The Top 25 Newsmakers of 2004
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Dirty construction practices in or near operating hospitals and other health centers contribute to an infection problem that, each year, kills up to 90,000 patients and costs facilities millions of dollars. Public health specialists Judene Bartley and Andrew Streifel moved to change this situation by creating the Infection Control Risk Assessment, which is becoming the standard for clean practices in health-care construction. They succeeded in having the process included in critical hospital design guidelines published by the American Institute of Architects. Now, more contractors are contractually responsible for hospital jobsite cleanliness. Upcoming guidelines will specifically address new construction, in addition to renovations and additions. Jeffrey S. Russell, chairman of the civil-environmental engineering department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been a key player in engineering education reform, including the American Society of Civil Engineers’ efforts in 2004 to implement the "body of knowledge" concept in civil engineering. It seeks to broaden skills, knowledge and attitudes that research shows are critical for 21st-Century engineering graduates. The approach incorporates new areas of study, such as leadership and public policy, into existing curricula and accreditation. Now being tested at U.S. universities, BOK is one of engineering education’s most significant innovations, and ASCE is first among engineering societies to implement it.
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| Juiced. California grid got needed boost. |
The nation was shocked by big power blackouts in 2000 and 2003, but they brought little investment to the decrepit U.S. transmission grid. An innovative public-private partnership, however, has broken a long-standing bottleneck in California’s grid, known as Path 15. Tom Boyko, project manager for the Western Area Power Administration, led the agency’s effort that included a merchant-power developer and a utility to boost the 84-mile line’s 3,900-MW capacity by 1,500 MW. Path 15 was energized at the end of 2004 but has already attracted interest from utilities elsewhere that seek to upgrade their own systems. (Photo left courtesy of Western Area Power Administration)
Streamlining agency spending habits and contracting oversight, Virginia Dept. of Transportation Commissioner Philip Shucet is winning the trust of the state’s controversy-weary contractors and motorists. Shucet boosted agency accountability with new approaches, such as Dashboard, the most comprehensive online project status tracking system in any state DOT. He also implemented a new cost estimating system that has reduced margin of error from 187% to 30%, and has expanded interface with contractors and cities in executing and managing local construction programs. VDOT has already met its entire fiscal 2005 goal of 68% of construction contracts finished on time, up from just 22% four years ago. And it has increased the number of jobs finishing within budget.
The $419-million Miami Performing Arts Center was a poster child for bad project relations until Miami-Dade County appointed consultant Ron Austin as its new director of construction. The project had mushroomed to 600 days past its original deadline and $67 million over budget. He implemented a project-wide pact that forced contractual collaboration among site architects, engineers and contractors, and settled hundreds of claims already escalating to the $100-million mark. Under his leadership, site parties agreed to meet a fixed completion date and to pay completion costs if that deadline is missed. Austin engineered processes for dispute resolution and contractor cost reimbursement, and instilled a proactive project-wide culture.
Dimitris Kallitsantsis accepted the challenge to build, under huge time and political pressure, the structurally challenging roof for the main stadium of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. With many months lost to upfront politics, the managing director of Athens-based Aktor A.E., was pressed to direct design and erection of the 20,000-tonne structure. Roof arches span more than 300 meters, forcing construction in two halves on either side of the stadium. They were pushed together with only weeks to spare. Sharing his country’s view that the stadium was a key global symbol of the Greek Olympics, Kallitsantsis and his team persevered under the international media’s critical gaze to complete work just in time for the roof to become the Games’ landmark. (Photo right by Peter Reina for ENR)
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| Grim Search. Rescuers reach a construction victim in debris of collapsed casino garage. |
Capt. Scott Evans of the Atlantic City, N.J., Fire Dept. epitomizes the professionalism and yeoman efforts of firefighters and rescue personnel who often risk their own lives to save construction workers when accidents happen in one of the nation’s most dangerous industries. He led firefighters in searching for and rescuing workers trapped in the harrowing collapse of the city’s Tropicana hotel-casino garage in October 2003. He and others crawled through voids in unstable debris, in what became an intense 22-hour operation that found at least 21 workers still alive. Evans also served on a state rescue task force that shored the building and recovered remains of four who died. Evans’ effort illustrates how rescuers can use all available resources and tap specialists when needed, avoiding turf battles that can hamper and even endanger rescue success when time is so critical. (Photo above right courtesy of New Jersey OEM Urban Search and Rescue)
Efforts to reduce extended overtime, absenteeism and work disruptions on union jobs rolled into action this year when Steve Satrom used his leadership role in the Construction Users Roundtable to propel a "tripartite initiative" signed in 2003 by 44 major owners, eight contractor groups and the 15 unions of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Dept. Satrom, a general manager at Air Products & Chemicals, and the other tripartite representatives, are determined to improve conditions that affect the profitability of union projects. Union leaders are updating 50-year-old pacts governing union jurisdiction. Contractor groups now encourage a "three strikes and you’re out" policy for unexcused jobsite absences and use of extended overtime as a last resort instead of standard practice.
