Tag: Current Events

Some Civil Engineering Optimism in Napa, CA

By Lynda

ProNet Client Project Profile

Who else is sick of hearing about the world’s crippling recession? The last couple of years have been especially tough on the construction industry, as well as on the various industries surrounding it. But design professionals are eager to see the light at the end of this thoroughly designed, planned, surveyed, engineered, and constructed tunnel.

So here’s some light! a/e ProNet client Chaudhary & Associates, a California civil engineering firm that’s determined to grow through and out of this tough time, received a glowing mention in the North Bay Business Journal last week. The following is an excerpt from the NBBJ article:

Napa-based civil engineering, surveying and construction inspection services firm Chaudhary & Associates (www.chaudhary.com) is bouncing back from the huge slowdown in private construction projects in the past few years, thanks to big public works projects rolling forward, according to President Arvin Chaudhary.

The firm currently employs 25, up from about 15 a year and a half ago and 49 at the peak of construction activity. In May, the firm moved to 211 Gateway Dr. W., in a same-sized office — 7,200 square feet — for about half the rent.

Targets for more business are a contract in Merced County that could call for four or five more employees and pieces of the $1.5 billion first and followup contracts for the planned California high-speed train project. Design-bid contractor proposals are due this fall for work next year. The company has been involved in major public works projects such as the Bay Bridge retrofit.

Yet with the state government fiscal crisis, Department of Transportation contracts for construction inspection and other services increasingly are less fruitful than anticipated, Mr. Chaudhary said. Overstaffing at Caltrans is resulting in retraining efforts and less of a need for consultants to fill roles on projects, as staff designers have been moving into field inspections, a role firms such as Chaudhary would handle.

The worry in civil engineering is that this move of Caltrans designers into the field will lead to a dearth of projects moving to construction in a few years, Mr. Chaudhary said. Continue reading “Some Civil Engineering Optimism in Napa, CA”

ProNet Client Project Profile: A Hospital for Haiti

By Lynda

Chicago architect and a/e ProNet client Ann Clark of Ann Clark Architects believes the “most important aspect of every project is getting a group of seemingly unrelated parties to reach an end goal together in the most harmonious and effective manner.” This belief is undoubtedly one of main reasons she was able to succeed in this particularly daunting project: designing a 180,000 s.f., 320-bed teaching hospital in Mirebalais, Haiti. All this in spite of inclement weather, difficulty obtaining sound construction materials, a dearth of skilled labor in-country, and her own physical distance from the job site.

With the support of Boston-based charity Partners in Health, Clark began the project in 2008 with a much more humble and abbreviated design. But that was before a deadly earthquake in 2010 raised the stakes in Haiti, increasing the need for a much larger and more advanced structure in which to care for the needs of a destitute people. In the wake of a natural disaster, we admire the optimism and tenacity of the Haitian people, as well as the dedication and talent of Ms. Clark and her staff.

We want to congratulate Ms. Clark and everyone else who partnered to build this beautiful new hospital in Haiti. To understand the scope of this challenge, we recommend reading The Chicago Tribune’s recent profile of Ms. Clark and the hospital project. The following is an excerpt from the article titled Chicago architect designs a beacon for health care in Haiti:

On Jan. 12, 2009, one year to the day before the earthquake, Clark flew to Haiti for the first time.

Partners in Health dispatched a driver and SUV to pick her up at the chaotic Port-au-Prince airport. After escaping the capital’s open sewers, dust and trash, Clark rode past huts, one-room concrete-block homes, grazing goats, broken-down cars and gravel soccer fields.

The epicenter of Partners in Health’s work is Cange, the site of Farmer’s first clinic. Over decades the clinic had mushroomed into a maze of more than a dozen concrete and stone buildings perched on a steep hill wholly unsuitable for medical care. To get from the emergency room to the tuberculosis ward, for instance, one must ascend a steep ramp and dozens of stone and concrete steps.

Clark’s first stop was Lacolline, then the newest of Partners in Health’s clinics. It had been built with $640,000. Farmer didn’t involve an architect until two years after the building opened — “just so we had documentation and could share the plans with others,” he said.

Walking into the waiting area there, Clark saw women wearing dresses and men in dusty pants or jeans. Everyone’s shoes were beaten up. Clark was immediately struck by how close the people sat next to each other in the waiting area and how sandwiched they were in line at the pharmacy window.

And people walked everywhere, even in rural areas. Clark marveled at how women balanced jugs of water and baskets of supplies atop their heads. She wondered how far these women had walked, and how far they had to go. And she noticed they were often smiling. Given their ragged clothing and signs of malnutrition — poverty unlike anything she had ever witnessed — she wondered what Haitians had to smile about. Continue reading “ProNet Client Project Profile: A Hospital for Haiti”

John Tenuto Named Regional President of IOA

By Lynda

Since its founding in Florida in 1988, Insurance Office of America (IOA) has added more than 20 branch offices across the country. Today, IOA is the largest privately-held agency in Florida and one of the fastest growing agencies in the U.S. At its National Sales Meeting in Orlando last month, the company appointed a/e ProNet Member John Tenuto as a Regional President of IOA.

