Construction Starts Up 5%The dollar value of new construction starts through the first three quarters of 2014 was $419.5 billion, according to McGraw Hill Construction Dodge. That total was 5% more than the same period a year ago. Most of the growth came from a 17% increase in non-residential building, a sector that got a major boost from Atlanta's $948-million football stadium and a $717-million casino in Maryland. Education, the largest non-residential market, increased 34% in September, helped by $250 million for two Texas high-school projects and a $150-million research lab in Cambridge, Mass.Turning Natural Gas Into Plastic North Dakota
Photo Courtesy of DBOX Big Apple's Superslim, 1,396-Ft-Tall Supertower Tops OutWhen complete, the topped-out 432 Park Avenue in New York City will be the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere. At 96 stories, the $1.3-billion building, designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects with architect-of-record SLCE Architects and structural engineer WSP Cantor Seinuk, stands 146 ft taller than the 1,250-ft Empire State Building. Its rooftop exceeds the height of the flat roof of the 1,776-ft, spire-topped One World Trade Center by 28 ft. The project, managed by Lend Lease Corp., is on schedule to be completed in 2016. The tower will
With voters' approval of Miami's SkyRise Miami project, Berkowitz Development Group Inc. is moving ahead with construction of the estimated $430-million observation tower. The dramatic, curvilinear structure was designed by Arquitectonica International Corp. of Miami, with structural engineer Magnusson Klemencic Associates and consulting engineer Cosentini Associates. Related Links: Coastal Construction Rides High on South Florida Surge SkyRise Miami Project Website The site, which juts into Biscayne Bay, is going to make the tower especially challenging to build, says Coastal Construction, which is teamed with Tishman Construction Corp., Florida. "There's really no access," Sean Murphy, an executive vice president with Coastal,
Related Links: North America's Building Trades Unions Website Oil and gas development in the five-state Marcellus shale region in the Northeast U.S. has generated more than 45,000 new construction jobs, says a study commissioned by building trades and and sector union employers.The report, sponsored by the Oil and Gas Industry Labor-Management Committee, studied employment data in all or part of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and West Virginia between 2008 and 2014.Research, conducted by the University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations, was based on data from global industrial market intelligence, National Maintenance Agreement collective bargaining pacts covering 14
Related Links: Morrissey-Goodale website A poor relationship with the boss was the primary reason for firms to lose key hires, according to a September survey of industry firm executives by construction sector management and research consulting firm Morrissey-Goodale LLC, Newton, Mass. The survey found that relationship issues were cited by 24% of the 50 responding executives, including CEOs, presidents and vice presidents of architecture, engineering and construction firms. About 21% of respondents cited the lack of advance opportunities for the departing employees, with work/life balance concerns noted by 16% and compensation/benefits cited by 11%. About 5% of respondents pointed to departing hires
Related Links: Video Backgrounder (YouTube) The Construction PDF Coalition is ramping up efforts to spread the word about adopting the file format as a standard for construction projects.The grassroots group, whose aim is to leverage digital information among design teams, constructors and every touchpoint group along the construction chain, is out with a new website to spread the word: CPCoalition.com."Though PDFs are the de facto format for digital construction documentation, national design standards haven’t yet been defined," the site explains. "This coalition aims to define standards to be implemented at project onset by the project team. Without standardization, professionals experience
Dodge Starts Up 4% for Year Through the first eight months of this year, the dollar value of total construction starts was $361.4 billion, which was 4% above the same period of 2013, according to McGraw Hill Construction Dodge's data for August. However, on a monthly basis, construction starts in August were down 9% from July. "The broad trend for construction activity remains upward, but, on a month-to-month basis, there are still the occasional setbacks," says Robert Murray, chief economist for McGraw Hill Construction. "Non-residential building over the past two months was boosted by several large, energy-related manufacturing projects, so
Rendering by Arquitectonica With voters' approval of Miami's SkyRise Miami project, Berkowtiz Development Group Inc. is moving ahead with construction of the estimated $430-million tower, designed by Arquitectonica International Corp., with structural engineer Magnusson Klemencic Associates and consulting engineer Cosentini Associates.The site, which juts into the bay, is going to make the tower especially challenging to build, says Coastal Construction, which is teamed with Tishman Construction Corp., Florida. The tower will include an observation deck, a restaurant, a ballroom, a bungee jump, a chair-drop ride and more.
Dodge Momentum Index Slows The McGraw Hill Construction's Dodge Momentum Index posted only a modest 0.2% monthly increase in August, which follows a 5.7% decline in July. Despite the recent setback, the index remains 13.9% above a year ago and continues to point to recovery in the sector, says Dodge. In August, the index was supported by a 5% increase in institutional building plans, while a 3% drop in commercial plans restrained further growth. The index measures non-residential building projects that have entered the planning stage and is a proven leading indicator of future building activity by a full year,
Related Links: New Misclassification Law Takes Effect in Texas Contract to Cheat: The McClatchy Report on Payroll Fraud Decades since it was first recognized, the deliberate misclassification of workers by contractors remains a big problem. Federal legislation, reintroduced last year, is likely to go nowhere, so it's worth asking what, if anything, has worked at the state level. As it turns out, there are some promising examples, even if none of them can serve as a perfect template for national law.Briefly, an employer who intentionally misclassifies a worker as an independent contractor is able to avoid paying state and federal
