Wright Tool Links With MMG

Wright Tool, a manufacturer of heavy-duty, professional-grade hand tools, has partnered with Morris Marketing Group (MMG), an independent rep firm serving the Southern states. The 42,000-square-foot distribution facility – located in Greer, S.C. – joins Texas and California as strategic distribution centers for the Ohio-based Wright Tool. MMG leverages the firm’s sales staff located in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia.

"Wright Tool’s mantra is 'perfecting performance' for our customers,” says Terry Taylor, CEO and president, Wright Tool. “Like our other regional distribution centers in Texas and California, our Southern distribution center can handle strategically stocked products based on our customer's vertical and geographic markets."

Wright says that, along with fulfilling 98 percent of all orders in 36 hours or less, the partnership will help Wright Tool achieve greater profitability for its distributor customers.

MMC Contractors Names Coppinger as President

MMC Contractors has named Dan Coppinger as president of MMC Contractors' Las Vegas office (MMC Contractors West Inc.). Coppinger will be responsible for business management and operations in the Las Vegas office as well as helping achieve overall strategic goals for the MMC Contractors nationwide brand.


"We're thrilled to have Dan as part of our team," says Tim Chadwick, COO. "His proven leadership in the Las Vegas community over the years— and his in-depth experience in all levels of the mechanical contracting industry— will provide many benefits to our valued partners."

Coppinger started his career as a sheet metal apprentice more than 30 years ago. From there, he moved up to foreman, superintendent, and then transitioned into management. After helping start the southwest division of Southland Industries in Las Vegas, he spent the last 10 years there as the VP and division manager.

Nonresidential Construction Index Rises Slightly

FMI, a provider of management consulting and investment banking to the engineering and construction industry, has released its Fourth Quarter Nonresidential Construction Index report. The NRCI of 55.5 is less than one point up from last quarter. 

Panelists are slightly more positive about the national and local economies. However, views about the economic strength of their own businesses continue to fall. Reasons cited include a reduction in backlogs, the continued rise of material costs and lower productivity. This quarter, the panelists discuss:

• Delays and cancellations
• Changes in project size
• Energy related construction activity
• Market opportunities
• Experiences with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance

To download a copy of the full report, click here. For reprint permission or to schedule an interview with the author, please contact Sarah Vizard Avallone at 919.785.9221 or savallone@fminet.com.

OSHA Looks for Members for Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is accepting nominations for eight new members to serve on the 15-member Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health.

ACCSH, established under the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, advises the Secretary of Labor and Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health on construction standards and policy matters.

Nominations will be accepted from those interested in representing employee, employer, public and state safety and health agency representative groups. Members serve two-year terms except the representative designated by the Department of Health and Human Services and appointed by the Secretary of Labor, who serves indefinitely.

Nominations may be submitted at www.regulations.gov, the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Submissions may also be sent by mail or facsimile. See the Federal Register notice for details. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 7, 2013.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

Life Cycle Assessment Confirms Performance of CalStar Brick

CalStar Products has released an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) of its brick, which details the results of an intensive, months-long life cycle assessment (LCA) conducted by architecture firm Perkins+Will. The LCA verifies the significant environmental benefits of the company’s non-fired brick. The EPD is the first to be published within the brick category and is one of only a handful currently available in the greater building products industry.

Data from the life cycle assessment show the cradle-to-gate (raw material extraction and transportation, and manufacturing) CO2 emissions for a single CalStar brick to be 0.13 pound, versus 0.81 pound for a single clay brick (as noted in the NIST BEES Online database). For cradle-to-gate embodied energy, the LCA shows that a single CalStar brick requires 1,203 BTU of energy vs. the 6,251 BTU the traditional process requires. Based on these data, CalStar bricks deliver an 84% lower carbon footprint and use 81% less manufacturing energy, with similar aesthetics and performance as traditional fired clay bricks.

“Traditional bricks are beautiful and durable, and now we’ve made them more sustainable,” says Joel
Rood, CalStar Products CEO. “CalStar’s mission of reducing the environmental impact of building
products can only be quantified with third-party-verified, completely transparent product benchmarking. This is why we made this project a top priority. The results of the LCA confirm that selecting CalStar over traditional options contributes to quantifiable reduction in a project’s environmental footprint.”

CalStar Products achieves these savings through a proprietary manufacturing process that incorporates fly ash, rather than clay, as the binder. This replacement eliminates the need for firing: CalStar bricks are cured overnight at temperatures below 200° F, while clay bricks are fired for up to four days at temperatures reaching 2,000° F. Along with energy savings and emissions reduction, each CalStar brick incorporates 37% recycled content, diverting tons of waste from landfills each year.

