A new report claims that Foster + Partners’ unfinished Harmon Hotel tower on the Las Vegas Strip is beyond repair and could potentially collapse in a “code-level” earthquake. Related Links: Who's To Blame for Faulty Foster Tower? Owner MGM Resorts International recently commissioned Weidlinger Associates, a California-based engineering consulting firm, to perform a structural assessment of the 400-room, oval-shaped high-rise that anchors the northeast corner of CityCenter.The report, whose findings were made available July 11, represents the latest salvo in a battle that dates to 2009. It says the 28-story tower’s construction defects are “so pervasive and varied in character
Photo courtesy of Las Vegas Paving Corp. Despite its age, giant drill Big Stan (in yellow) is booked up in the Southwest. Las Vegas is crowded with performers, but few are as huge as Big Stan. Thought to be the world's largest truck-mounted drill, Big Stan is flexing its muscles south of the Strip on a $252.5-million, 7-mile-long widening of Interstate 15.Big Stan's tall stance originally sprang from deep roots. The 250,000-lb, 93-ft-high boring behemoth was built in 1986 by Anderson Drilling, Lakeside, Calif., now a part of London-based Keller Group PLC. The mega-machine, which cost $1.5 million to construct,
Like an aging Hollywood diva attempting to attract new roles, Los Angeles International Airport is getting a $1.5-billion makeover in order to better appeal to airlines and customers. A gleaming 1.3-million-sq-ft addition to the Tom Bradley International Terminal, dubbed Bradley West, headlines the city's largest public-works project. Photo courtesy LAWA SOARING HOPES Airport officials pin the reputation of a revamped LAX on a new, modern terminal building. Related Links: Los Angeles Revamps Terminal to Save International Business “This is an effort not to grow the existing airport but to grow the quality of service,” says Michael Doucette, chief planner with
Alexander A. “Sak” Sakhnovsky, a pioneer of test methods for curtain-wall stability, died of heart failure at age 84 on June 19 in Miami. SAKHNOVSKYWhile running a housing research laboratory at the University of Miami, Sakhnovsky was among the first to perform window testing, in 1954. A trained chemist, he was instrumental in developing, in the 1960s, the American Society for Testing Materials' static water- leakage test. It remains virtually unchanged today. Sakhnovsky bought the lab and launched Construction Research Laboratory Inc. (CRL), Medley, Fla., in 1968.CRL is considered the world's first and largest curtain-wall test facility, with 40 test
Compared to all construction workplace safety penalties, the number of safety-related criminal prosecutions in the industry is small. Such cases force prosecutors out of their familiar territory of thieves, drug dealers and killers into the technical and organizational complexities of the jobsite. PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES / MATT CARDY GUILTY Peter Eaton (middle), the principal of engineering firm Cotswold Geotechnical, leaves court. His firm was convicted under Englands corporate homicide law. Related Links: Charges Filed Against California Construction Foreman Prosecutor's Reasons for Indicting Cotswold Geotechnical Testimony by OSHA Official Requesting Right to Seek More Prison Penalties But if the civil
A new e-commerce service is helping recession-racked contractors cash in on surplus project products. ZamRay.com is quickly becoming the Craigslist of the construction world, with 22,000 visitors and 110,000 page views within its first six months of operation. The Westminster, Colo.-based website is the brainchild of Kurt Fisher, 39, a former warehouse operations manager for electrical supply giant Gexpro, a unit of Dallas-based Rexel Holdings USA. TUDOR VAN HAMPTON/ENR BUCKETS OF CASH? Materials once destined for the Dumpster are now for sale. Related Links: View the Full ENR 2011 Second Quarter Cost Report (PDF) Contractors Hold Line on Pay Hard
The newest Las Vegas Strip attraction isn't another mega-resort or Cirque du Soleil show. Rather, it is a heavy equipment playground that lets visitors operate life-size Tonka toys. Photo courtesy Dig This LLC Dig This patrons can operate a Caterpillar D5 track-type bulldozer to create earthen mounds. Photo courtesy Dig This LLC Visitors are put through skill tests that include scooping basketballs from atop safety cones. “Dig This” is a construction theme park developed by New Zealand-born Ed Mumm, who stumbled upon the idea while using a rented excavator to build his home in Steamboat Springs, Colo. After a couple
In an all-cash deal, Moon Township, Pa.-based Michael Baker Corp. purchased Nevada's largest architecture firm, JMA. Financial terms were not disclosed. Image courtesy of JMA JMA's current projects include the $146.2-million, 308,990-sq-ft Las Vegas City Hall, under construction now in downtown. Photo courtesy of JMA JMA owner Thomas Schoeman will stay on board as company president. Schoeman hopes the acquisition will help double the size of JMA within five years. Michael Baker Corp. (BKR) stock was valued at $24.95/share on June 9, down 38.6% from a 52-week high of $40.64. The 71-year-old engineering, design and survey firm had $499.4 million
A criminal jury trial in Denver began on May 31 against Xcel Energy Inc., Minneapolis, and its local subsidiary Public Service Co. of Colorado, over a combined 10 federal safety violations that led to five worker deaths on Oct. 2, 2007. Five painters, ranging in age from 19 to 52, died when they were overcome by carbon monoxide when a fire erupted while they were spraying an epoxy coating sealant inside a 12-ft-dia., 4,000-ft-long water drainage pipe, or penstock, at an Xcel facility. The accident occurred at the 44-year-old, 1.2-MW Cabin Creek hydroelectric plant, located 35 miles west of Denver.
A controversial new cable show is thrusting America’s crumbling infrastructure into the spotlight. The debate stems not from the show’s content but from the engineering qualifications of its host, who criticizes others’ engineering and maintenance decisions in the name of public advocacy. Photo: By Tudor Van Hampton For ENR The history Channel’s “Inspector America” cites the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis as one example of the country’s infrastructure crisis. Some say the show and its host are sensationalizing the truth. “Inspector America” debuted on Sunday, April 17 on the History Channel. The cable program examines roadways, dams, tunnels, levees, bridges
