construction costs conducted exclusively for ENR, the London-based international project and cost management firm reports that construction inflation averaged 3.3% for 20 nations in Europe,
SAFE Fixed sites are more secure than transmission lines. The costs for contractors working in a war zone have become shockingly apparent in recent months as insurgents have made targets of civilians reconstructing Iraq and Afghanistan. While acknowledging the human costs, contractors are cautiously continuing to execute their contractual obligations and to pursue new contracts there. The financial risks are manageable, most say. At least 10 employees of prime contractors or subcontractors have died in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, according to published reports. In addition, three have been injured and an engineer kidnapped. He was later released (ENR 12/8
ASSEMBLY REQUIRED With outside help, China is becoming a global equipment powerhouse. While manufacturers join a continually growing pool of foreign competitors in China’s $8.4-billion equipment marketplace, sales in the rest of the world are getting stronger after a three-year buying drought. Following a modest 1 to 2% price inflation this year in North America, where international prices typically are at their highest, analysts now think that China’s sudden influx of research, development and manufacturing will have prices there skyrocketing in the next five to seven years. That eventually could match the developing nation with its Japanese, Korean and western
WHAT'S NEXT? Technology is challenging architecture as the hallmark of terminal design. (Photo courtesy of Foster and Partners) Gone are the days of V-shaped runways, quonset huts and complacency, replaced now by parallel runways, plugged-in terminals and uncertainty. Since the first flight by the Wright Brothers a century ago, aviation has evolved from early feats of daring to a multibillion-dollar industry that has relied on equally great feats of engineering and architecture to capture first the imagination and then the expectations of the traveling public. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the subsequent recession shook the industry and redefined
Designing and constructing airports, already a most complicated building type, has become a constant exercise in adapting to change. Nobody could have predicted the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which devastated the already depressed aviation industry, frightened the flying public, and necessitated a host of new security procedures and architectural changes to support them. Continuing terrorist threats, repercussions from the deregulation of the aviation industry in 1978, recession and high diesel fuel prices have brought some major U.S. airlines to the brink of bankruptcy recently. That sent airport construction spiraling downward, to a record-low level of just 25 million sq
International travelers are taking to the skies again after staying earthbound in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. The increasing passenger traffic is rekindling global interest in airport investment, but with new design priorities based on technology and jumbo jets. Globally, airport investment is "by and large picking up," says Gilles Hondius, director of The Hague-based Netherlands Airport Consultants B.V (NACO), which has focused solely on airport planning and design for more than 50 years. In Europe, former Communist countries are increasing airport spending as their economies improve, says Hondius. "A lot of airports
U.S. airports are finished with last year’s Transportation Security Administration deadline to install baggage screening systems and now are pressing designers, contractors and vendors to take those systems in-line. That means getting bulky explosion-detection machines out of lobbies, installing belts that take bags to discreet screening locations and upgrading to the newest, most sophisticated detection machines. "Airports are trying to get to the long-term solution, getting that equipment fully integrated into mechanical conveyor systems within the terminal," says Mike Steer, air transportation director in the Hunt Valley, Md., office of URS Corp. "That’s the next wave of improvements." "Over the
Aviation construction is back on the runway and gaining speed, thanks in part to the growth of low-cost carriers such as JetBlue and Southwest. They are pumping figures back up for passenger traffic despite the lingering financial woes of major carriers. That has regional jet expansion playing a key role for airports looking anew at master plans. For example, JetBlue expects to invest about $500 million in airport facilities over the next few years. While security remains the top factor, capacity and other issues are reboarding, too. "The industry is moving forward. I’m not jumping up and down for joy,
When the new $1.9-billion Airtrain opens Dec. 17 in New York City, it will be the first time light rail has connected Manhattanites to a New York City airport. Internmodal transportation advocates mark the opening as an example of North America’s slow but steady progress toward improving airport connectivity. Construction of the precast segmental guideway snaking 8 miles to connecting subway stations went more smoothly that on its sister system for New Jersey Transit, a $354-million monorail to Newark Airport that required $25 million to repair shortly after it opened. But the Kennedy Airport job was delayed a year by
Challenges in the construction business often come into focus around issues of individual projects and their execution. But successful companies stay on top of the game by keeping an eye on the larger view to balance resources across multiple projects, all of the time. After years of concentrating on project management, scheduling and collaboration tools, an increasing number of software developers and Web services providers now are developing tools to enhance the enterprise-level view. They are developing products to either gather, integrate and analyze data generated by multiple tools, or they are offering single-database, across-the-board solutions for all business operations.
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