Increasing Profits and Winning More Work: GMF Industries’ Journey from Traditional to Model-Based Estimates
Estimating is inarguably one of the most-important and challenging aspects of any project, especially in today’s market in which the pressure is high to deliver competitive estimates in tight timeframes. At the same time, errors during takeoff, the volatility of material prices and complexities of predicting labor requirements increase the potential for risk. Traditional estimating processes, which have evolved from hand-written documents and spreadsheets to on-screen digitizing takeoff, can be...
A Rise in Urgency: Impacts of Rising Waters and Waves/Erosion on Great Lakes Infrastructure
A summer home falls into Lake Michigan. (Image Courtesy: Patrica Gancer) On New Year’s Eve 2019, the summer home belonging to Patrica Gancer was “rocking and rolling,” but this wasn’t due to end-of-year festivities or excessive partying. The house literally rolled down the embankment to the rocks below as the shoreline on which it was built collapsed, sliding into Lake Michigan. The home was a complete loss, leaving the owner unsure if insurance will cover the costs. The home was...
Mobile Technology Drives the Need to Change Heavy Civil Construction
SYNCHRO Field allows users to alert the team to an issue from the jobsite, automatically adding map coordinates and linking the project issue directly to the model view with a simple workflow. Heavy civil infrastructure projects are getting larger and more complex. As a result, more than 50 percent of projects fail to meet budget and schedule. Many factors drive such complexity, including the following: • No two projects are the same. Each project has its own set of circumstances....
Shoreline Stabilization: Teamwork and Technology Tackle a Growing Concern
The team at GZA—a Massachusetts-based firm providing geotechnical, environmental, ecological, water and construction-management services—had their work cut out for them. They were tasked to design a stabilization project for 1,500 linear feet of coastal shoreline to protect a 14-acre 350-unit residential waterfront development—North Harbor—in Lynn, Mass. The project (a partnership initiated in 2016 between the Minco development firm and property management company Dolben) had inherent challenge...
Pigs in the Water? Houston’s Largest Surface-Water Project Brings Engineering Value and Confidence
By Josh Tebbe and Wayne Biery The Greater Houston region’s reliance on groundwater created the nation’s largest areas of ground subsidence and placed the metro area on a path toward a potential water shortage as its population grows. Recognizing these issues, district officials established the Surface Water Supply Project and required Harris and Fort Bend counties to convert from using groundwater to surface-water sources such as lakes and rivers. The goal of the initiative is to have...
Central Park Tower Pushes the Limits of Skyscraper Design
New York City’s Central Park Tower, the tallest residential building in the world, reflects state-of-the-art engineering techniques and environmentally conscious construction. For more than a century, New Yorkers have found space by building upward. Now Central Park Tower, a new sky-piercing megastructure soaring 1,550 feet above Manhattan, is the latest in a series of super-slender residential towers to appear on the New York City skyline, as developers seek to drive value from small...
Restoring and Reinforcing Slopes in Houston’s Hurricane Country
By using a green solution, the city of Houston was able to save money and prevent future damage to slopes along Buffalo Bayou. The video at the top of this page is an interview with Charlie Penland, P.E., senior principal for Walter P. Moore & Associates, the project’s engineers of record. By Adam Dibble, CPESC, CESSWI, and Matt Skinner, CPESC Houston’s Buffalo Bayou runs through downtown and right along the theater district—home to some of the most popular entertainment venu...
Video: Restoring and Reinforcing Slopes in Houston’s Hurricane Country
This video created by Profile Products shows how the city of Houston was able to save money and prevent future damage to slopes along Buffalo Bayou.
Let’s Build Two: Hub Group Breaks Ground On Replica Headquarters Building
Hub Group is a publicly traded North American transportation-management company providing intermodal, truck brokerage and logistics services. With more than $3.5 billion in revenue, Hub is one of the largest such companies in the world. And in the teenage years of the 21st century, it has built not one but two outstanding—and nearly identical—headquarter buildings in Oak Brook, Ill., that befit their status and serve their mission while also being models of progressive, sustainable design and co...
AEC from Home: Tips from Leading Professionals Adjusting to Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic
In May 2020, Informed Infrastructure Editorial Director Todd Danielson interviewed three leaders of AEC firms to learn how they’re adjusting to the “new normal” and help pass along some of the tips and lessons learned from their experiences in early 2020. Kevin Cornish, P.E. Senior Vice President Surface Transportation Market Sector Leader AECOM Andy Kaiyala Vice President, Bid Development Lane Construction Dustin Parkman Vice President, Project Delivery Bentley Systems...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
