AP photo Construction industry firms and observers weigh impacts and benefits of oil price movements in 2015 on sector work and company growth. Related Links: Contractors Get A Reprieve At the Pump U.S. Energy Policy Shaped by Natural Gas and Renewables Development in 2014 Rusk O'Brien Gido: Five Takeaways on 2014 The slide in oil prices is starting to play havoc in bottom-line results among sector firms that had not anticipated such a rapid falloff, as owners foresee project impacts and engineering and construction firms that geared up for larger roles in a booming market hope for the best and
Related Links: $5.25-Billion Panama Canal Expansion Program Moves Into the Final Leg Panama Canal Owner and Contractors Agree to Final Cost, Schedule Terms Panama Canal construction consortium Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) has confirmed the filing, made late last month, of more than $737 million in new claims to owner Panama Canal Authority (ACP) just as the contractor touts a favorable ruling Dec. 31 by the $5.25-billion project's disputes board related to two previous claims. GUPC may still challenge the panel decision, which awarded it only $234 million of about $463 million it had sought.GUPC, led by contractors Sacyr
Aiming to raise funds for the Cooper Union—the elite engineering, architecture and arts college in Manhattan whose financial realities led administrators this past fall to begin charging tuition to incoming students for the first time in more than a century—a group of alumni has launched a not-for-profit consulting firm they hope will generate donations from users of the expertise of more than 12,000 CU graduates who will provide wide-ranging business advice. Related Links: Another college tuition nightmare: Even "free" college isn't free anymore Life After Tuition: A Tale of Two Cooper Unions Cooper Union The Cooper Union Alumni Advisory Service,
ENR Larry Weyers is elevated to CEO of Manitowoc crane-making unit as equipment giant's structure may change. Related Links: Manitowoc Company should consider split Equipment manufacturer The Manitowoc Co. Inc. on Jan. 6 said it elevated Larry Weyers to president of its cranes unit. He will succeed Eric Etchart, who was in the role for eight years and becomes corporate senior vice president for business development. Weyers, who joined the Wisconsin company in 1998, was global executive vice president for Manitowoc Cranes. The corporation also makes food-service equipment. Manitowoc also elevated Josef Matosevic to senior vice president of global operational
ENR The sale of design-build giant URS Corp. to AECOM in a $6-billion deal creating a 90,000-person global firm was a hot story for ENR in 2014; how the firm fares in merging operations will be closely watched next year. Related Links: Environment Year in Review: Clean Air Regulations Were Big Washington Focus in 2014 Energy Year in Review: US Policy Shaped by Naturas Gas and Renewables Development Buildings Year in Review: U.S. Supertowers, Megaprojects Retake Center Stage Technology Year in Review: Robots on the Jobsite Advancing in Construction Equipment Year in Review: Pickup Truck Wars Industry consolidation moved to
Related Links: Sacramento Bee: Chinese firm for Bay Bridge produced flaws in another huge project Fluor Settles With Utilities in U.K. Wind-Farm Construction Dispute Challenges Are Ahead for KBR's New CEO on Board in June Two large global design firms are ending 2014 by announcing major corporate changes that reflect the year's industry trends of rampant consolidation and shifting markets.To bolster its North American presence and global environmental and water infrastructure work, Denmark-based engineer Ramboll Group A/S on Dec. 17 said it acquired Arlington, Va.-based consultant ENVIRON Holdings Inc., which had $294 million in global 2013 environmental, safety and health
ENR Michael Caliel, an IT sector veteran, now will lead the global drilling-water services contractor. Layne Christensen has high hopes for Michael J. Caliel, who takes over on Jan. 2 as president and CEO of the U.S.-based global water management, construction and drilling contractor, after a 2014 of tough business breaks.The former IT sector chief was tapped earlier this month to succeed board Chairman David A.B. Brown, who took those roles temporarily in June, following the sudden resignation of former CEO Rene J. Robichaud in the wake of big bottom-line issues.According to analysts, Robichaud stepped down in what Layne Christensen
Related Links: Parsons Corp. Expands Presence in Canada Transport Design Bowles is back, this time to help Kidder expand further in California Windfarms in Australia may be blown away as Prime Minister Tony Abbott lauds coal Rider Levett Bucknall, a U.K.-based cost and project management consulting firm wth more than 120 offices and 3,200 staff globally, will not replace Lance Taylor, CEO of its 400-person U.K. division in London, who left the firm in September. Instead, it will share his executive responsibility among six division board directors to promote what it calls a more “collegiate” management approach, according to British
AP Photo Ex-MWH Global engineer Matthew Huang and his wife, Grace, are suing his former employer related to a troubled deployment to Qatar. Related Links: Construction Industry Learning Goes Borderless: Adjusting Training to Differing Cultures Jan. 6 Practicing Law Institute seminar with Donald Dowling: Developing International Employee Handbooks, Global Codes of Conduct and Cross-Border HR Policies While construction-industry firms that deploy expatriates to far-flung and risky global jobsites have taken notice of the saga of one MWH Global Inc. engineer caught in a two-year legal wrangle in Qatar with new U.S. developments, employment experts say the situation is highly unusual.Matthew
Michael Goodman for ENR Derish Wolff in 2003 as he appeared on the cover of ENR. Related Links: Louis Berger Group Completes Compliance Overhaul U.S. Charges Ex-Berger Group CEO With Overbilling Scheme Probe Leads to Wolffs Likely Exit From Berger Derish Wolff, the former chief executive of Louis Berger Group, pleaded guilty Dec. 12 to inflating overhead rates for work on cost-reimbursable U.S. Agency for International Development contracts and now faces a possible prison sentence and heavy fines.His sentencing is scheduled for March, 2015.The plea agreement in federal court in Trenton represents a bitter conclusion to a career in which