IDE Technologies Ltd., a leader in the global desalination technology market that is owned by two Israeli firms, is set for spinoff next year from its Israel-based corporate owners to boost the have decided to put the company on the block. “There are only a few companies out there that have experience in the field of large desalination plants and this could make IDE very attractive to a major international infrastructure company,” says Chen Herzog, chief economist and energy and infrastructure expert in the Tel Aviv office of BDO Consulting. In order to make IDE more attractive, its current owners are

Bentley Systems Inc., an international purveyor of a broad suite of software for design and management of infrastructure that gets three quarters of its revenue from subscriptions, maintained the same 8% revenue growth rate, in constant currency—an accounting method that filters out exchange rate fluctuation—that it reported the previous two years.CEO Greg Bentley says the company is budgeting for 6% internal growth this year, and also expects to make acquisitions.The 2013 performance self-assessment came during an April 16 analysts’ briefing about the Exton-Pa.-based company. During the call CEO Bentley described the 2013 annual report, which has not yet been released.The

Materials Cement Manufacturer Agrees To Reduce Emissions at Plant Portland cement producer CEMEX Inc., Lyons, Colo., will pay a $1-million civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act in a settlement reached on April 19 between the company and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Dept. of Justice, on behalf of the EPA, filed a complaint against CEMEX alleging that between 1997 and 2000, unlawful modifications the company made at its Lyons plant resulted in significant net increases of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate-matter emissions. As part of the settlement, CEMEX will install selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR)

After tk years as both a participant in and observer of the construction business in New York City and elsewhere, Samuel C. Florman, 88, has finally retired as chairman of building contractor Kreisler Borg Florman General Construction Co. Inc., Scarsdale, N.Y., but not before transferring firm employees and projects to Gilbane Building Co. and penning a memoir last year—Good Guys, Wiseguys and Putting Up Buildings: A Life in Construction—that recounts a colorful career and observations of some of the industry's signature achievements and lowest moments.   A civil engineer and businessman who's also a cogent observer and skilled writer, Florman's memoir

A1This is going to be dummy copy for 2the rather complicated master pages 3of this magazine. Hopefully, there will 4be no rivers nor any other such stuff to 5interfere with the way the dummy text 6looks. There should be noparagraph 7breaks and the voices of the masses 8will dummy everything to the end of 9time while the complicated masters 10reveal their secrets to the dummy 11people who find solace in the ability 12compose dummy text. The pages of 13the book comprise dummy copy and 14the notion of goodness will not be 15what we think it will come to be any

The Top 200 Environmental Firms managed to grow revenue in 2011 despite economic uncertainties around the world and tightening infrastructure budgets in the public sector, traditionally a mainstay for this group. But where one window closed, a door opened for providers of environmental services on the 2012 list. Overall revenue was up 5%, to $54.1 billion, a slower rise than the 6.2% of the previous year but buoyed by increases in non-U.S. work and private-sector activity, which each exceeded 20%.The domestic market still made up a major share of firms' revenue base, but completed projects and changing public-sector spending patterns

Augmented reality is a technology that overlays new text and graphics onto a single live view, generally in real time, on a device’s viewfinder (ENR 4/9 p. 17).BRPH Architects-Engineers Inc. (No. 309) has become one of the first design firms to test augmented reality as a design tool, says Cris Vigil, BRPH senior vice president. While special-izing in complex facilities, BRPH was searching for a way to draw on the expertise of its various offices, he notes. How could the firm best take advantage of building information modeling in a collaborative environment across its five offices?BRPH uses augmented reality in

India and China’s past disputes over border issues are now moving to the economic front. As China becomes India’s largest trading partner, Chinese construction companies are gearing up to cash in on by Indian plans to invest over $1 trillion in infrastructure in the next five years.Chinese enterprises have already completed infrastructure projects in India worth more than $10 billion and are involved with nearly $6 billion in projects in nearby Sri Lanka. China has become a larger presence there than even its traditional investor-donors, India and Japan. India’s discomfort was clear when prospective bidders for the 22-km long bridge

Over the past fifty years, construction management has evolved from its role as the owner's liaison with prime contractors to its new role of coordinating the technical and functional dynamics of complex building programs within any one of an “ever-hybridizing” array of delivery methods. So it is no surprise that a “one size fits all” approach to CM has gone the way of steam shovels.“Today, one size fits one,” says Blake V. Peck, president and chief operating officer of Fairfax, Va.-based construction management firm McDonough Bolyard Peck Inc. (MBP). “Every owner, every project is different, and the construction manager has

Architect of the Capitol U.S. Capitol Visitors Center “It’s not enough to be great,” says Susan S. Klawans, Gilbane Building Co.’s director of client satisfaction. “You need to be able to satisfy clients and build long-term relationships. Repeat work driven by long-term relationships is the cornerstone of our business, and we’ve been doing it 134 years.” It works. About 70% of Gilbane’s clients are repeat business and 30% is new market growth, says Klawans. “We’re relying on satisfied clients and architects to be our champions with the new clients,” she says. In addition to Klawans’ oversight, Gilbane has a number