Since introducing its first commercial products in 2010, CalStar has noted its masonry products’ energy and emissions savings as a method for reducing the significant environmental impact of manufacturing building products. “In keeping with CalStar’s commitment to transparency and sustainable product leadership, a life cycle assessment was the next logical step for us,” said VP of engineering Julie Rapoport, Ph.D., PE, LEED AP.

The CalStar life cycle assessment was performed by Perkins+Will using data sets from GaBi 5.0
software. The resulting EPD was verified under the SMaRT Certified rating system operated by the
Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS), an EPD program operator.

“By analyzing the entire CalStar brick production process from cradle-to-grave—that is, from the
acquisition of fly ash and other raw materials through manufacture, delivery to jobsite, construction and use, and end-of-life—we were able to measure CalStar’s environmental contributions in each life cycle phase,” says Doug Pierce, senior associate at Perkins+Will. “Making truly informed decisions about green materials can be difficult without quantifiable product benchmarks, and LCAs, when coupled with other indicators and metrics, can help provide those vital benchmarks allowing the
sustainable building industry to progress. CalStar is on the leading edge of this burgeoning trend.”

The results of CalStar’s life cycle assessment are shown in the charts below. To read the full CalStar
Products Environmental Product Declaration, visit www.calstarproducts.com/epd.

Health Care Goes Green, and Then Some

Healthcare construction has slowed a bit in the last few years, but it remains a critically important sector for many AEC firms. While healthcare clients are demanding sustainable design and construction as a matter of course, green building is no longer limited strictly to hospital projects.

In Seattle, Swedish Cancer Institute has installed a factory-fabricated radiotherapy treatment “vault” to house its TomoTherapy treatment system. RAD Technology Medical Systems manufactured steel modules for the vault at its production facility, along with prefab wood modules for the patient exam and office portion of the nearly 4,000-sf facility. It is believed to be the first radiation center to earn LEED Silver certification.

Another first—at least for a privately owned facility—goes to San Francisco Surgical Arts’ LEED-CI Platinum (v.2009) oral and maxillofacial surgery office. Environmental Building Strategies led the Building Team—medical designer Kohan Inc. and contractor All Phase Builders—in reducing lighting power 37% and water usage 40% over conventional facilities. Solar-powered keyboards and Energy Star-qualified LED monitors and appliances were also used.

For the $538 million expansion of Phoenix Children’s Hospital (designed by HKS to Green Guide for Health Care standards), Kitchell Contractors built a central energy plant for the 34-acre campus that employs a high-efficiency, 800-ton water-to-water heat pump chiller, a technology widely used in the Middle East.

The central plant will save 5.6 million gallons of water per year, reduce natural gas consumption by 70%, and trim energy and operating costs $11 million over 15 years. The project also received a $464,000 cash award from APS Solutions for Business, the local electrical utility’s energy-conservation program for commercial customers.

Another project seeking to break new ground in sustainability is the Palliative Care Campus, a 120-unit Enhanced Assisted Living Residence for persons with serious progressive illnesses. It is said to be the world’s first spirit-centered, enhanced assisted-living community residence. The client, the HealthCare Chaplaincy, is a national leader in research, education, and multi-faith patient-centered care. FXFOWLE Architects is the AOR and designer, in collaboration with MHG Architects and Clodagh Design.

The 16-story, 180,000-sf project, to be built in Lower Manhattan along the East River, will also house a geriatric and palliative care outpatient medical practice, plus research, educational, clinical practice, and administrative spaces. The facility will address not only patients’ physical ills, but also their psychological and spiritual well-being. The HealthCare Chaplaincy hopes the new campus will serve as a national demonstration project for the healthcare industry.

This article first appeared at Building Design + Construction, www.bdcnetwork.com. The article can be seen in its entirety at http://www.bdcnetwork.com/greenbuild-2012-report-healthcare. 

Turner Construction Survey Shows New Green Building Findings

Turner Construction Co. has announced the results of a new Market Barometer survey that focused on environmentally-sustainable, or green, building, and on sustainable practices in general. Key findings revealed that companies remain committed to constructing green buildings. While executives remained committed to incorporating sustainable building practices into their building programs, fewer said their companies were likely to seek LEED certification from the US Green Building Council when constructing a green building. 
 

