Image Courtesy Trilogy Publications Building team career options are showcased in new book aimed at middle and high school students. Related Links: Introducing Those Amazing Builders Outreach Initiative ENR Book Review-Those Amazing Engineers This story was updated on Nov. 19 to include new details on distribution of Those Amazing Builders and involvement of AEC firms in sponsoring book orders for schools. Pushing to fill gaps in the construction workforce, particularly in the building trades, practitioners have teamed with a specialty publisher to showcase to middle- and high-school students what's "amazing" about industry building careers.Promoters hope to distribute up to 100,000 copies
U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ricardo R. Guzma U.S. Navy helicopter drops relief supplies on Nov. 14 at Tacloban Airfield in the Philippines. View from relief-effort military helicopter shows breadth of damaged area. One week after Typhoon Haiyan hammered the central Philippines, a key road in one of the hardest-hit areas has been cleared and relief aid is starting to flow. But the damage is severe and extensive, and it is likely to be some time before major cleanup and rebuilding can begin.While it was not immediately clear how involved engineering and construction firms would be in
Related Links: 'Process' Rules for University of Houston CM Students Map: Progress of Announced Gulf Coast Megaprojects Could Depend on Staffing Panelists at First ENR Energy Conference on Nov. 15 Note Market's Promise and Challenges If they plan to build it, will the workforce come?That is the question for many as the construction industry—along with owners, educators and economic boosters—scramble to meet current and projected staffing needs for skilled craft, technical, engineering and project-management employees in the wake of what could be an unprecedented petrochemical and energy project boom in North America, particularly along the U.S. Gulf Coast.The surge, driven
Related Links: Big Push To Staff Shale-Gas Projects Contractors and owners in the petrochemical and industrial marketplace in Texas and elsewhere may get an early Christmas present this December, when the University of Houston's construction-management department graduates the first students from its new process and industrial (P&I) track.The focused curriculum, which began in 2010 at the urging of energy-sector firms, is unique among U.S. engineering and construction schools, says department Chairman Neil Eldin.The P&I track includes engineering, construction and business courses similar to the school's commercial-focused CM track. But the 11-course program, primarily taught by industry experts, focuses on process-oriented
The off-year election on Nov. 5 was light on capital expenditure measures across the U.S., but voters in Texas OK'd $2 billion in water-project funding. In Maine, $100 million in transportation-project bonds gained approval; the American Road & Transportation Builders Association says the measure will leverage $154 million in other government funds.Houstonians, however, kiboshed a $217-million plan to transform the derelict Astrodome into a convention center, and Coloradans said no to a nearly $1-billion tax hike, partly for school construction. The election also swept a former Laborers' union executive into Boston City Hall and moved an attorney with open-shop construction
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