PM World Journal Looking at the cost of delay Related Links: Link to Full Analysis: Cost of Delayed Decision-Making Managing the Planning Fallacy in Complex Infrastructure Programs (Prieto-PM World Journal, August 2013) A Look at Joint Ventures, Project Data Analysis (Prieto-PM World Journal, March 2013) Lack of timely project decision-making can amount to big costs later, says Robert Prieto, senior vice president of Fluor Corp., in a new analysis for the PM World Journal.While project delays and the resulting cost impacts are generally linked to changed scope, rework or productivity loss, "the cost of a lack of timely decision-making is seldom
Total Construction Starts End 2013 With 6% Increase The dollar value of total construction starts ended 2013 with a 6% gain, according to McGraw Hill Construction's Dodge starts data for December. "The construction industry in 2013 made progress toward a more broad-based recovery after several years in which the upturn was more limited in scope," says Robert Murray, MHC's chief economist. Housing led the way with a 24% year-to-year increase, followed by a 7% increase in non-residential work.Colorado Mountain Highway Reopens After Massive Rock SlideAfter weeks of harrowing rockfall work, one lane of U.S. 550 in southwestern Colorado is open
Related Links: Witness Notes Communication Lapse in Ontario Mall Collapse Testimony After Mall Roof Collapse, Ontario Engineers Propose Inspection Standards Testimony Shows Complex Roots of Deadly Mall Collapse Engineer Cited in Fatal Ontario Mall Rooftop-Garage Collapse Has May 15 Court Date Provincial police in Ontario, Canada, said on Jan. 31 that they have charged former engineer Robert Wood, 64, with three counts of criminal negligence related to his role as inspector of an Elliot Lake mall roof that collapsed on June 23, 2012, killing two store employees.Wood, former president of M.R. Wright & Associates Inc., Sault Sainte Marie, faces two
Illinois Short-Lists Four Teams For $1.5B Illiana ExpresswayThe Illinois Dept. of Transportation has short-listed four teams to design, build and operate the state's 35-mile stretch of Illiana Expressway, a planned $1.5-billion, 47-mile corridor set to connect I-65 in Indiana to I-55 in Illinois.IDOT chose teams headed by equity members Cintra Infraestructuras S.A.; ACS Infrastructure Development Inc. and Fengate Capital Management; Fluor Enterprises Inc. and Plenary Group USA; and Meridiam Infrastructure and Walsh Investors. One team comprising equity members SNC-Lavalin Capital USA Inc., UIF GP and Zachry Resources Inc. and another with equity member Isolux Infrastructure Netherlands were not selected.The selected
New York Photo by Sue Pearsall Off Track: NTSB ended its site probe of the Metro-North derailment in the Bronx, but work now continues off site. Related Links: ENR New York ENR New York Featured News NTSB Releases Preliminary Train Derailment Report The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released on Jan. 14 a preliminary report on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Metro-North train derailment in the Bronx that killed four and injured 59 others on Dec. 1. The report says the train, with seven passenger cars and one locomotive that was traveling from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to Grand Central Station in New
December's Seasonal Increase Mirroring the slowdown in construction volume in cold-weather months, the industry's December unemployment rate climbed to 11.4% from November's 8.6% as the industry shed 16,000 jobs. But last year also proved to be much better for the construction workforce than 2012, as the industry added an average of 10,000 jobs per month, according to the latest Dept. of Labor figures. The data reflects a split between residential work, which gained 6,200 jobs, and the non-residential and heavy-civil markets, which lost 12,900 and 8,800 jobs, respectively.AMEC Is Set to Buy Foster Wheeler in $3.2-Billion Deal U.K.-based global engineer
Related Links: Reducing Engineering Project Complexity Sometimes the images from ENR's annual photo contest take you to completely different worlds in construction. You only need to reflect on a single week of work in any corner of the industry to appreciate that construction people come from many walks of life and carry out vastly different activities—and one activity can influence or affect another, even though there is apparently no direct connection between them. Similarly, there are fewstraight lines any more in getting a project or a program or a company or a career from one place to another. We must
Photo by Getty Images Calatrava Sued Over High Costs on Spain's Valencia Opera House The Spanish city of Valencia is suing the architect Santiago Calatrava and his firm over the high maintenance costs for the city's opera house, which Calatrava designed. Just eight years after opening, the opera house is starting to show signs of aging. The latest incident involves many of the building's mosaic tiles being torn off by high winds, which led the owner to close the venue to the public and cancel performances. Earlier, the building was subject to flooding after heavy rainfall. On that charge, Calatrava
Mobility and collaboration tools went from nice-to-have to a must-have technology in 2013, as more owners expected contractors to deploy the smartest use of produtivity tools on jobs and jobsites.This year, more companies — especially contractors and general contractors — opened their wallets to investments in mobility and collaboration tools that help them communicate more quickly on a project, and share documents across far-flung project teams.Research and surveys of contractors and subcontractors highlighted the shift. For example, McGraw Hill Construction found that mobility tools such as tablets and cloud services are yielding investment benefits for contractors and specialty contractors. But
