Summer may be high season for construction, but contractors in the Midwest have lowered their sights this year due to the lingering effects of recession in the region.
As they sift through debris from one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history, designers, builders and inspectors in Joplin, Mo., are evaluating the condition of the structures that survived the May 22 disaster and learning more about those that did not. Courtesy Thornton Tomasetti KILLING FLOOR An EF5 tornado cut a mile-wide swath through the heart of Joplin, Mo., leaving more than 150 people dead. The Reston, Va.-based American Society of Civil Engineers sent a technical assessment team to Joplin to evaluate the extent of the damage and determine whether modifications to ASCE standards are warranted.ASCE also plans to
More than four years after an EF5 tornado flattened Greensburg, Kan., and killed 11 of its 1,500 residents, business and home owners continue to rebuild in a fashion that embraces sustainable design, if not more stringent building codes. Related Links: Joplin, Mo., Devastated by May 22 Tornado, Learning Lessons From Rubble “We adopted the International Building Code in 2006 and haven't made any changes since then,” says Greensburg Mayor Bob Dixon.However, the majority of those who have rebuilt have incorporated safe rooms into their homes and workplaces. Further, if the rebuilding received financial assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
Like many Chicago executives, Joel Carlins, an attorney and co-chief executive officer at Magellan Development Group, used to occasionally take a break from work to play a round at Metro Golf Center, a nine-hole recreational oddity shoehorned among office towers lining Chicago’s lakefront.
Investigators will require months to determine the causes of accidents in two cities that killed three union ironworkers on Feb. 8. The family of the ironworker who died in suburban Chicago has filed a wrongful death suit, alleging contractor negligence in the collapse of a steel structure that struck him at a hospital project site. In the other accident, in New York City, it is not clear whether two workers who fell 65 feet were wearing protective equipment. The family of the Chicago ironworker, Kenneth Puplava, 43, has filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court, naming contractors at the Glenbrook
Investigators will require months to determine the causes of two accidents that killed three union ironworkers on Feb. 8. Photo: Courtesy of Goldberg, Weisman & Cairo Ltd. Wrongful death lawsuit alleges that defective welds were a factor in fatal beam collapse. The family of the Chicago ironworker, Kenneth Puplava, 43, has filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging contractor negligence in the collapse of a steel structure that struck him at a suburban hospital construction site. The suit names the project’s general contractor, Pepper Construction Co., Chicago, and its steel erector-fabricator, Lejeune Steel Co., Minneapolis, which employed Puplava. Puplava
Investigators will require months to determine the causes of two accidents that killed three union ironworkers on Feb. 8. Photo: Courtesy of Goldberg, Weisman & Cairo Ltd. Wrongful death lawsuit alleges that defective welds were a factor in fatal beam collapse. The family of the Chicago ironworker, Kenneth Puplava, 43, has filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging contractor negligence in the collapse of a steel structure that struck him at a suburban hospital construction site. The suit names the project’s general contractor, Pepper Construction Co., Chicago, and its steel erector-fabricator, Lejeune Steel Co., Minneapolis, which employed Puplava. Puplava
Taking its cue from the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED building certification program, a new Illinois initiative seeks to incorporate sustainable design and construction practices into state road and transportation projects. Like LEED, the Illinois-Livable and Sustainable Transportation (I-LAST) Guide establishes a scoring system for planning, design and construction to “preserve natural resources and encourage low-impact forms of transportation,” says Doug Knuth, project chair with the American Council of Engineering Cos. of Illinois, which developed I-LAST in association with the Illinois Dept. of Transportation and the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association. The program is the latest in a growing
MADIGAN Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a motion with the Illinois Supreme Court seeking to stay a lower-court ruling that would halt the state’s multi-year $31-billion public-works program. The controversy could imperil transportation, school and other construction projects throughout the state. A Jan. 26 appellate court decision found the state’s 2009 capital bill unconstitutional, ruling it violated a “single subject” clause of the state constitution. The bill called for supporting public-works projects with tax hikes on liquor, candy and video gambling as well as an increase in license-plate sticker fees. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers supported the measure
