Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Fire Damages Unfinished Hospital Tower at NYU Langone Medical Center

December 15, 2016 — Jeff Rubenstone – Engineering News-Record
A fire broke out Dec. 14 at a hospital tower under construction at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. The blaze sent a column of thick black smoke up through the Manhattan skyline. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Jeff Rubenstone, Engineering News-Record
Mr. Rubenstone may be contacted at rubenstonej@enr.com

Inside New York’s Newest Architectural Masterpiece for the Mega-Rich

May 20, 2015 — Oshrat Carmiel – Bloomberg
The newest condominium tower in midtown Manhattan's billionaires district is ready to open its doors to buyers. It took almost a decade to get there. The skyscraper at 53 W. 53rd St., designed by French architect Jean Nouvel and rising next to the Museum of Modern Art, will start marketing its 139 apartments next week, with prices starting at $3 million. Planned since 2006, the project endured the real estate bust and a global financial crisis that decimated demand for luxury homes. Now it's emerging when buyers can't seem to get enough of them. "We're very eager to begin,'' said David Penick, the New York-based managing director for developer Hines, which is building the project with Goldman Sachs Group and Singapore-based Pontiac Land Group. "We're confident in what we have to sell in the market we're in, and we'll see how it goes.'' Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Oshrat Carmiel, Bloomberg

Texas exclusions j(5) and j(6).

April 27, 2011 — CDCoverage.com

In Evanston Ins. Co. v. D&L Masonry of Lubbock, Inc., No. 07-10-00358-CV (Tex. Ct. App. April 18, 2011), insured masonry subcontractor D&L sued its CGL insurer Evanston to recover costs incurred by D&L for the replacement of window frames damaged by D&L while performing masonry work adjacent to the window frames. The trial court granted summary judgment for D&L.

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Bats, Water, Soil, and Bridges- an Engineer’s dream

December 31, 2014 — Melissa Dewey Brumback – Construction Law in North Carolina
Want to know how bats may affect your engineering plans? Want to hear about cool new bridges? Read on. Over the past month, I’ve had the pleasure of attending two events hosted by the North Carolina Chapter of the ACEC (American Council of Engineering Companies). The first of these was the Joint Transportation Conference, held in conjunction with the NC DOT. The second was the annual ACEC Engineering Excellence Awards. At both events, I learned interesting information that engineers should know. Today, I will discuss the Transportation Conference, including some new regulations and unusual design methods. I will save the highlights from the Excellence Awards for later this week. 1. It’s a cave, it’s a bat, it’s bats, man! Did you know that your future bridge project may be affected by the Northern Long-Eared Bat? It’s true. Right now, the federal government is considering listing the bat on the Endangered Species List, due to the 98-99% mortality rate the bats are experiencing due to “white nose syndrome”. Over 1,700 projects in North Carolina could be impacted, including work on bridges, culverts, abandoned buildings, and guardrails–essentially, any activity involving tree clearing, structure demolition/removal, or structure maintenance. On November 26th, 2014, the US Fish and Wildlife Service extended the comment period to discuss the implications of listing the bat on the endangered species list. If the bat is listed, there is no grandfathering of projects. All projects will immediately be required to engage in protective activities. Stay tuned, but be aware that your transportation projects could be affected starting sometime next year. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Melissa Dewey Brumback, Construction Law in North Carolina
Ms. Brumback may be contacted at mbrumback@rl-law.com

Manhattan Developer Breaks Ground on $520 Million Project

November 18, 2011 — CDJ STAFF

Rebuilding an area of Midtown West that has been condemned for decades, the Gotham Organization has broken ground on a 1,200-unit project that will include housing for a variety of household incomes and a school. One unit of the project will be affordable housing for families of annual incomes up to $40,000. Another will be for middle-income households. Additionally, there will be a 31-story tower with 550 luxury units.

The site CityBiz quotes Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as saying that the project “will grow our economy by creating 2,900 construction-related jobs.” The president of the Gotham Organization, David L. Picket notes that it will “create hundreds of new jobs, generate millions of dollars in revenue for the construction industry, contribute towards the building of a new primary, and provide homes to thousands of New Yorkers.”

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In Search of Cement Replacements

October 19, 2017 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
Could we replace cement as the vital element in concrete some day? We look at two alternative answers to this question. The Problems with Cement Portland cement dominates in the construction and road building industries. From an environmental point of view, cement is not the perfect solution. The cement industry accounts up to 7% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. For every 600 kg of cement, approximately 400 kg of CO2 is released into the atmosphere. It is possible to recycle concrete by crushing it and using the gravel e.g. in road construction. However, the demand for new concrete is huge and increasing. According to The Washington Post, China used more cement between 2011 and 2013 than the U.S. used in the entire 20th Century. The worldwide production of cement has increased from 3.3 billion tons in 2010 to 4.2 in 2016. Even that is not enough; shortage of cement is a real problem in some countries. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at info@aepartners.fi

California Assembly Passes Expedited Dam Safety for Silicon Valley Act

June 22, 2020 — Tim Newcomb - Engineering News-Record
In an effort to move forward a $576 million Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project, the California State Assembly passed AB 3005 on June 8, the Expedited Dam Safety for Silicon Valley Act, facilitating the construction of the project. Tim Newcomb, Engineering News-Record ENR may be contacted at ENR.com@bnpmedia.com Read the full story... Read the court decision
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Unrelated Claims Against Architects Amount to Two Different Claims

July 30, 2014 — Tred R. Eyerly – Insurance Law Hawaii
The Second Circuit found that two claims arising from the same project were unrelated, creating two separate payments by the insurer for the two separate claims. Dormitory Auth. of New York v. Continental Cas. Co., 2014 U.S. App. 12088 (2nd Cir. June 23, 2014). In 1995, the State agency contracted with the insured architectural firm to design and oversee the construction of a new dormitory at City University of New York. Plans drawn by the architects erred in their estimate of the steel requirement. To recover losses from the resulting delay and expense, the agency sent a demand letter in May 2002 to the architects detailing the Steel Girt Tolerance issue. After the project was finished in 2001, another problem was discovered: excess accumulations of snow and ice were sliding off the building onto sidewalks a considerable distance away. The Ice Control Issue was studied during the winter of 2003-04. The conclusion was that the design of the facade failed to account for temperature variations appropriate for a building in New York. The problem could not be resolved by adding canopies, which would have been a cheaper fix. Study of the problem continued into 2005. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Insurance Law Hawaii
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

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