Courtesy of C3TS/Stantec Inaugural poet and engineer Richard Blanco delivers a poem at 2008 groundbreaking for Miami urban project he helped design. Related Links: Inaugural Poem: "One Today" by Richard Blanco, P.E. Blanco Poem at 2008 Groundbreaking for City of South Miami, Sunset Drive Improvements Richard Blanco, who wrote and delivered the Inaugural poem "One Today" at the Jan. 21 second-term swearing-in of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden, made history as the first Hispanic gay man and, at 44, the youngest person selected as the inaugural poet.He also carries the distinction as the first civil engineer with
Related Links: How DPR Construction Pushes Innovation and Industry Change-ENR Contractor Business Quarterly DPR Construction, the building contractor and construction manager that has built itself into a $2-billion-a-year business on high-tech construction and a push for innovation, appears to be trying something else relatively new—a big acquisition.In its first major purchase, DPR announced Jan. 18 that it plans to buy Hardin Construction Co. LLC, the Atlanta-based general contractor that would further boost the Calfornia firm's national scope.DPR, based in Redwood City, plans to buy 100% of Hardin shares from its manager-owners in a move that expedites regional growth.DPR ranks at
Related Links: Board of Michael Baker Corp. Starts 2013 Facing Big Decisions The board of engineering firm Michael Baker Corp. has begun 2013 facing new pressure from stockholders who have sought for months to boost the publicly held firm's share value. The Pittsburgh company's board announced Jan. 7 that its "independent" members will now seek new "strategic alternatives," including an unsolicited buyout offer it received last month from a financial-firm investor. The tumult, which includes the ouster of CEO Bradley L. Mallory, may signal new challenges for the industry's public firms—particularly smaller ones—at a time of changing market conditions. SHAWThe Michael
Related Links: DC Capital Partners Sends Letter to Michael Baker Board of Directors Crescendo Partners Sends Letter to Board of Directors of Michael Baker Corp. Michael Baker Corp.-investor relations page The board of engineering firm Michael Baker Corp. starts 2013 facing new pressure from stockholders who have been seeking to boost share value for months. Now one of the Pittsburgh-based firm's investors is pushing a buyout offer, with another urging it to accept. The overture comes in the midst of a search for a new CEO.The board and long-time Chairman Richard L. Shaw, 85, have to make a "compelling case"
Related Links: See Who Else in the Industry Has Moved Up, or Moved On HopkinsJohn L. Hopkins, Fluor Corp. group executive for corporate development and new ventures, will retire in March to become CEO of NuScale Power, a Portland, Ore.-based nuclear-power R&D startup firm in which the contractor is the majority investor. He replaces Paul G. Lorenzini, also NuScale Power's co-founder, who will become a firm consultant.Hopkins, also formerly president of Fluor's government group, joined Fluor in 1984. NuScale Power is developing a technology for a small modular reactor (SMR). Lorenzini has led the firm since 2007, when it
Related Links: Global Acquisitions Fall in Q3, But Strong Activity in Some Areas CB&I Makes $3-Billion Bid for The Shaw Group Nuclear Plant Fix Central to Duke CEO Ouster After Utility Merger Merger and acquisition activity was hot in 2012. Some surveys maintained that M&A numbers fell off this year as global economic trends made buyers more cautious, but others say company consolidation was steady. While there were numerous transactions involving small and midsize firms, the year also featured one deal that, if it is completed early next year, will become one of the largest ever in the industry: Woodlands, Texas-based
Related Links: N.Y. Concrete Test Firm Testwell Found Guilty of Racketeering 2011 indictment of American Standard Testing & Consulting Labs, owner and employees (PDF) In another action linked to an ongoing probe of fraudulent concrete testing in New York City, American Standard Testing and Consulting Laboratories Inc., its owner and several employees have pleaded guilty to falsifying testing and inspection reports on some of the city's largest public and private projects, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said on Dec. 14.The guilty pleas follows the August 2011 indictment of the firm, owner Alan Fortich and five engineers for submitting
SNC-Lavalin has key role in team winning $2.1-billion light rail line in Ottawa, Ontario, with award announced on Dec. 5. Related Links: Efforts To Restart Libyan Projects Land SNC-Lavalin in Controversy Ottawa Light Rail line website With the Nov. 28 arrest of its former CEO for alleged fraud on a large Montreal project, a new chapter opens in the ongoing probe of contracting improprieties involving SNC-Lavalin, the global design-build giant based there.Pierre Duhaime had been "relieved" from the post in March, with a retirement package after the firm's internal review found he approved improper payments to agents on overseas projects.The
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers Global economic uncertainty generated fewer acquisitions in 2012, but there were three 'mega-deals,' each worth more than $1 billion when completed. Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers Acquirers are also focusing on synergies in deals, as well as "human capital and a technological competitive edge." Related Links: PricewaterhouseCoopers/engineering & construction EFCG Inc. Morrissey Goodale AEC Management Solutions The buying and selling of firms in the engineering-and-construction sector, particularly across borders, has fallen off this year as participants "wait and see" whether global economic, financial and political signs improve, say merger-and-acquisition industry experts.Financial investors appear to be stepping into the E&C sector in
Courtesy of O Empreiteiro Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, dead at 104, created the modern city of Brasilia and other iconic buildings around the world. Courtesy of government of Brazil As in this 1950s-era cathedral in Brasilia, Niemeyer's emphasis on curves pushed Brazilian engineers to new levels of innovation to accommodate the untested designs. Related Links: Architectural Record slideshow of Oscar Niemeyer's well known buildings Homepage (in English) of Brazil Construction Publication O Empreiteiro The idea of moving Brazil's capital to the undeveloped interior dated to 1789, but it took until 1957 for work to begin. Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, along