AECOM Technology Corp. gave investors some good news in its first quarter 2010 earnings announcement, released on Feb. 9. The firm reported revenue up 2% to $1.5 billion, for the three months ending Dec. 31, 2009, compared to the same period a year earlier. Backlog jumped 11% in the quarter to $10 billion and net income increased 12%, to $46 million over last year. Based in Los Angeles, AECOM has built itself through acquisitions that have broadened its reach and made results less sensitive to a fall-off in one sector of the economy or world. The company acknowledged that first
As the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act nears its one-year anniversary, waste-cleanup firms anticipate another year of backlog boosts. But their peers in the water and wastewater infrastructure sector hope a U.S.-Canada agreement signed on Feb. 5 will ease “Buy American” tensions that have been dogging progress of their stimulus-funded work. Photo: Courtesy of PCL Design firms and contractors have seen few ARRA drinking-water and wastewater projects. Georgia, Minnesota and Wisconsin have put nearly all their ARRA-financed water projects out for bid, but work in other states is being held up by the ‘Buy American’ requirement. Related Links: As Federal
The U.S. embassy in Haiti is one of the rare significant structures in Port-au-Prince to have survived the Jan. 12, 7.0 magnitude earthquake with only minor damage, none of it structural. Photo: Pbase.com/beulahchapel Construction work on Port-au-Prince embassy in 2007. As a result, the embassy has become an important base for several relief efforts. The embassy is a relatively new structure. It was built as a design-build project by Fluor Corp., as part of the U.S. State Dept’s overhaul of its global facilities. Construction started on the 134,000 sq-ft office building with its 54,874 sq ft of support structures in
Five teams have prequalified to bid the third and final contract, estimated at $500 million, that is part of an $8.7-billion rail link under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan. The contract, to be awarded next fall, will involve building 14,600 feet of soft-ground tunnels that run 110 feet under the river. There are some new names on the list that hadn’t bid the project’s previous two hard-rock tunneling contracts on either side of the river. Both of those were recently awarded. Set to vie for the soft-ground contract are: a joint venture of J.F. Shea Construction, Schiavone
John B. O�Dowd, a vice president of New York City-based engineering firm STV Corp. and a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who commanded its New York district during the 9/11 terror attack in lower Manhattan, died Jan. 26 at age 54. He suffered a sudden heart attack while in flight on business. O'DOWD O’Dowd joined STV in 2007 as vice president in its construction management division, providing oversight for two projects on which the firm was involved at the former World Trade Center site: the Freedom Tower and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. He
Five teams are seeking approval to bid a third link, estimated at $500 million, of an $8.7-billion rail line now under way between New Jersey and Manhattan. The contract, to be awarded next fall by project owners New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, will involve building 14,600 feet of soft-ground tunnels that run 110 feet under the Hudson River. The project is set to be the nation’s largest public works transit job. There are some new names on the list of firms seeking contract prequalification that had not bid the project’s previous two
Peter Green, a U.K.-born engineer who became one of ENR’s most prolific writers of technically detailed journalism on global construction megaprojects, died on Jan. 10 of pneumonia complications in New York City. Green, 81, had been ENR’s senior transportation editor for a decade until he retired in 1996, covering some of the world’s most complex projects and biggest disasters. GREEN ENR’s archives are filled with references to cover stories that Green reported, wrote and edited. He managed ENR’s coverage of noteworthy transportation projects, including the huge English Channel rail tunnel, Boston’s Central Artery network and reconstruction of infrastructure damaged in
Recession pressures, more cash on hand and a quest for new markets quickly kicked mergers and acquisitions out of the gate in 2010. More reasonable corporate valuations will fuel activity, say M&A watchers, but the economic climate could still hinder deal-making. + Image Source: EFCG Acquisitions On The Upswing “This year is off to a strong start with notable deals in the energy, health-care, security and infrastructure sectors,” says M&A consulting firm Morrissey Goodale, noting 10 deals announced in the first two weeks of January. His firm tracked 230 deals in 2009, he says, slightly off the 300 recorded the
A contracting executive has set up a special fund to help Haiti and has pledged to match up to $1 million of contributions with his own money. James S. Ansara, chairman, founder and former CEO of Shawmut Design & Construction, Boston, has set up a new fund through The Boston Foundation in that city. The foundation has created The Haiti Fund, to finance immediate efforts to execute short-term relief efforts and for long-term rebuilding. About 25% of the total will be earmarked immediately to procure much-needed materials, fuel, equipment and personnel for infrastructure and for construction of needed medical facilities,
Having been intel corp.’s director of construction for 12 years, Tom Weise could have retired, in 2008, to a life of leisure in sunny Arizona. But with a key industry mission still ahead, that’s not what he had in mind.
