In the warm, waning days of summer, mechanical crews are replenishing their ranks in a push to bring the $1-billion Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago on line by late fall. “We peaked with 80 workers or so, then got really skinny for awhile,” says Scott Tranter, group vice president with The Hill Group, the project's Franklin Park, Ill.-based mechanical contractor. “Today, we're back up to about 25.”The task at hand is almost a project unto itself, one of several Hill has tackled as the 23-story structure has taken shape on the campus of Northwestern Medical Center,
Rather than wait and see whether modest gains in construction activity this summer heralded a return to economic stability, many builders in the Midwest and elsewhere are heading for the exits. Related Links: Although national construction employment inched to a 15-month high in July and remained virtually unchanged in August, “unemployed workers are leaving the industry at seven times the rate they are finding jobs in it,” says Ken Simonson, chief economist with the Arlington, Va.-based Associated General Contractors of America.“We need a recovery to market to the prospective work force,” says Anirban Basu, chief economist with Arlington, Va.-based Associated
Hollywood producers love a good sequel. But what about road engineers? While a successful movie's return squeezes extra profit out of a film franchise, a valuable highway follow-up cashes in on the lessons learned from previous work, yielding infrastructure that holds up over time. On the other hand, the engineering equivalent of a bad movie is a bloated boondoggle of a road that cracks under pressure. Related Links: From ENR's Archives: Tight Focus, New Mix Puts Wacker Drive Back in the Loop Official 'Revive Wacker Drive' Site Video: Rebuilding Chicago's Wacker Drive In the case of Chicago's Wacker Drive, an
SCHMALZ The LiRo Group, New York, hired Richard Schmalz as vice president. He will head the firm's engineering division and will direct all design engineering activities, including civil, structural, transportation, traffic engineering and landscape architecture projects.WINCKOAmy K. Wincko, first vice president of construction operations for Tishman Construction Corp., an AECOM company, was awarded the Corporate Professional Achievement Award at the Professional Women in Construction's Salute to Women of Achievement luncheon in recognition of her management role on major projects. These include 1 WTC, the World Trade Center Hub and 4 WTC. Wincko has been with Tishman since 2001.The McGraw-Hill Cos.,
DePaul University is taking a break from brick. Image Courtesy of DePaul University DePaul University is constructing a new glass-enclosed theater building. In a departure from the climbing vines that define its Lincoln Park setting, the Chicago-based university has broken ground on a $69-million Theatre School Building whose translucent facade seeks to open a window to the world of the performing arts.The architect is New York City-based Pelli Clarke Pelli rather than longtime DePaul collaborator Antunovich Associates, a local firm whose masonry-oriented architecture complemented both the campus and its surrounding neighborhood.The Pelli concept, which locates a window wall on the
Summer may be high season for construction, but contractors in the Midwest have lowered their sights this year due to the lingering effects of recession in the region.
HILBOLDT Jane Hilboldt has been named central regional director with Women Construction Owners and Executives USA, an organization representing women owners and executives in the construction industry. Hilboldt, who is one of six regional directors for WCOE, is chairman and CEO of Hilboldt Curtainwall Inc., St. Louis. William F. Baker, a partner with Chicago-based architect/engineer Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, has received a 2011 Outstanding Projects and Leaders Lifetime Award for Design from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Baker, who is a structural engineer, is best known for developing the buttressed core design of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest
“If we’ve done our job, nobody knows about us,” he says. “If the building stands up, if it’s attractive and comfortable and everything is performing as it should, you’re not going to be thinking about the engineering.”
Building Bridges Large transportation projects such as the Miami and Glasgow bridge replacements in Missouri are helping to sustain Omaha-based architect/engineer HDR Inc.
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