Rocky economic times, green infrastructure, lean construction and helping the industry be heard were themes at the Associated General Contractors of America convention in Orlando on March 17-20. AGC has to be about “the industry, not about the politics,” says AGC’s new president, Ted Aadland, CEO of Aadland Evans Construction Inc., Portland, Ore. “We can’t afford to be a partisan organization. We need to work with elected officials in both parties on the issues.” Aadland said AGC is like “the sleeping giant”—members can “wake up” to influence those who make codes and regulations and reach out to other construction associations

Trying to make the impossible possible is the kind of challenge that Daniel Groves likes. His latest success: Directing development and launching a national labor supply/demand forecasting model for the nonprofit Construction Workforce Development Center.

This year, for the first time, ENR will not be mailing out printed copies of the ENR Top 100/400/500 survey forms. The surveys will be online and can be completed through our interactive online form. Survey participants already on our mailing list will receive a letter containing the company ID and password needed to complete the online form. Others also can file online or download and print out the survey from ENR.com in .pdf format or as a zipped set of .doc files. If you need a company ID and password or have other questions about the survey process, please

When major owners stepped up and starting requiring contractors to improve safety, they got results. At its national conference, the Construction Users Roundtable announced plans to help improve construction industry productivity, as well. + Image Source: EMCOR Group Inc. Safety and productivity go hand in hand. CURT plans to work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to implement recommendations from the National Research Council study published last summer. A key initiative is establishing a “universal metric on measuring productivity,” said CURT President Egon Larsen, manager of construction engineering at Air Products & Chemicals, Allenton, Pa. CURT will help

A disconnect between marketing and business development can always make it challenging for AEC firms to get work. But the problem can be acute during difficult economic times, said marketing experts at a think tank in New York City on Nov. 13. The event was organized by the SMPS Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes research and education. Source: Robert Buday, “Integratin g marketing and busines development in profesional services Firms: Findings from a 2007 Blom Group survey,” research report , Blom Group LLC, Dec. 2007. Managing Demand Creation: Who is in charge ? “The most vexing question” is why marketing

Chongqing, a metropolitan area with 31 million people, took center stage at a conference that drew almost 400 construction professionals to the heartland of China. The Nov. 5 event focused on how to achieve sustainable development, a central issue for this city, which is expected to “urbanize” another 500,000 rural residents next year alone. Slide Show CHONGQING City in central China has 31 million people, and it is still growing. The city is located at the center of China, and although it is not familiar to many Westerners, it is playing a major part in the economic development of the

Glenville elementary school in Greenwich, Conn., had been living for almost 30 years with a noisy open-plan design and a lack of natural light and fresh air, problems that put it high on the school board’s list for renovation. Greenwich, Conn. Photo: Turner Construction Elementary school solar plan was brought back to life with energy retrofit funds from ARA. Related Links: NY: Brookhaven National Laboratory Gives Green Light to New Light Lab�s Contractor NJ: New Jersey Shore Road and Bridge Project Will Create 500 Stimulus Jobs Photo: Courtesy of Solyndra Cylindrical shape of solar array allows light from any direction

Glenville elementary school in Greenwich, Conn., had been living for almost 30 years with a noisy open-plan design and a lack of natural light and fresh air, problems that put it high on the school board’s list for renovation. Greenwich, Conn. Photo: Turner Construction Elementary school solar plan was brought back to life with energy retrofit funds from ARA. Photo: Courtesy of Solyndra Cylindrical shape of solar array allows light from any direction to be captured and converted. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot of Top Shovel-, Wrench- and Pencil-Ready Projects Planners also hoped to demonstrate energy conservation and efficiency by

Columbia University’s first forum on construction-project leadership was built around the theme that project success requires leadership in addition to management. The forum drew more than 100 industry professionals to the New York City campus on Aug. 25. Prevailing theories of project management are often inadequate because they largely ignore the dynamic environment of projects, particularly construction projects, said Alexander Laufer, director of the university’s Center for Project Leadership. Laufer, a professor of civil engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, is a visiting professor at Columbia and established the center there last year. “For years, theorists have

The Construction Users Roundtable will be helping the industry forecast labor supply and demand with a Web-based data-collection and forecasting tool. Owners and contractors who enter data will be able to run forecasts at no charge. The tool is a result of an initiative, commissioned by CURT, and managed by the non-profit Construction Workforce Development Center. About 50 owners have been using the database and inputting demand-side project data since February. The supply side of the model launched in mid-June, and 27 contractors have input craft labor availability data, according to CURT’s workforce consultant, Daniel Groves. The model is available