State-of-Art “Polytrauma Center” Funded WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced the award of two contracts totaling $41.5 million to create a “polytrauma center” that cares for the most severely injured Veterans and to improve the existing wards at the Audie L. Murphy VA Medical Center. “A top priority for VA is providing greater access to VA’s health care system and higher quality of care for the nation’s Veterans,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said. “America’s Veterans have earned the very best that this nation as to offer.” One contract announced by Secretary Shinseki provides $37.2 … Read more

Market pressures maintain downward influence on construction costs NEW YORK,NY — Feb. 24 — Turner Construction Company announced that the First Quarter 2010 Turner Building Cost Index, which measures non-residential building construction costs in the United States, has decreased by 0.5% from the Fourth Quarter 2009 and decreased 7.74% from the First Quarter 2009. Construction costs have decreased by 13.06% since their peak at the end of 2008. The Turner Building Cost Index value for First Quarter 2010 is 799. Karl F. Almstead, the Turner vice president responsible for the Turner Building Cost Index said, “The rate of decline in … Read more

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — The Office of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) awarded an energy savings performance contract (ESPC) to NORESCO, a national leader in energy efficiency and energy infrastructure solutions, for work in the office buildings of the U.S. House of Representatives. The project includes $34 million in facility infrastructure upgrades in the Rayburn, Longworth, Cannon, and Ford House Office Buildings, and the House Page Dormitory. NORESCO is a subsidiary of Carrier Corp., which is a unit of United Technologies Corp. ( UTX). The infrastructure upgrades will pay for themselves through more than $67 million in reduced energy and … Read more

Kansas City, MO – Through the OSHA and Scaffold Industry Association (SIA) Alliance, SIA developed “Transport Platform (TP) Safety Tips.” The Safety Tips are tools designed to education users on the correct way to perform their work on Transport Platform equipment. “The recently approved Transport Platform Safety Tips is the second document of its kind developed through the SIA / OSHA Alliance Program, and a huge step forward in OSHA recognizing this new type of equipment. Along with the ANSI standard approved in 2009, these safety tips will reach the people using this type of product and help educate them … Read more

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC), St. Louis, Mo., has published Position Statement #30, the latest in a series of papers on key issues of interest to cast-in-place concrete contractors, architects and engineers. “Responsibility for Slab Curling” explains that while concrete contractors are responsible for initial floor flatness and levelness measured within 72 hours of placement, flatness can change over time, due to curling, which results in raised edges and corners of concrete floor panels.   The paper cites the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) that hold the designer accountable … Read more