Tenuto is Senior Vice President and Managing Partner of IOA Insurance Services, and he is the Branch Representative of the San Diego office, which he opened in 2005. Tenuto was appointed to the IOA Board of Directors in 2010, and this latest move by IOA places him in the position of Regional President over all IOA’s offices on the west coast.

Tenuto began his insurance career in 1985, developing his expertise at a number of prominent brokerages in both Northern and Southern California, including HRH, Barney & Barney, and Dealey, Renton & Associates. He also founded Tenuto & Associates Insurance Services in 1994, which was acquired by HRH in 2001. His practice focuses on providing his clients with property and casualty insurance products and various risk management services. Tenuto specializes in representing design and construction related firms.

“We are at a place in our company’s life where it makes sense to have more local leadership,” said IOA Chairman and Founder John Ritenour in last week’s announcement. “John is a huge asset to IOA and really cares about what we are building out west.”

Congratulations, John! And good move, IOA!

ProNet Client Project Profile: SkyVue Observation Wheel – Las Vegas, NV

By Lynda

There’s something happening in Vegas, and we’re happy to break the rules and share the event here. Construction began in earnest yesterday on the new 500-foot SkyVue observation wheel across from Mandalay Bay, a project for which ProNet client Wallace Morris Surveying, Inc. is providing engineering services.

More than 100 concrete trucks rumbled in before dawn on Thursday, March 1 to pour the foundation. Per the Las Vegas Sun:

The five-hour process, which began at 2 a.m., sets the stage for building the $200 million project that will change the landscape of the southern Las Vegas Strip.

Developer Howard Bulloch said passersby would see the wheel take shape this summer but the venue won’t open until July 2013.

“We have to build the wheel first before we build the retail building below,” he said.

The retail portion will include seven food-court options, five sit-down restaurants and a dozen stores ranging from clothing outfitters to electronics, Bulloch said. Developers declined to identify the establishments but said they would be recognizable names.

A 30-minute ride will take visitors 50 feet higher than Mandalay Bay with views facing north on the Strip.

The construction climate in Las Vegas has been notoriously sketchy since the global economic downturn in 2008, but Bulloch is pledging to see this project through to completion. Certainly, the SkyVue Observation Wheel will be a flashy ornament to the legendary city’s skyline, including 32 gondolas, each seating 24 people, and a 50,000-square-foot LED sign which will project from the wheel’s center. But better still, the wheel will ultimately employ a full-time staff of 500. Click here to see renderings of the envisioned project.

Congratulations, WMS!

Wallace Morris Surveying, Inc. (WMS) is dedicated to delivering professional land surveying services throughout Nevada and Arizona with a highly skilled professional team working together. It is also our mission to exceed your needs by dedicating to you a Professional Land Surveyor with years of surveying experience, respecting your need for timely services and by having the expert you hire be the actual person working on your survey. (Excerpted from the firm’s bio on the WMS website.)

Professional Liability Insurance Survey – Engineering, Inc.

By Lynda

For architects, engineers and other design consultants, Professional Liability insurance (Errors & Omissions insurance) can seem like an annual headache. Once a year the app gets dropped in your lap; thus begins a process that, at times, seems fairly–er–intimate.

Cue the bright lights.

Report your billings! Tell us how many jobs you’ve completed! What kinds of projects did you do? What percentage of your billings went to subcontractors? How many employees left your firm? Describe your loss history!

Contracts require the coverage, so there’s no getting around the process, but does it really need to feel like you’re getting the third degree? Is the requested information that important?

According to the 2011 ACEC/AIA/NSPE annual Professional Liability insurance survey of carriers, Professional Liability insurance premium “rates depend largely on four main characteristics:”

  • Annual Billings
  • Type of Practice
  • Claims History
  • Project Types

So, yes. Your application matters every year. Your insurance broker will take this year’s application and place it side by side with last year’s. This can provide the kind of overarching perspective needed to secure fair renewal terms for your firm, both from your current insurance company and from other companies for your comparison. It’s a drill, certainly, but it can save you money and ensure that your firm is appropriately covered based on its unique practice.

Insurance premiums are often a major part of a design firm’s overhead, and the most commonly asked question at renewal time is usually, “Will my professional liability premium be going up this year?”

For an accurate answer, it’s best to go to the source. Sixteen Professional Liability insurance providers responded to the survey mentioned earlier; among them are several of a/e ProNet’s sponsors, including:

RLI, Travelers, Victor O. Schinnerer, Liberty, Beazley, Catlin, HCC

The results of the survey are broken down and explained in the most recent issue of Engineering, Inc. (an ACEC publication); these include some interesting projections about the future of Professional Liability insurance, its underwriting parameters and its premiums.

Though experts do not expect the long-sustained “soft market” to change dramatically, “about half of the carriers that responded… anticipate a slight increase this year. Seventy-five percent of respondents expect price hikes in 2013.”

