Dodge Starts Slow in November The dollar value of total construction starts posted a monthly decline of 11% during November, according to McGraw Hill Construction's seasonally adjusted Dodge data, which was running at an annual rate of $525 billion. But on a year-to-date basis, total construction starts through the first 11 months of the year was $475 billion, which was 6% above the same period of 2012. Residential construction led the way with a 25% annual increase, followed by an 8% gain for non-residential building work. Non-building construction is still 15% behind 2012.Insurance Company OffersDiscount for Anti-Theft Program Liberty Mutual
Related Links: Editorial: Don't Allow Lawsuits Far From Projects Narcotic Painkiller Costs' Weigh Heavily on Workers' Compensation A palpable confidence has returned to the domestic U.S. construction market. Robust financial markets, rising home values and less-constrained spending by tightfisted American consumers all injected energy into what had been a languorous pace of recovery. Infrastructure megaprojects rolled forward in Denver and New York City. Budget pacts steadied a wobbly federal government. More construction workers walked through project gates than any of the past five years.Yes, there was trouble. The federal government sputtered as if it were an old gasoline lawn mower,
Model Contract: New Joint-Venture Design-Build And Teaming Forms Available ConsensusDocs, which writes and publishes model contract agreements for building teams, has released joint-venture design-build and teaming agreements, which the group says are industry firsts. The JV document helps team members address licensing and insurance requirements as well as risk-allocation issues. The teaming document helps team members "memorialize" roles and responsibilities when submitting a project bid or proposal, says the group, whose documents are written and endorsed by 40 design and construction associations.Equipmen: Terex Sells Off-Highway Truck Division to Volvo Construction Volvo Construction Equipment is buying Terex Corp.'s off-highway truck business
New York City Related Links: ENR New York ENR New York Featured News Work Starts on Second Hudson Yards TowerA Year after ground was broken on the first tower at Hudson Yards, work on the second tower has begun and plans call for starting the tower's platform over a rail yard in January. By this time next year, the entire Eastern Rail Yards portion of the 26-acre redevelopment on Manhattan's West Side is slated to be under construction, including four towers, a retail podium and a public plaza."Hudson Yards is well on its way to redefining 21st-century development in New
Photo by AP Wideworld Collapse Kills 54 in Latvia The city council of Riga, Latvia, has announced the names of the 54 people killed on Nov. 21 by the roof collapse at the Maxima supermarket in the city's Zolitude district. Investigations are focusing on the construction of a garden on the store's 4,000-sq-meter roof, according to the store's locally based main contractor, S.I.A. Re Re.Since opening two years ago, the roof had supported snow loads "substantially" greater than the soil being placed, according to the contractor. The roof was inspected by independent engineers two days before the collapse, the company
Related Links: New Forged Bonds Discovered, with Mounting Losses How Tennessee Contractors Caught Forged Surety Bonds The forged Chubb bonds discovered this year provide evidence that the laws allowing individual sureties help criminals steal from the very companies individual surety is supposed to benefit: small and minority-owned contractors. More than 20 contractors have been defrauded of about $3 million by these bonds over an 18-month period, according to a new report on ENR.com.The alleged forgers didn't bother to show up in federal court in Florida, where Chubb Group has won a civil judgment against them. The two defendants represented themselves
Photo by AP Wideworld Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Visayan Islands in the central Philippines on Nov. 8 with sustained winds in excess of 148 miles per hour and storm surges estimated between 15 ft and 19 ft.It is reported to be one of the strongest storms to make landfall in history and comes on the heels of a magnitude-7.2 earthquake that hit, on Oct. 15, the central Visayan island of Bohol, destroying and weakening many buildings. The typhoon reportedly wiped out the port city of Tacloban on the island of Leyte. Initial estimates put the death toll at 10,000.Damage
Atlanta Braves Announce New$672-Million Baseball Stadium The Atlanta Braves organization on Nov. 11 announced that it is planning to build a 41,000-seat baseball stadium in Cobb County, Ga. The Braves stated that the facility, estimated to cost $672 million, will start construction in the second half of 2014 and will be completed in time for the 2017 season. The new, open-air facility—to be located at the intersection of Interstate 75 and I-285—will be owned by the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority.1 WTC Set To Beat Chicago's Willis Tower as Country's Tallest The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's
Construction's Unemployment Rate Falls to a Six-Year Low The construction sector added 20,000 new jobs in September after showing little change in the prior six months, according to the latest employment statistics from the Dept. of Labor. Moreover, the unemployment rate in the construction industry fell to a six-year low of 8.5%. Construction employment totaled 5,826,000 in September, which is 3.4% higher than in September 2012. Aggregate weekly hours of all construction employees rose 4.2% over the year, indicating that companies are adding to existing workers' hours in addition to hiring new employees.M.C. Dean To Pay $875,000 to Job Applicants
New York Rendering Courtesy of Tappan Zee Constructors LLC and HDR Engineering Inc. The Long Stretch: The New NY Bridge (as viewed from Losee Park in Tarrytown, N.Y.) will have eight traffic lanes and include a bike and pedestrian path when completed. Photo Courtesy of the NYC Mayor's Office New Flow: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the activation of the Manhattan leg of Tunnel No. 3 from inside its valve room under Central Park. Related Links: ENR New York Featured news ENR New York Education Conference Cuomo Kicks Off Start of Work on New TZBCrews began installing the permanent
