About two out of three of the 14 leading providers of liability insurance to design professionals say they paid a claim of $1 million or more in 2013, and about one out of five report that their largest claim was between $10 million and $19 million.That was one of many facts and trends reported in the annual survey of most large professional liability insurers by Ames & Gough, the Washington, D.C.-based broker. The survey shows that 2013 was a second consecutive year of modest premium price gains by the insurers.According to the survey, rate increases on renewal of 2% to
A state court in Texas restored some order to U.S. contractors' general liability insurance, limiting insurers’ efforts to narrow what is considered an “occurrence” covered under a policy. Insurers have been trying to eliminate coverage for defects in the contractor’s own work.The issue has come up in several states in recent years, and state legislatures have stepped in several times to restore coverage through laws.The current case originated in Texas and was widely watched as a bellwether.In an opinion issued January 17, Judge Phil Johnson of the Texas Supreme Court ruled that general contractors don’t “assume liability” for damages arising
Courtesy Canadian Fuels Association Greenhouse gas emitters, such as a Shell refinery in Quebec, pictured above, can now trade carbon credits purchased in the Canadian province or in the state of California. Related Links: EPA Proposes to Cut Carbon Emissions at New Powerplants Climate Change Plan Offers Opportunities for Innovation The governments of California and Québec have become the first in North America to link their greenhouse-gas cap-and-trade systems, enabling companies to swap GHG emission allowances or credits in a joint carbon market. The agreement, which took effect on Jan. 1, follows new regulations in both jurisdictions requiring companies to
Standard and Poor's Standard and Poors Ratings Service report highlights private-public partnerships. Related Links: Standard & Poor's report Pension funds, insurance companies and other big institutional investors could help shrink the mammoth $500-billion-a-year worldwide infrastructure financing gap by 2030 if they follow through on meeting their own investment-mix goals, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service says in a new report.In its report, released on Jan. 16, S&P estimates institutional investors could contribute as much as $200 billion a year for infrastructure between now and 2030—or a total of $3.2 trillion during that span. (S&P and ENR are units of McGraw Hill
City of Ottawa The Civic Centre in Ottawa includes Lansdowne Park, where corrosion issues have added to costs. City of Ottawa Elevation of Lansdowne Park in Canada shows box girders and seating tray. Corroded steel in the roof structure over the open-air seating tray and other parts of the stadium-arena reconstruction at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa has added an unexpected $17 million (C) to the cost. The debate over who foots the bill is changing the terms of the city's deal with its redevelopment partner, Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG).According to the original terms of the partnership, OSEG would
Related Links: Link to Golden State Capital Website As India’s real estate sector suffers from a liquidity crunch and continues to undergo growth pains as it moves towards maturity, San Francisco-based private equity firm Golden State Capital (GSC) is viewing Foreign Direct Investments into the arena of office assets.With construction costs rising in India, the firm is confident on the long-term potential. GSC is looking at a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) “of above $500 million … [with] assets built and leased in the last two to four years in a very competitive environment, besides stabilized assets with blue-chip tenants,”
Photo by Tudor Van Hampton for ENR Patrick Allin, Textura chief executive and co-founder, met with upbeat investors on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on June 7 to watch the company trade its first shares on the open market. Related Links: Textura Wows Wall Street With Cloud Collaboration A short-seller known for hitting companies hard in published reports has accused construction software maker Textura Corp. of misrepresenting its financial prospects and the background of its chief executive and co-founder, Patrick Allin.Textura's shares (NYSE: TXTR) fell 17% in trading on the day the report appeared, Dec. 26th, and
Related Links: Walsh Chosen as Preferred Bidder for Ohio River Bridge Responding to the demands of potential lenders and concessionaires, sureties may play an important role in expanding public-private partnerships in the U.S. by providing a new type of completion and payment bond, according to speakers at the International Risk Management Institute’s construction conference in San Diego held Nov. 17-21.The new bonds would allow P3 project lenders or developers to make a claim for cash while the majority of the guarantee would be fulfilled in the traditional manner, with the surety investigating the claim and controlling the method of completion.P3
Image courtesy of the Atlanta Braves The proposed $672-million project, to be located near the intersection of interstates 75 and 285, will include the ballpark (pictured in blue), as well as related development and parking space (in red). Related Links: Falcons Firm Up Stadium Design, Construction Teams Minnesota Stadium Amenities Likely Getting Trimmed to Meet $975M Cost Estimate The Atlanta Braves shocked baseball fans and local contractors alike Nov. 11 when the team announced a pending deal to build a new, $672-million ballpark in Cobb County, Ga., near the Interstate 75/I-285 interchange. That same day, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed added
Photo By Tudor Van Hampton for ENR Minutes after Chicago Infrastructure Trust green-lighted its first project, a reporter interviews Steve Beitler, CEO, while Claire Tramm, energy program director, looks on. Related Links: Whatever Happened to Chicago's Plan to Privatize Building Improvements? Gettin' Chicago Movin': Mayor Rahm Emanuel's New Infrastructure Trust After more than a year of deliberating over various public-private investment schemes, the newly-minted Chicago Infrastructure Trust has unanimously passed a roughly $30-million project to retrofit 75 city buildings using a novel financial instrument that pays for the work through the job's long-term energy savings."It's pretty clever," said Claire Tramm,
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