Related Links: Desalination Advocates are Pinning Hopes on New Plant in California Mining firms BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are moving ahead on a planned $3.43-billion water-supply project for the Escondida copper mine in Chile's high desert. The upgrade will include the largest seawater reverse-osmosis desalination plant in the Americas, says Black & Veatch, which announced on Oct. 29 its selection as engineer-of-record for the facility and related marine works. The plant is set to produce about 220,000 cu meters of water a day.The two mining firms are the majority owners of Escondida, the world's largest copper mine, located 3,100
Related Links: Richard G. Weingardt Website Books by Richard Weingardt ENR Book Review: Engineering Legends, Great American Civil Engineers WeingardtRichard G. Weingardt, 75, a structural engineer who, as a practitioner, author and industry association president, was a vocal advocate for stronger engineering leadership in government and business, died on Sept. 24 in Denver. The cause of death was complications of cancer, says his wife and business partner, Evelyn S. Weingardt."The lower we are moved down the food chain from leadership roles ... the easier [it is] to use 'low bid' to select us," Richard Weingardt said in 1995 as
The estimated $20-billion Four Rivers project, completed in 2011, was designed to restore 900 kilometers of the Geum, Han, Nakdong and Yeongsan rivers, improve flood control and build 14 new reservoirs. Related Links: Water World: South Korea's Four Rivers Restoration A South Korea court has suspended most of the Oct. 21 debarments of at least 10 major Korean contractors from winning government work, according to two of the affected firms.The Korean Water Resources Corp., known as K-Water, had debarred for 15 months Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd., Daelim Industrial and GS E&C related to alleged bid collusion on the
Courtesy of EFCG John Douglas, CEO of Australian design firm Coffey International (right) says the country's economy had a "charmed run since 2008" when other nations slowed down. Now it's "converging with the rest of the world." Brian Conlin, CEO of Golder Associates, says mining will pick up again but possibly not "to the same degree." Related Links: Company CEOs Weigh Business Highs and Lows in 2012 Austerity in public markets in the U.S. and Europe as well as mining-sector falloffs in the Southern Hemisphere are dampening international design firms’ revenue and profits, but CEOs are looking to new markets
Photo courtesy of Barnhart Crane and Rigging Co. More contractors are subcontracting prefabrication, and more who own shops are doing that work for others. Related Links: Link to Full FMI Prefabrication and Modularization Study Fewer contractors have prefabrication shops now than three years ago, but modularized operations are gaining in sophistication, and more firms are planning for prefabbed assemblies during design, according to a survey of 170 firms by industry management consultant FMI released on Oct. 29.The consultant says that 81% of respondents own prefab facilities, compared to 90% in its 2010 survey, and the rate of firms with more
Related Links: Seven Firms Picked for $4B in Guam Work The 2013 Top 200 Environmental Firms ECC corporate website Going to places where few others might tread—be it the Sydney Tar Ponds in Nova Scotia or battle zones in Iraq and Afghanistan—may not have been a cakewalk for Burlingame, Calif.-based contractor ECC, but the tough gigs have paid off sweetly.Since its founding in 1985, the company has quietly grown from a small cleanup firm with $100,000 in sales to a multi-sectored global construction giant serving the federal government—and a changing mix of other owners—with design and construction revenue now at
As the partial government shutdown stretched into its second week, federal agency officials, contractors and sector analysts reacted differently to the effect on contracts, staffing and profitability.On Oct. 15, 10 days after the Pentagon recalled 90% of 350,000 furloughed workers, the Army Corps of Engineers said that new regulatory office closures will halt permit applications and reviews and preconstruction notices.The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Oct. 10 shutdown would not affect jobs of 300 "essential" workers, including nuclear plant inspectors, but has affected staffing that could delay construction approvals at new reactors in Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, says Platt's, which,
Related Links: Hanford Whistleblower Tamosaitis Loses His Job Whistle-Blower Lawsuit Against Bechtel at Hanford Dismissed Walter Tamosaitis, a PhD-degreed research-manager terminated by URS Corp. after he raised safety issues at the $12.2-billion nuclear-waste vitrification plant project at the federal Hanford site in Washington state, says his former employer is holding "hostage" his severance package. He also has filed other lawsuits against URS, which says the cut was financial.Tamosaitis' Oct. 2 cut follows his claims he was systematically demoted in 2010 for whistle-blowing against project managers URS and Bechtel. Tamosaitis told ENR that URS is requiring him to sign a liability
Related Links: U.K. Launches $52-Billion Rail Plan CH2M Hill Tapped To Advise On $26.5-Billion Line in England Speculation is rising that political forces in Great Britain may thwart initial funding for the country's ambitious HS2 high-speed-rail program, now budgeted at more than $80 billion. The Labour Party's shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, questioned whether the money might be better spent on other projects. But U.K. Chief Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander told a civil engineers' transportation conference in London on Sept. 25 that the current government intended to push the project forward and that it was "absolute folly to neglect its long-term
Photo courtesy of ACCE Morley Builders Mark Benjamin (far left), with other former ACCE presidents at an undated association event, was a strong supporter of industry education. Related Links: Link to Tribute Info for Mark & Luke Benjamin on Morley Builders Website Mark Benjamin Speaks on Undergrad Construction Education Santa Monica Plane Crash Victim Remembered as Generous Community Supporter Morley Builders has named Charles Muttillo, a 28-year veteran of the Santa Monica, Calif., building firm and vice president of general contracting operations, as president to succeed President and CEO Mark Benjamin, who died Sept. 29 in the crash of his
