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
Long-awaited link across the bay will ease traffic and create a signature gateway to Mumbai PHOTO BY JANICE L. TUCHMAN FOR ENR ? Inclined. Two four-legged pylons lean together, creating a formwork challenge. div id="articleExtrasA" PHOTOS LEFT COURTESY OF HCC; PHOTO RIGHT BY JANICE L. TUCHMAN FOR ENR ? Tower Head. Anchorage boxes were fabricated on-site to close tolerances and assembled in sections, with care for the exit angle of the guide pipes for the stay cables. div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" By Janice L. Tuchman in Mumbai with Neelam Mathews After years of legal delays, monsoons, heavy lifting and a
After years of legal delays, monsoons, heavy lifting and a lot of fancy formwork, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, a 4.7- kilometer viaduct with two cable-stayed spans, made its final connection on April 20 and is slated to open to traffic in mid-May. When it does, the bypass over the sea will cut the time of a trip across Mahim Bay in Mumbai, India, from about 40 minutes to just six. Slide Show Photo: Janice L. Tuchman / ENR Two four-legged pylons lean together, creating a formwork challenge. Drivers who had to suffer through 23 traffic lights to make the trip
Bernard Amadei, engineering professor at my alma mater, the University of Colorado-Boulder, was slowing down late last year to teach and write more after seven hectic years of trying to build the group he founded, Engineers Without Borders-USA. Then ENR called to tell him he was the 2009 Award of Excellence winner. But Amadei, his family, CU colleagues and industry associates were excited and gracious in allowing us to report his story and that of EWB-USA participants. Photo: Michael Goodman / ENR Rubin’s interviewing started at CU with Amadei. ENR takes home four Neals. Editor-at-Large Debra K. Rubin has covered
In the busy swirl of preparing for ENR’s Award of Excellence event on March 26, I am reminded that Senior Editor Tom Sawyer and New Orleans Correspondent Angelle Bergeron started writing about the world’s deltas when they covered Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath on the Mississippi River delta. That research led to writing ENR’s Award of Excellence story about Ed Link, who led the team that performed an intensive analysis of the Louisiana flood-protection system after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Photo: Boniface Bigornia Sawyer mingled with world’s delta experts. Much reporting for this week’s cover story comes from Sawyer’s recent
Workshare provider Satellier and its 40-year-old CEO Michael Jansen are working to take building information modeling out of the confines of the workstation. "We are experts at sharing work remotely," says Jansen, who has built a thriving outsourcing practice in India that extends the resources of high-profile design firms around the globe. Photo: Satellier New system combines telepresencing and customized work-flow software. Related Links: Tool To Create Interoperability Standards Expected by Year-End Modeling Pathfinders Impatient To Have A Much Fuller Digital Toolbox Digital Box Satellier is implementing a new system that combines telepresencing using iRooms (a kind of video conferencing
Timing is everything. With the nation buzzing about the economic stimulus package—considered extremely likely to include billions of dollars for infrastructure—the American Society of Civil Engineers brought 80-plus experts together for a critical infrastructure summit. The meeting was part of ASCE’s long-range planning effort, but attendees found themselves discussing the next few months as well as the decades to come. Blaine Leonard, ASCE president-elect and research program manager of Utah Dept. of Transportation, told attendees at the Dec. 8-10, Landsdowne, Va., session that their mission was to begin to identify how organizations that work with multifunded, multijurisdictional, long-term construction and
The world is changing for owners of all sizes as they venture into virtual design and construction. A few years ago software developers were the ones pushing building information modeling, but owners now see themselves advocating for the tool that can lead to project collaboration. Few have even tried, much less embraced, multiparty contracts, however, where core members of the team share in project risks and rewards. Rendering: Vico Software Source: McGraw-Hill Construction, 2008, Building Information Modeling Study Related Links: Building Team Views Technological Tools as Best Chance For Change Virtual Collaborative Charrettes Give Glimpse of Future Forum Tackles Teamwork
Economist keynoters set the stage by forecasting a recession that will be long but shallow�and definitely global. But the Construction Users Roundtable, meeting at its national convention, didn�t dwell on the negative. Attendees explored how to at�tract and retain the next-generation workforce as well as core issues like safety and cutting-edge contract documents. Jocelyn E. Scott, vice president of engineering for DuPont and chairwoman of the event that drew almost 500 attendees to Rancho Mirage, Calif., Nov. 10-12, said CURT turned to member-firm �millennials,� construction peers born after 1981, for ideas about future workers. Committee members interviewed them and presented
