September Jobless Rate Is Up But Is Below 2011, 2010 Levels The jobless rate rose to 12% in September from 11% in August. But it was the second-lowest monthly rate of 2012 and below the same-month rates last year and in 2010 (see chart). The figure marked the 24th-straight month of lower year-over-year industry unemployment. However, over the past six years, the industry still has shed 2.2 million jobs, a 29% drop.Bechtel, Babcock & Wilcox Face DOE Site Performance Issues As design issues continue to dog its work on a $12.3-billion nuclear-waste processing plant at the U.S. Energy Dept.'s Hanford
Brooklyn's long-delayed sports village has unveiled its first finished project. Officials were concerned that an L.A. bridge demolition would snarl traffic on one of the nation's busiest highways. At Long Last, Brooklyn Sports Arena Opens Brooklyn Nets co-owner Bruce Ratner, developer of the $4.9-billion Atlantic Yards, initially expected to have Barclays Center ready for the 2007 basketball season. But after surviving major obstacles, the arena opened on its latest schedule and budget on Sept. 28. The $1.1-million arena's hard cost is $524 million; its soft cost is $182 million. Site acquisition and sitework cost $153 million. Financing cost $135 million,
Related Links: Expanded obituary of John Lamberson LambersonJohn R. Lamberson, 79, former president of New York Stock Exchange-listed insurance broker Corroon & Black, founder of its construction practice and a 40-year industry insurance and surety veteran, died on Sept. 12 in Palo Alto, Calif.The cause was complications of cancer, says the National Academy of Construction, into which he was inducted in 2004.Lamberson left the firm in 1992, after its acquisition two years earlier by U.K.-based Willis, Faber & Dumas PLC. According to previous ENR coverage, the departure resulted in bitter litigation between Lamberson and the successor firm, Willis Corroon,
Texas Hospital Job Gets OK A Nashville hospital company and a Philadelphia hospital have been picked to develop and run a $350-million, 250-bed freestanding children's hospital that will be linked to the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. UT regents voted on Sept. 7 to choose Vanguard Health Systems Inc. of Nashville and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for the project. Vanguard will fund the complex, and the Philadelphia hospital will help administer it. The hospital is set to open in about 30 months, but no date has been set for a construction start.Boston Skyline Set To Change
TORCIVIABenedict J. Torcivia Sr., an architectural engineer who grew contractor Torcon Inc., Red Bank, N.J., into one of the state's largest building firms and a major East Coast presence, died on Aug. 27 in Rumson.A firm spokesman says he died of natural causes but had been treated for lung cancer.Torcivia, 82, founded Torcon in 1965 and was succeeded as president by two sons in 2003.The firm, a major drug-industry builder, ranks at No. 151 on ENR's list of the Top 400 Contractors, with $376 million in 2011 revenue, including $62 million overseas. It also is No. 80 on the
Jobless Rate Falls, But Industry Adds Just 1,000 Jobs in August Construction's unemployment rate continued to head downward in August, dipping to 11.3% from July's 12.3%, but the industry posted a gain of only 1,000 jobs last month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest monthly employment status report, released on Sept. 7, also showed that construction's jobless rate last month was better than the 13.5% level for August 2011. But industry officials said one factor behind the construction unemployment rate's decline is that many workers have left the construction industry. "While we all breathe a sigh of relief any time
Construction Starts Decline 10% in July After showing improvement during the spring, the pace of construction starts has retreated over the past three months, declining another 10% in July, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. Through the first seven months of the year, starts totaled $262.9 billion, a 4% gain over the same period of a year ago. "Construction is still struggling to gain upward traction," says MHC's chief economist, Robert Murray. "Public works and institutional buildings are being adversely affected by the tough fiscal climate, while a faint upturn in commercial buildings becomes more tenuous," he says.Bechtel-B&W Role Questioned After Break-in
This week we look at a longer jib for a Linden Comansa tower crane and a platform system for working around obstructions on two-story structures. Click here to begin the slide show.
Related Links: Judges Overturn Same-Sex Harass Verdict Against Boh Bros. Kerry S. Woods' wait for justice regarding his sexual harassment case will have to wait longer. Last month, a federal appeals court reversed a jury verdict and an award of $301,000 that Woods and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission won last year from contractor Boh Brothers Construction Cos. In effect, the ruling said the case did not meet the legal threshold because the victim exhibited traditional masculine behavior.The case involves a Boh supervisor who tormented Woods by calling him "homo" and "faggot" while they worked in New Orleans on
