ACEC Presents Awards

The American Council of Engineering Companies of New York presented 99 engineering excellence awards April 3 to member firms for the design of outstanding projects in the United States, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Pakistan.

Fifteen firms won ACEC New York's Diamond Award, the highest award for excellence at the state level, for 17 projects in nine categories. Two firms, Daniel Frankfurt, P.C. and Han-Padron Associates, LLP, each won Diamond Awards in two categories.

Among the state honorees was Weidlinger Associates Inc., which also won the Grand Conceptor Award, the highest award given by the national organization, for its forensic study of the World Trade Center collapses.

Exchange Place Project Wins Award

The American Underground Construction Association gave its "Outstanding Underground Project" award for 2004 to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey for the Exchange Place Improvements Project. Golder Associates Inc., of Newark, N.J., was the lead geotechnical engineer and tunnel designer.

Restoring the station involved constructing six new track crossovers between five existing rock tunnels and lengthening existing station platforms about 150 ft. to accommodate greater train capacities. Tunnel excavation and ground support installation needed to be completed by December 2002 to achieve mandated milestones, which required that design efforts be "fast-tracked" and completed concurrent with construction.

The project was completed within 18 months and the station opened on schedule June 29, 2003.

Seminar Tackles School Construction Issues

School superintendents and other advisors of 60 Westchester, Putnam and other lower Hudson Valley communities were invited to participate in an all-day presentation about ways to lower costs and improve delivery of school construction projects.

Sponsored by the Industry Advancement Fund of the Building Contractors Association of Westchester and the Mid-Hudson region, the seminar was entitled "Building Tomorrow's Schools without Turmoil and Problems." It was offered free to school officials in all school districts within the region.

Speakers included Vincent Riverso, president of Riverso Associates in Scarsdale, N.Y.; architect Russell Davidson, president of Kaeyer, Garment & Davidson, of Mount Kisco, N.Y.; Thomas Welby, managing partner of the law firm of Welby, Brady, Greenblatt, LLP; and Dr. Donald Antonecchia, superintendent of the Pleasantville school district.

NADC Pushing for More Recycling

With 70 percent of the more than 135 million tons of building-related construction and demolition debris generated annually coming from demolition projects, the National Association of Demolition Contractors is proposing a major change in federal policy.

A sizeable portion of demolition debris, 40 percent, is already being recycled by demolition contractors. But the NADC is calling upon the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a national construction and demolition recycling policy. To support its position, the NADC issued a white paper entitled "The NADC Reports: Demolition Industry Promotes C&D Recycling."

At present, state regulations pose a number of barriers to recycling efforts including excessive fees for permits to operate recycling facilities, over-regulation of facility procedures, limited opportunities in state purchasing procedures for the reuse of recycling material, and unrealistic recycling goals tied to regional or statewide mandates.

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