A neighborhood school that uses its design to focus on teaching science and math in South Central Los Angeles promises to be a national model for inner city schools. The $48-million Science Center School, a partnership between the school district and a state-owned museum, might never have happened without museum CEO Jeffrey Rudolph’s effort. He assembled financing from many sources and incorporated a 19th-Century federal armory into the design, saving it from demolition. The school includes a hands-on lab and space for teacher training and community activities. Striving to cut costs and improve product performance and safety, Fred Smith, entrepreneur and innovative president of Arva Industries, consistently generates quality in the development of new construction equipment. When the Canadian military recently sought a high speed front-end loader-backhoe to support combat troops, Smith invented the MultiPurpose Engineering Vehicle, which cruises at up to 62 mph in all terrain and weather. He also has recycled old excavators into rugged lattice-boom cranes, and delivered a custom-built self-propelled tunnel ceiling panel fabrication and lifting system. On one Boston Central Artery/Tunnel job, it saved millions of dollars and cut the schedule by 40%.
R. Clay Paslay, executive vice president of airport development at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, is taking its $2.7-billion construction program to a new level. He implemented a bilingual safety program on site that trains an underserved Hispanic community and has drastically cut lost time hours. By convincing site contractors to donate 15¢ per man-hour, the program has $2.5 million to spend on training. Paslay also directed implementation of the world’s largest airport facility to treat deicing runoff, and has championed new benchmarks for airport facility maintenance. At the same time, he has kept program cost growth to 6% annually, compared to industry norms of 10 to 40%.
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| Innovative. Shop-fabricated docking buoy was installed to receive vaporized LNG at Gulf terminal. |
Even as demand for natural gas grows in North America, communities still fight construction of new liquefied natural-gas terminals. Kathleen Eisbrenner, president of Excelerate Energy, is leading a team that is trying a new approach. The firm’s novel gas import system regasifies LNG on board a tanker and feeds the vapor directly into offshore pipelines that tie into the national pipeline grid, requiring minimal fixed construction. The first Energy Bridge terminal in the Gulf of Mexico is now in operation, and Excelerate is developing one more off the Massachusetts coast.
(Photo right courtesy of Excelerate Energy LLC)
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed New York City’s World Trade Center and killed 2,700 occupants, the building design and construction community was besieged by criticism that the buildings themselves were at fault. While aware that totally defensible buildings are an impossible dream,...
...industry professionals feared responding because some critics are family members of 9/11 victims. Fire code consultant Richard C. Schulte used his professional training, experience and logic to advocate that the public was being misled into believing that tall buildings could, and should, be made terrorist-proof. His words have resonated with the industry, and Schulte, who runs a one-man operation near Chicago, has come to symbolize the frustration and concern of professionals coming to terms with the attack’s impact on future building design and construction.
Faced with a shortage of skilled workers, the union sector of construction is eyeing returning and unemployed military veterans to fill the gap and launch new careers. The new employment opportunities are coming from Helmets to Hardhats, a Web-based recruitment program run by a labor-management board of trustees. The brainchild of Joseph Maloney, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Dept., it has grown from one veteran placement in a building trades apprenticeship program in 2003 to 13,540 placements by fall 2004. Next year, H2H will expand to recruit construction managers.
John Moores, owner of baseball’s San Diego Padres and the city’s designated developer of a new sports village district, went where no developer has before. He risked millions of his own money to transform San Diego’s most derelict district into a vibrant 24/7 community that could be a model for other urban sports development. Moores’ unique deal with the city obligated him to develop a ballpark, and more than $300 million of residential, hotel and retail space. The controversial program was halted by opponents for 13 months, which cost the team $65 million, but it has now far exceeded expectations. Moores’ development has been a catalyst for $1.2 billion in additional private projects in the 100-block district, and property values have soared.
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| Sticking it. New material is like steel-belted duct tape. |
A new product called Hardwire inexpensively and elegantly fills a niche between carbon fiber and steel rebar in reinforcing structures ranging from big-box store floor slabs to public buildings threatened by terrorist attack. George Tunis created it in a Maryland garage, using the same steel-belt technology long applied to reinforcing radial tires. The material, dubbed "steel-belted duct tape," is applied using common construction tools and adhesives to retrofit or repair structures. The military is researching Hardwire as lightweight vehicle armor, and its use in bolstering plywood may make frame houses hurricane-resistant.
