In response to your article, "Special Report: Which Way the Winds Are Blowing on P3s", the American Subcontractors Association would like to raise your awareness about a concern that construction subcontractors and suppliers have with public-private partnerships (P3s).Specifically, ASA is concerned that existing federal and state laws establishing payment assurances for subcontractors and suppliers may not apply to projects financed through P3s.State mechanic's lien laws generally do not apply to construction on public land; yet federal, state or local governments often own the real estate on which projects financed through P3s are built. Statutory payment bonds may be required on
Related Links: Concrete Goes to College I would like to respond to the numbers game and the "science" that the Portland Cement Association has initiated as reported in Tudor Van Hampton's article "Concrete Goes to College" (ENR 1/23/p. 8).First, Congress is not in the business of selecting materials for roadbuilding. Nor should it be. If congressmen were to dig into life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) as presented by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSH), funded by PCA, they would find the idea of asphalt pavement costing double that of concrete pavement ludicrous.Notice that the CSH has used theoretic estimations
I read with interest your story "Tutor Perini OKs CEO's Stock Sale." This could not be further from the truth.The entire story focuses on the removal of restrictions on my stock as if it were all about the sale of the balance of my interests in Tutor Perini [as opposed to] the manner in which the action was [intended, which was] to remove the restrictions so that if I chose to, I could pledge stock for loans, I could use the stock as an asset, or [I could] pledge it for whatever business reasons I needed to. However, at no
“New Hydro Capacity Coming From Existing Dam Retrofits,” an article that highlighted a hydropower retrofit in Iowa, incorrectly named the firm contracted to do the engineering work. That firm is MWH, headquartered in Broomfield, Colo.
Related Links: Dont Blame The Workers As a civil engineer and a licensed professional engineer, I found your article “Rethinking Wrench Time” to be of great interest. I also have a master's degree in industrial engineering, specializing in quality control, and am a longtime member of the American Society for Quality.For many years, I have been promoting the application of quality-control principles to construction work, and I think this article gives an example of how it may be accomplished. To its credit, the [New York City Transit Authority, or NYCTA] now requires contractors to provide a quality-control manager on major
The story summarized below was written by ENR staff and contributors. The anonymous responses posted by ENR.com readers have been edited. The Diversity ReportIn this special feature, ENR reported that while some firms merely comply with federal rules regarding minorities and anti-discrimination laws, other firms actively and consciously make diversity a core value.Donna Riley of Smith College describes engineering as “a system that is still not inclined to be welcoming.” What a disgusting comment. I have been an engineer for over 40 years with many firms and have yet to experience an engineering organization that discriminated against anyone in any
JULY 31-3 Energy and Water 2011: Efficiency, Generation, Management and Climate Impacts Conference Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Chicago. This event will bring together researchers, regulators, designers, technology developers, students, municipal agencies and utilities, facility managers and operators, industry representatives and other environmental professionals from around the world to share and debate the current state of the water-energy nexus. Technical presentations will be complemented by open discussions. For more information, visit www.wef.org/energy/.AUGUST 3-6 2011 Concrete Foundations Association Summer Convention Wintergreen Resort, Wintergreen, Va. The CFA convention is the only national event dedicated solely to the commercial and residential poured-concrete-wall industry. For
In ENR's June 6 article “Calif. Jury Dismisses Crane School's Suit Against NCCCO,” two previous lawsuits between the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) and California Crane School (CCS) owner John Nypl are described incorrectly. The description of a first suit relates instead to a second lawsuit, while the description of a second suit relates to the early stages of a third, separate Sonora, Calif., case that was just decided by a jury. The actual first lawsuit is not described at all in the article.In the first suit, NCCCO asserted that Mr. Nypl paid an examiner to
Ready, set, enter! ENR’s 2011 Best Projects competition has now begun. This will be the first competition since McGraw-Hill Construction’s former regional magazines were integrated into the ENR brand. “With more than 1,000 entries, the annual Best Projects competition has become one of the premier awards programs in the industry, particularly focusing on an entire project’s life cycle, not just on the design or the construction phase,” says Scott Blair, ENR Southwest editor. Blair has been involved with the Best Projects competition for more than 10 years and led the team that brought the awards program to the national stage
Reader comments are still coming online about “A Cautionary Tale of Virtual Design and Construction: Insurance settlement related to a building information model shows that BIM without communication can be costly” by Nadine M. Post. The piece, published in the May 23 print ENR issue (p. 10) and on ENR.com, describes a dispute that was settled privately involving the design and construction team for a life-sciences building. The job ran into trouble when the contractor could not fit the MEP systems—designed using BIM—into the ceiling plenum. The source about the claim, an XL Insurance vice president, would not name the