After years of spectacular gains, design-build revenue flattened out in 2001 for the ENR Top 100 Design-Build Firms. Part of the reason for this lack of growth has been a softening in the manufacturing, petroleum and industrial process markets, along with a fall-off in the commercial building markets in many areas around the country. But now, design-build is taking aim at new markets. The Design-Build Institute of America is attempting to open up new markets for design-build around the country. "We are going for targeted outreach for specific markets around the country," says Jeffrey Beard, CEO of DBIA. "We started
When the lights flicker and dim, people understandably are quick to call for construction of new powerplants to generate the electricity they need. And since 1997, the U.S. electric generation plant base has enjoyed a boom unlike any since the 1980s. Last December, Engineering News-Record and The McGraw-Hill Cos.' Power magazine, collaborated to explore that boom and its significance for engineers, constructors and plant owner-operators (ENR 12/3/01). (Photo courtesy of Parsons Brinkerhoff) Powerplants are only the starring characters of a drama that requires the supporting cast of fuel supply and transmission lines to achieve its full impact. As powerplant construction
When the lights flicker and dim, people understandably are quick to call for construction of new powerplants to generate the electricity they need. And since 1997, the U.S. electric generation plant base has enjoyed a boom unlike any since the 1980s. Last December, Engineering News-Record and The McGraw-Hill Cos.' Power magazine, collaborated to explore that boom and its significance for engineers, constructors and plant owner-operators (ENR 12/3/01). (Photo courtesy of Parsons Brinkerhoff) Powerplants are only the starring characters of a drama that requires the supporting cast of fuel supply and transmission lines to achieve its full impact. As powerplant construction
Rip Van Winkle has nothing on the U.S. electric-transmission industry, which has slept for nearly two decades while market restructuring changed the world around it. Now, it's waking up after years of underinvestment, and engineers and constructors are scrambling to prepare for new construction on a scale not seen since the 1970s. Many see the demand coming, but they hesitate to say when it will hit. Few utilities are building more than "Band-Aid-type projects," says Abraham Pichardo, a high-voltage specialist recently hired by Edwards & Kelcey Inc., Morristown, N.J., in anticipation of the boom. "The business has been a little
To contractors and consultants, last year's Enron Corp. debacle looms like an 800-pound gorilla over the natural gas pipeline market. "Ever since the Enron deal, we've seen most of our clients cut back on their capital spending," says David L. Edgar, manager of pipelines for Mustang Engineering Inc., Houston. "We've seen companies that had pipeline projects [planned] shut them down, which caused us to reforecast our revenue for this year." Because many energy companies were tarred with Enron's brush, "financing is real hard to come by," says Lonnie Hamilton, vice president of business development for Willbros Engineers Inc., Tulsa, Okla.
In the heart of Albuquerque lies a maze of Interstate ramps known as the "Big I," a convergence of Interstates 41 and 25. For years the bottleneck has provided a daily white-knuckled driving experience for 300,000 motorists. But a Herculean $289-million, 24-month fast-track project has changed that. "A lot of people said there is no way this project can be completed in 24 months," says Bill Moore, project engineer for New York City-based construction manager Parsons Brinckerhoff. The Big I opened a month early on May 25, with less than 2% in change orders and 2 million work hours without
Officials in Jacksonville, Fla., had two concerns when the city embarked on a $1-billion construction program when another $3 billion of work from other agencies also was getting under way: Would there be enough engineering and construction capacity to handle all of the projects and could they be coordinated for better efficiency? The 10-year Better Jacksonville program, approved by voters in September 2000, was a complex undertaking. But in the fast-growing northern Florida city, the Florida Dept. of Transportation, Jacksonville Transit Authority, the local power authority and some private corporations also were starting significant work. AT WORK Growing Jacksonville, Fla.,
It's an exciting time to be involved in construction and building technology, says James T. Garret, a civil and environmental engineering professor and lab director at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He says there is a huge need for instrumentation and monitoring of infrastructure to better build, manage, protect and maintain it. "A $30,000 BMW has more sensors and monitors on it than a $10-million bridge," he notes. CROSSOVER Linking technology, such as vortex modeling and construction, yields insight. (Graphics courtesy of Flow Analysis Inc.) Yet the potential of technology only starts to be realized when people perceive possibilities and
It's an exciting time to be involved in construction and building technology, says James T. Garret, a civil and environmental engineering professor and lab director at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He says there is a huge need for instrumentation and monitoring of infrastructure to better build, manage, protect and maintain it. "A $30,000 BMW has more sensors and monitors on it than a $10-million bridge," he notes. CROSSOVER Linking technology, such as vortex modeling and construction, yields insight. (Graphics courtesy of Flow Analysis Inc.) Yet the potential of technology only starts to be realized when people perceive possibilities and
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