Tasked with launching the massive $18.4-billion U.S.-funded effort to rebuild Iraq, retired U.S. Navy Adm. David J. Nash stepped up to lead the Pentagon’s streamlining of a complex military procurement process to rapidly award reconstruction work, even as hostilities continued. Under Nash’s direction, the Iraq Program Management Office mobilized contractors, workers and equipment to the war-torn country. Despite insurgent attacks and escalating security concerns and costs, more than $1 billion in construction contracts was put in place between March 2004 and Nash’s departure from Baghdad in September.
Thomas Rogér, a vice president at Gilbane Building Co., channeled his post-9/11 grief over the loss of his daughter Jean, a flight attendant on American Airlines’ Flight 11, into a crusade to impart an engineer’s technical savvy and a survivor’s sensibility into the delicate process of reconstruction at the World Trade Center site, particularly the memorial to victims. Roger’s role as pro bono technical director to the largest 9/11 family group has involved almost weekly trips to Ground Zero from his New Haven, Conn., job as project executive for that city’s $1.2-billion school reconstruction. He has carved out a key role in helping reconcile survivor emotions and the physical, economic and political realities of site reconstruction.
In 2000, Richard H.F. Jackson was chosen to lead FIATECH, a new consortium of facility and infrastructure builders and owners. He was tasked with helping the construction industry find useable technologies to improve project delivery. Propelled by Jackson’s missionary zeal in turning fragmented problems into clear action plans, FIATECH has become a powerful agent for innovation and change. Its Technology Development Roadmap, delivered in 2004, has already identified technology answers for project delivery problems. Practitioners, academics and funding sources, both inside and outside industry, are finally getting a clear message about construction’s needs and are coordinating efforts to meet them.
Completion of Iraq’s Highway 1 construction project had languished for two decades, but when the U.S. invaded in 2003 it became critical as the lifeline for endless convoys and the country’s economic rebirth. U.S. Navy Lt. Li-Ping Sung, project manager and liaison to local contractors, U.S. diplomats and Iraqi politicians, steered the project through insurgent violence and political minefields to meet a tight deadline to finish a 144-km highway gap in advance of a massive troop rotation. Military commanders recognized the Highway 1 project as the most important construction job for U.S. forces in Iraq.
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| Corrosive? Industry was warned that lumber could impact fasteners. |
Development of practical devices to monitor flood scouring that can cause catastrophic bridge failures by loosening supports long eluded inventors until Joe Scannell, president of U.S. Engineering Solutions, developed ScourWatch. Now used by many state highway departments, the automated data service gathers localized, real-time rainfall data, tracks movement of storms, and matches volume and velocity estimates to bridge-specific engineering data supplied by states. When bridge safety parameters are at risk of being exceeded, ScourWatch alerts engineers to assess the danger and take action.
Gary Johnson, senior environmental engineer at the Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection, crafted a nitrogen credit trading program for the state’s 79 wastewater treatment plants to curb harmful nitrogen discharge into Long Island Sound. Instead of adopting a traditional, prescriptive regulatory approach, Johnson’s plan gives utilities flexibility in reaching stricter nitrogen limits under a three-stage timetable. In 2002, the program removed 2.8 million lb of nitrogen from effluent streams.
As manager of engineering R&D for metal fastener manufacturer Simpson Strong-Tie Co. Inc., Mark G. Crawford led an intensive effort to determine corrosive effects on fasteners and connectors of new types of pressure-treated lumber in the marketplace in 2004 that did not contain chromated copper arsenate. It was phased out due to health concerns. Discovering that some new lumber was up to twice as corrosive to steel fasteners, he launched a national campaign to spread the word on best practices for using fasteners on such materials. The effort helped alleviate potential for failure of improperly used fasteners on structures.
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| Critical Path. Gasoline trucks line up to travel Iraq's Highway 1 to supply U.S. troops. Completing its construction was critical for logistics. |
CH2M Hill’s surprise acquisition of engineer Lockwood Greene from bankrupt J.A. Jones, a risky move that took effect in 2004, typifies Ralph R. Peterson’s innovative leadership that makes him a role model for the 21st-Century industry CEO. CH2M Hill has grown 15% a year since he took over in 1991, an astounding rate for an already large firm. Under Peterson, it has been an innovator in technology development and value pricing, breaking long-held industry norms. He has bolstered employee ownership value without sacrificing attention to corporate governance, even as a privately held firm. And, most importantly, Peterson has emerged as a statesman for issues that affect the industry and the world.
(Photo top by Hardware LLC, middle by Arch Chemicals, bottom by Tom Sawyer for ENR)
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