Balfour Beatty plc, the U.K.-based global construction giant, announced Sept. 17 that it would acquire US engineering stalwart Parsons Brinckerhoff, New York City, for $626 million. The deal, which officials say would keep 13,000-employee PB in tact as a wholly-owned subsidiary, is still subject to approval by shareholders of both firms. Related Links: Work on Brooklyn Arena Could Begin Soon Construction Costs Fall in NYC Developer of Pier 57 Transformation Announced Mohegan Sun Selects Cubellis to Design and Build Two New Restaurants NYC Announces New System to Track Inspectors Leaguers Headquarters Breaks Ground in New Jersey NYC Public School Converts

Related Links: First Impressions Professional Accreditation With the release of LEED v.3 came an upgraded version of LEED Online, a tool teams use to manage project registration and certification. Although it is still early in the process, initial experiences with the new online tools have been mixed. “The new system will be easier to navigate, once you get use to it,” says Jason Kliwinski, director of sustainable design, The Spiezle Group, Trenton, N.J.. “The interfaces are a little different but it certainly helps folks understand the process better.” But the system can be slow. “I have used it in terms

Related Links: Sustainable Classic Here’s a breakdown of the 44 points that Skanska’s Empire State Building offices garnered to earn LEED Commercial Interiors Platinum status: • 6 points for sustainable site (e.g., bike rack encouraging alternate transportation) • 2 points for water efficiency (e.g., low-flow toilets, hand sensors on faucets) • 12 points for energy and atmosphere (e.g., efficient lighting systems) • 8 points for materials and resources (e.g., construction waste recycling, recycled material use) • 16 points for indoor environmental air quality (e.g., daylight exposure, low VOC paints) • 5 points for innovation, design (e.g., green cleaning guidelines, ISO

Related Links: First Impressions LEED Online In conjunction with the release of LEED v.3, USGBC transferred the certification of LEED professionals and building certification to the Green Building Certification Institute. The process for accrediting professionals has also changed. Now there are three tiers of LEED professionals; LEED Green Associates, LEED AP+ and LEED AP Fellow. “Prior LEED accreditation was something accessible to people regardless of their role on the design team or their expertise in working with LEED and sustainable design,” explains Andy Hathaway, Director of Sustainability Consulting, Steven Winter Associates, Norwalk, Conn. “You have over 100,000 LEED accredited professionals

McGraw-Hill Construction estimates that the value of green building construction starts grew five-fold from 2005 to 2008 and will more than double over the next five years reaching $96-140 billion in 2013. Helping to fuel the growth is state and local legislation mandating green building and the integration of sustainable building practices into building codes and regulations. Russell Unger: “I think in the high-end market, green building is standard. When you go outside that market, the cost, the expertise ... is still not there.” Over the last nine years LEED has evolved and grown. Rating systems are now available for

The Empire State Building was a marvel when it debuted as the world’s tallest building in 1931. Built in 18 months, the 102-story building kicked off a race for urban construction heights that continues today. Photo: Skanska USA Skanska USA was recently awarded LEED Platinum status for the $4.6 million fit-out of its own corporate headquarters at the Empire State Building. Related Links: Getting to LEED Platinum It’s only fitting that a recent $4.6 million fit-out in the building may set the benchmark for what it costs, what it takes, and how much can be saved in the long haul

With growing interest in sustainability, greater numbers of people are recognizing the benefits of becoming a LEED AP certification, with 132,052 individuals having achieved the rank at the end of June, up from 77,689 at the end of 2008. Image: FXFOWLE EPSTEIN An aerial view of the green roof planned for the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. “Within the design profession, if you cannot do a LEED building, you will lose out,” says Bruce Fowle, senior partner with FXFOWLE in New York. “We get requests for proposals asking about the number of LEED accredited professionals we have.

Changes in LEED version 3 also known as LEED 2009, are focusing project teams on strategies to save energy and water, reduce CO2 emissions and address issues impacting their region. Related Links: LEED Online Professional Accreditation In prior versions, credits were all created equal. DEANE “Measurement and verification of your mechanical system was given the same weight as a bicycle rack,” says Michael Deane, vice president and chief sustainability officer at New York-based Turner Construction. Critics charged that weighing credits equally did not properly emphasize energy consumption and climate change impacts. Others complained LEED did not account for regional differences

New starts are off, but many owners ready to move forward are still seeking greener structures. “Sustainable design is more important than ever, and the recession validates it is not about initial costs; it’s about operating cost,” says Rick Bell, executive director of AIA New York. Photo credit Ramapo College of New Jersey Ramapo College of New Jersey installed a geothermal system on its new Spiritual Center. Related Links: Top Green Design Firms Bill Amann, board chairman of U.S. Green Building Council New Jersey, president of M&E Engineers in Somerville, N.J., and chairman of the Somerset County Energy Council, says

On May 29, using words like “historic” and “groundbreaking,” New York City’s Construction Industry Partnership between union labor and contractors announced a project labor agreement both sides said would breathe life into an industry that had begun to circle the drain. Photo: Michael Falco Lou Colletti (far left) and Gary LaBarbera (far right) on the site of Tower 111, one of the first jobs that began after the passage of the project labor agreement. Since September 2008, the construction industry - already nursing a hangover from the city’s six-year development boom - had been bleeding jobs. After the collapse of