The urgency of the current economic situation means state agencies must re-examine the way they do business, particularly with respect to in-house versus outsourced design work. Conventional wisdom has long favored the cost-effectiveness of private-sector design of public projects. Private-sector design professionals are more efficient. A recent report by Polytechnic Institute of New York University pegs the cost differential between public and private designers at about 14% and substantiates the claim that New York state can achieve significant cost savings by using private-sector engineers. SIMSON Performed at the request of the American Council of Engineering Cos. of New York, the
Safety is everybody’s business in the construction world because the consequences of failure can be catastrophic, as demonstrated by the major crane accidents that kill dozens of people every year. In this light, it is critically important to study near-misses—accidents that never happen because trained and concerned persons are on the scene, a serious safety program is in place or just, plain dumb luck saved the day. The recent case involving a cracked casting in a tower-crane mast at the Blue-Cross building extension in Chicago is a good example of how a near-miss should be handled. The operator heard a
The U.S. Green Building Council has just rolled out the long awaited LEED 2009, also known by some as LEED v.3. It is the first major change to LEED since version 1.0 was released in 1999. In this new version, the USGBC has made some of the major changes that the green building industry has been demanding, but for many on the innovative end of the green building spectrum it will not go far enough. One of the criticisms with the current LEED version has been the inequity of the one point for each strategy system. For example cleaning up
What do chickens have to do with trucks? Plenty, if the trucks are not built in North America and are being imported into the U.S. Pickup trucks and other small trucks are subject to a 25% “chicken tax” protectionist tariff imposed by the U.S. in 1963 after Germany tripled the duty on frozen U.S. chicken products coming into that country. Over four decades later, the world has changed and some innovative products are caught in a bind. Vehicle manufacturing now is clearly a global enterprise, as demonstrated by the sale or pending sale of some of bankrupt Chrysler’s and General
It can be easy in a recession, when millions of people are out of work, to forget the need to recruit new talent. But research presented in “Winning the Global Talent Showdown” (Barrett-Koehler, 2009, $27.95) argues the the world is headed toward a workforce disaster that will outlive many economic cycles if progress is not made soon. By 2020, more than 70 million baby boomers will have retired, leaving 24 million jobs unfilled. Construction is not the only field that struggles; most every field in every country is competing against one another for workers. “We cannot outsource our way out
We live in a more tolerant society, but any experienced concrete contractor will tell you the opposite about the construction business. No building is ever built perfectly, yet contractors (and often, their invoices) are held to theoretical tolerances that are too tough and expensive to meet under real-world conditions. Is it time to consider relaxing design standards to help save money on rework, lost time and litigation? Veteran industry authors Bruce Suprenant and Ward Malisch think so. The two concrete experts have spent decades helping builders overcome such problems as out-of-plumb doorways and curtain walls that cannot seem to square
The federal government has conducted stress tests of financial institutions after lending billions of dollars in the Temporary Assistance Recovery Program (TARP). The main aim of the tests is to determine if banks can survive the economic downturn without additional capital. The idea is to avoid a repeat of the financial crisis that occurred last year when Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and other lenders went bust as a result of miscalculating their risk. What is the impact from misjudging risk on the design and building industry? During a slow economy claims and litigation increase. The economic climate also is forcing
As the global-warming and sustainable-energy bill H.R. 2454 burrows its way through Congress, one important thing to remember, whether you are pro or con, is that change does not happen by itself—someone has to make it happen. Parts of the carbon-emissions argument are controversial for sure with spinmeister Al Gore accused of pushing message at the expense of science. But few tend to argue about other parts of the issue, like the need for more sustainable-energy sources, better energy performance in new and existing buildings and energy independence in general. Photo: Janie Buelow / LAUSD The energy debate ran hot
Merger and acquisition activity has halted recently as many firms have been scared off by the current economic volatility, but there is a strong possibility this situation may change in the second half of 2009. Due to bonding requirements relative to the size of their backlogs, many engineering and construction firms are sitting on cash that exceeds the amount needed to execute the work. Backed by strong balance sheets, E&Cs have split into two schools of thought: ride out the storm with current cash, or use this economic trough as an opportunity to buy smaller firms to provide new growth
Investing in our nation’s infrastructure has the potential to go beyond creating jobs and repairing bridges, tunnels and roads. It can set us on a trajectory for a more sustainable way of life if we start to refashion how we think about public works. Maximizing taxpayer return on these critical investments demands a next generation of infrastructure that is capable of multitasking—working in harmony with, not against, natural systems. This approach should be embedded in communities, offering social, cultural and technical values that can wean us from our petroleum dependence and help us deal with climate changes. Implementing such multipurpose,
RSS