The full article is available along with the rest of the Engineering, Inc. Jan/Feb 2012 issue here. It goes on to address several more important insurance renewal questions, including:

  • How do I pick a Professional Liability insurance provider?
  • What limits should I purchase? How high should my deductible be?
  • If my business is down, why should I continue to carry Professional Liability insurance?
  • What steps can I take to keep my premium down as the design and construction industries continue to recover?

The full results of the 2011 ACEC/AIA/NSPE annual Professional Liability Insurance survey of carriers will soon also be available at the ACEC website.

CCM+S Newsletter: A Dangerous Precedent

By Lynda

After a year-long investigation, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office charged German architect Gerhard Albert Becker last Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter in the death of L.A. firefighter Glenn Allen.

On February 16, 2011, more than 80 Los Angeles firefighters responded to a blaze at a 13,500-square-foot mansion in the Hollywood Hills; the home, valued at $11M, was slated to be the backdrop of reality TV show Germany’s Next Top Model later that same month. As the fire spread, the second and third floors partially collapsed, burying veteran firefighter Glenn Allen under hundreds of pounds of lumber and plaster debris.

Though Allen’s colleagues were able to dig him out with chainsaws, the firefighter ultimately succumbed to his injuries; he died two days after the fire.

As reported by the L.A. Times, “Building inspectors said Becker had told them there were no plans to build fireplaces in the home, and none were spotted during a final inspection. After the fire, investigators discovered that he had installed four outdoor fireplaces inside the home, a violation of city building codes.”

This is a case worth watching for design professionals as it is, according to Southern California attorneys Brian Stewart and Ryan Harley (both of Collins Collins Muir + Stewart LLP), “the first time in memory that a designer (or contractor for that matter) has been charged criminally with manslaughter in connection with design or construction of a building.”

The following is an excerpt from a short article released by CCM+S which provides a brief explanation of the allegations:

“After a year-long investigation, Mr. Becker was recently charged by the District Attorney with one count of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Mr. Allen. As used here, involuntary manslaughter is defined as an ‘unlawful killing which takes place during the commission of a lawful act, which involves a high risk of death or great bodily harm, that is committed without due caution or circumspection.’ See California Penal Code section 192(b)(2). Acting ‘without due caution or circumspection’ is akin to criminal negligence, and basically amounts to reckless behavior which a normal prudent person would not have engaged in under the circumstances. For comparison, this is the same statute which was recently used to convict Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray.”

You may download the full PDF at the a/e ProNet website.

Skyscrapers

By Lynda

Ten years ago, the tallest buildings in the world were The Petronas Towers in Malaysia. Measuring 1,482 feet (including their decorative spires), they eeked out the top spot in 1998, beating Chicago’s Willis Tower (then Sears Tower) by just over 30 feet. While the record was controversial, the sparkling towers dominating Kuala Lumpur’s new skyline reminded the world of something significant:

You can’t keep a good industry down.

Since then, the record has been broken twice. In 2003, construction was completed on the 1,671-foot tall Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan. Just over six years later, Burj Khalifa rocketed through the record, rising to 2,723 feet above the streets of Dubai, UAE.

Unfortunately, the completion of Burj Khalifa coincided with the crash of the global economy. Today, the massive building is about half empty. Dubai’s government even had to seek a bailout from its neighbor, Abu Dhabi. And yet, for many, the world’s most-skyscraping skyscraper remains an emblem of optimism.

In a global economic climate which has rendered so many industries sedentary, those in the design community have been far from immune, but architects, engineers, and their fellow consultants have found themselves in a unique position. What they produce is visible, tangible, and permanent. And we, the people, going about our lives and succumbing to the struggle, cannot help but notice the product.

Buildings ascend from the concrete, sleek and shining and reflecting the sky. Parks sprout in the midst of concrete chaos, a breath of cool, green air. Bridges span dark waters and bring cities together. The news on TV and the radio and the internet may be bad, but when we see the steel skeleton of a new building coming together down the street, men in yellow hardhats operating heavy machinery, it’s hard not to hope the tide is turning.

Theatergoers paid a total of $31.3 million last weekend to watch 49-year-old Tom Cruise choose to accept his fourth mission as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. This time Agent Hunt is in Dubai and, in a much-talked-about sequence, he scales the flat, glass walls of Burj Khalifa, dangling more than a thousand feet above the ground. While audiences hang on tightly to their popcorn, their hope pushing Agent Hunt to the top of the tower, they will also see, possibly for the first time, that imposing architectural and engineering marvel, the tallest building in the world, an impressive bit of reality playing backdrop to Hollywood’s thrill ride.

That reality is also a reminder for everyone that it’s okay to ask, “What’s next?”

Architects and engineers may not be racing for the sky in 2012. Rather, some trends point to a renewed desire to practice locally, finding beautifully pragmatic solutions which benefit their own communities. It’s a foundational move, something strong to support a hopeful and enterprising future.