The construction industry is no stranger to the benefits of design-build delivery. It's well known that design-build can streamline budgets and schedules, provide single-source accountability with minimal change orders and, ultimately, deliver a high-value product for the owner when compared to traditional delivery methods.While it's true that not all projects are a perfect fit for 100% design-build delivery, it's also true that design-build is not an all-or-nothing proposition.Bridging design-build, in which the owner engages design professionals to do some preliminary design, has been the most common compromise between traditional delivery and 100% design-build. While guaranteeing certain design aspects of a
Once upon a time, project scheduling was a core methodology used to develop, monitor, report and, most important, direct project execution strategy. However, financial and contractual stakeholders soon spotted the schedule's wealth of data. Things haven't been the same since. Financial departments started to require the schedule's level of detail, work breakdown structure and reporting processes. These demands weakened the schedule as a temporal tool.But it was the contractual sector that drove the final nail into the schedule's coffin. There must have been some "Reese's Peanut Butter Cup" moment when some consultant accidentally realized a "new use" for the Critical-Path
Slide Show Ray Sepesy, Woodward Building, Ballantyne Corporate Park, Charlotte, N.C. ENR's 2011 Photo Contest Winners Related Links: Judging the ENR Photo Contest: Hows and Whys View Slideshow The 2011 Runners-up All 2011 submissions ENR’s annual photo contest brings attention to inspiring construction photographs and the workers and projects they depict. But the contest is also designed to show appreciation for the people who take their cameras onto jobsites, often under difficult conditions, and capture great images.The construction industry simply wouldn’t have these pictures otherwise.So we thank photographers like Veronica Romitelli, who slogged through the mud of a cold riverbank
The life-cycle costs of the facilities we design and build are under pressure as our clients face more global competition, key resources—such as skilled labor, water, energy and materials—grow scarce and government support dwindles. To address such challenges, engineering and construction participants must step outside our day-to-day frame ofreference and question whether our current paradigm allows us to develop needed solutions. Is our business model broken?Engineering and construction (E&C) is one of the world's largest industry sectors. It accounts for 9% of U.S. gross domestic product and more than 11% globally. Today's projects are larger and more complex than ever,
Recently, a Navy commander overseeing 44 active construction sites for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest removed a site safety officer and a project superintendent from a $100-million jobsite in Southern California after workers struck several underground utility lines. Althoughno one was injured, the strikes constituted serious safety infractions. As the commander saw it, the supervisors were not doing the job, which was unacceptable.This incident is not an anomaly. As T.B. Penick & Sons' safety director, I feel the same way as my boss, Tim Penick: The Navy will not stand for lapses, even when no one is hurt. For
The sluggish U.S. economy has exacerbated a challenging situation for architects, engineers and construction professionals. Not only do they face a landscape marked by fewer projects and greater competition, they also are being pushed by owners to bear contractual responsibility for risks associated with activities outside their controland beyond the scope of their professional purview.On the surface, it might seem good business practice to use negotiating leverage in contracts to try to shift as much project risk as possible to those doing the work.However, a general misunderstanding between owners and their attorneys with respect to the roles and responsibilities among
The recent Education Report cover story, "Lifelong Learning: Engineers Grapple With Barriers to Access and Delivery", emphasized the importance of lifelong learning for engineers, focusing primarily on classroom and online instructional settings. However, engineering is as much an art or craft as it is a science; it requires experience and know-how as well as information. In other words, it involves the exercise of skill, not just an awareness of facts and techniques.That is why engineering prowess is usually described in terms of competence, rather than in terms of intelligence. Engineering licensure is meant to authorize only those with sufficient competence
A recent change in a common risk-management activity poses new risks to your firm and its bottom line. Although the change may represent just more paperwork to some, new language in standard insurance forms regarding notices of termination affects all of construction. It's important, and it could cost you big money, no matter what kind of company you operate.Construction contracts often contain a provision that requires a contractor working on behalf of another contractor or an owner to hold harmless and indemnify the other parties—that is, the contractor or owner. To assure sufficient assets are available to back an indemnity,
The line between criminality and regulatory non-compliance grows fainter every year. A reading of the indictment brought against ex-Louis Berger Group CEO Derish Wolff, for which he appeared in court recently, is full of details that provoke questions about Wolff's actions and whether a judge or jury will find him guilty. A dramatic case could be presented about war-profiteering. However, there are reasons to ask if this should have been a civil lawsuit instead of a criminal case.On the surface, the charges are serious. They involve Berger's former chief financial officer, Salvatore Pepe, and its former general accounting manager, Precy
While one natural disaster does not predict another and a double disaster is unlikely to repeat itself, Hurricane Irene and the Virginia earthquake, much like the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March, are chilling reminders that past experience is seldom an infallible guide to the worst-case scenarios thatinform structural design decisions. Engineers would do well to ponder the difference that a slightly stronger earthquake could have made on preparations for and damage from the storm that followed.Taking natural disasters one at a time, 20th-century style, should no longer be an option. Structures are best designed by considering the effects of
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