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
Related Links: Bucking Trends, CH2M Hill Is Set To Hire 500 Engineers in the U.K. 2012 London Olympics Procurement Is One For the Record Book Global engineer-construction giant CH2M Hill Ltd. has named Jacqueline Hinman, president of the firm's international unit, as its next CEO, effective Jan 1. The promotion will make her the first woman to lead a multi-billion-dollar firm in the industry.The Denver-based company reports total revenue of about $7 billion and 28,000 global employees.In the new role that was announced Sept. 16, Hinman, 52, will succeed Lee McIntire, 64, a former Bechtel executive who has led CH2M
Related Links: An Engineer Blows the Whistle on Itself to the World Bank SKM to Acquire U.K. Consulting Firm Large Engineering and Architectural Firms Explore New Strategies to Survive the Slump In a cross-border acquisition that many in the global engineering sector had been anticipating in recent weeks, Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced Sept. 8 that it has reached agreement to buy Australian design firm Sinclair Knight Merz for about $1.2 billion.The deal is set to boost Jacobs' role in mining and infrastructure markets in Australia and elsewhere, and would provide SKM with a link to a well-heeled parent
Related Links: See who else is moving up, or moving on in the AEC sector Chell A. Roberts is named founding dean of the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at the University of San Diego (USD), Calif., which will be formally inaugurated on Sept. 26. He had been executive dean of the College of Technology and Innovation at Arizona State University, Tempe, and also served as its engineering chair.RobertsThe school was launched last fall with a $20-million donation from Darlene Marcos Shiley. Her late husband, Donald Shiley, a hydraulic engineering graduate of the University of Portland, Oregon, was an entrepreneur and
Corps of Engineers Morris (far right in hardhat) observes recovery activities in Buffalo, N.Y. after 1977 blizzard. Related Links: Memoir of Lt. Gen. John W. Morris, December 2000 (Link to PDF) Family obituary and memorial donation details Lt. Gen. John W. “Jack” Morris II, who led the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1970s through an agency revamping and a period of tough scrutiny from regulators and environmentalists, but also one in which the Corps managed two huge and politically charged construction programs, died on Aug. 20 in Wilmington, N.C.His son, Col. John W. Morris III (ret.) confirmed the
Only 21% of respondents say their company incentive plans are "very effective." Related Links: Website of FMI-Industry Management Consultant While most contractors now have employee incentive plans and offer them to half of their staffers, on average most rely on “discretionary” plans that do not note bonus goals in advance or what it takes to earn them, says a recent survey of 224 contractor executives by industry consultant FMI.Only 21% of respondents say plans were “very effective,” says FMI."The biggest surprise in conducting this study was that majority of construction companies are spending significant dollars on their incentive compensation programs
Related Links: Reducing Project Conflicts in A Virtual Workspace It may take a village to raise a child, but to execute today's construction projects, which grow ever larger in scale, complexity and global reach, it may take an international array of participants to design, build, supply and manage.Cloud computing, ever-more-virtual reality and powerful collaboration tools are helping far-flung work teams compress their schedules. But the new rules of global workflow are not without problems.Global participation in design is not a new phenomenon, but how these teams get their work done is changing, firms say. The global work approach, now used
Courtesy of Virginia Tech Virtual is a reality in project work by global participants in a lab-created shared cybergrid environment. Researchers say the approach reduced the impact of cultural differences and time spent resolving conflicts. Can global project design and construction teams work more effectively in a totally virtual environment, rather than face to face? Industry professionals and academic researchers at six universities are now experimenting with the approach on real projects in cyberspace.The research, funded for the past four years by the National Science Foundation, the Construction Industry Institute and other groups, is an effort to develop virtual tools
Related Links: Firms See Some Uncertainties in Hot Global Energy Market Weakened results were in store for some publicly traded engineering and contracting firms for the quarter ending in June, with problem projects and delayed contracts shrinking their bottom lines.KBR "mildly disappointed the street" in its second-quarter report, writes Jamie Cook of Credit Suisse. She cites delays in award decisions on large projects such as Canada's Kitimat LNG job, for which KBR is a strong contender, as one culprit. But she also says five "problem projects" are back on track, and KBR "is one of the best-positioned names" in the
