Related Links: Laing O'Rourke boosted by improvement down under AndrewsVeteran global executive Mark Andrews has joined U.K. construction firm Laing O'Rourke as managing director of its Middle East operations, primarily focused in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Most recently, he was chief operating officer of Arabtec Holding, a UAE-based construction services firm that ranks at No. 135 on ENR's list of The Top 250 Global Contractors, with more than $2 billion in 2013 revenue. Andrews also was formerly CEO of U.K.-based engineer NG Bailey and North American chief for global manufacturer Pirelli Power Systems and Cables, and held
Richard "Dick" Geary, who rose from a Kiewit Corp. highway project engineer in Oregon to president of the giant contractor's corporate unit that won and executed its signature I-15 design-build project in Utah in the 1990s, died on Oct. 19 in Lake Oswego, Ore.
Related Links: EFCG Website ENR 2014 Top 500 Design Firms Overview: A Recovery in Need of Speed ENR 2014 Top 225 International Design Firms: The growth in the global market for design services has stalled, spurring firms to broaden their search for work Growth and profitability appear to have dropped as top concerns in an annual survey of 214 global engineering CEOs, but the chiefs pushed mergers and acquisitions up the priority list in 2014, even as they debated the strategy's merits on Oct. 16 in New York City.At the conference held by industry broker and management firm EFCG, the
Along with new cost impacts that Houston-based Willbros Group Inc. announced on Oct. 22 from “deterioration” of an unidentified northeast U.S. oil and gas pipeline project that will require it to restate results, the contractor has reshuffled its top management.John T. McNabb II has been named CEO, immediately replacing Robert R. “Randy” Harl, who has expedited his retirement from Jan. 2. McNabb, who is vice chairman of investment firm Duff & Phelps, has been a Willbros director since 2006 and now also becomes chairman. Harl, CEO since 2006, had been chairman and CEO of Kellogg Brown & Root. Willbros also
A U.S. District Court judge in Newark, N.J., has ordered Gordon D. McDonald, a former project manager at two New Jersey Superfund sites, to pay $4.36 million in restitution for his role in a $1.5-million bid-rigging, fraud and kickback schemes involving subcontract awards.In an Oct. 20 ruling, Judge Susan Wigenton said that nearly $4 million of the judgement against McDonald, a former project manager for Niagara Falls, N.Y.-based Sevenson Environmental Services Inc., would go to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.McDonald was convicted last September on multiple counts and now is serving a 14-year prison term. At the time, the U.S.
Photo courtesy of ABA construction forum Construction attorneys at American Bar Association Chicago meeting shared strategies for ID'ing untruthful trial participants and covering added risk in teaming arrangements and project delivery, Related Links: American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry Teaming arrangements on many projects are creating new legal hurdles, such as protection of proprietary information, equipment ownership and the departure or termination of team members, according to Dallas attorney Charles E. Hardy."It can get expensive if you're not protected," he said during the fall meeting of the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry.The former counsel for
Photo by PR newswire $6-billion LNG project in Hackberry, La., set to break ground next month, will challenge region's craft-labor supply. Related Links: Chemical company Sasol to begin construction on $8B ethane cracker complex near Lake Charles Website for AGC National Worker Shortage Survey and Regional/State breakdowns The construction craft and professional worker shortage is worsening, says a new Associated General Contractors' survey of 1,000 construction firms, but the workforce outlook did not appear to daunt chemical giant Sasol from making, on Oct. 27, a final investment decision for its $8.1-billion ethane cracker in Lake Charles, La., that anticipates a
Charles F. Vachris, a Yale University honors engineering graduate who went on to found his own geotechnical and foundations engineering firm, died on Oct. 7 in Flower Hill, N.Y. He was 75. The apparent cause was a heart attack, the firm said. Vachris founded Vachris Engineering pc, based in Garden City, N.Y., in 1982 after working in his family's construction business and was its president. He also served in the Army Corps of Engineers and obtained a master's degree in engineering at Columbia University. Vachris, who was a member of The Moles, a national heavy construction professional group, since 1968,
photo courtesy of U.S. Africa Command The U.S. Africa Command is assisting in equipment and personnel support in West Africa. Related Links: U.S. Africa Command website World Bank Ebola Website With the deadly Ebola virus spreading in West Africa—and beyond—global industry firms are helping with relief efforts in the region and coping with impacts on projects. The outbreak, which the World Health Organization says has killed some 4,500 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone this year, threatens growth in the region.Earlier this month, Fluor Corp. won a $21-million task order under its U.S. Army Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP
Related Links: Website of RWDI On line death notice of Walter Podolny Jr., memorial service details Online obituary- Henry C. Hines Website of The DiSalvo Engineering Group WilliamsColin J. Williams, 66, an expert in microclimate impacts on building performance and founding partner of Canadian design firm Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin, died on Sept. 17 in Elora, Ontario. The cause of death was cancer, says the company. In a 40-year career at the Guelph, Ontario, firm, he helped grow it from a small regional company to a 400-person global consultancy, says CEO Michael Soligo. Williams “was a much published author