Brightening Outlook for Construction Projects
Among real estate owners, developers, and corporate owner-occupants, 64% said they expect to undertake new construction projects over the next 12 months (up from 46% in the 2010 survey), and 71% said they expect to undertake renovation projects over the same period (up from 58% in the 2010 survey).

Widespread Commitment to Sustainable Practices
Ninety percent of respondents said their companies were committed to environmentally-sustainable practices. Of that percentage, 56% of executives said their companies were extremely or very committed to following environmentally-sustainable practices in their operations, while an additional 34% said they were somewhat committed.  In addition to citing financial reasons for this commitment, executives were most likely to cite broader considerations as extremely or very important including belief that it's the 'right thing to do,' (68%), impact on brand/reputation (67%), and customer requirements (61%), along with cost savings (66%).

Reducing Energy Costs and Operating Expenses are the Key Drivers to Green Construction
Executives were most likely to cite financial factors as being important to their companies' decisions on whether to incorporate Green features in a construction project. Respondents indicated that energy efficiency (84%) and ongoing operations and maintenance costs (84%) were extremely or very important to their decisions. 

More than two-thirds of executives also said that non-financial factors were extremely or very important including indoor air quality (74%), health and well-being of occupants (74%), satisfaction of employees/occupants (69%) and employee productivity (67%). However, only 37% of executives said it was extremely or very important to their companies to minimize the carbon footprint of their buildings. 

This suggests that the decision to incorporate Green features is driven by a desire to reduce cost followed by an interest to improve the indoor environment for building occupants, rather than broader concerns about the impact of buildings on the global environment. 

More than half of executives said their companies would be extremely or very likely to invest in improved indoor environmental quality (63%), improved water efficiency (57%), and Green materials (53%) if they were undertaking a construction project.

"Energy efficiency figures prominently in the decision-making process of green building primarily because of its large economic impact. Water efficiency in Green construction was seen as less important.  This is in spite of a growing awareness that water is a finite resource, both in its operational use and its role in the production of goods and materials. While the direct economic impact of water efficiency is less than the savings on energy, its environmental impact is quite significant," said Michael Deane, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Turner Construction.

Fewer Companies Plan to Seek LEED Certification
Although the vast majority of companies remain committed to Green buildings, the percentage of executives who thought it was extremely or very likely that their company would seek LEED certification if they constructed a Green building was only 48%, down from 53% in the 2010 survey and 61% in the 2008 survey. Among executives who said their companies were not likely to seek LEED certification, the most important reasons cited were the cost of the certification process (82%), staff time required (79%), time required for the process (75%), and the overall perceived difficulty of the process (74%). 

It is apparent that in the last four years many companies seem to have become more knowledgeable about the means and methods of designing and constructing Green buildings and are less reliant on LEED as a checklist or a scorecard, as indicated by 52% of executives saying that they were only somewhat or not likely to seek LEED certification when undertaking a construction project. At the same time, 41% of executives thought it was at least somewhat likely that their companies would consider seeking certification under a rating system other than LEED if they constructed a Green building. Of those executives who indicated they would consider another system, 63% said they would be extremely or very likely to consider seeking certification under ENERGY STAR, which again highlights the importance of energy efficiency.  It should be noted that building owners may elect to certify under more than one rating system.

"We've seen from our own work and the continuing growth of the green building market that in spite of this reduction in enthusiasm for LEED certification, respondents are still building green," said Deane. "While some respondents are relying on their own standards or are considering another rating system, LEED certification remains the most widely used third party verification of achievement that is recognized by consumers and that can be used to market and promote a property."

Concerns Persist about Construction Costs and the Length of the Payback Period
When asked what length of payback period would be acceptable when considering Green features, 44% of executives said they would accept five years and almost 80% of executives said they would accept a payback period of five years or longer. Despite the acceptance by most executives of an extended payback period, 61% of executives still felt that the length of the payback period was an extremely or very significant obstacle to the construction of Green buildings while 62% cited higher construction costs. 

Construction-Put-In-Place Could Top $1 Trillion in 2014

FMI, a provider of management consulting and investment banking to the engineering and construction industry, announces the release of its 2013 U.S. Markets Construction Overview. With construction-put-in-place (CPIP) at the end of 2012 expected to be between $826 to $884 billion, researchers at FMI predict CPIP growth rates to be slightly ahead of GDP in 2013 and 2014. This would place the CPIP at more than $1 trillion by the end of 2014, nearly 6 percent of GDP.

Other predictions include:

• Power CPIP of nearly $100 billion, as well as environmental remediation and conservation work of nearly $7 billion are already at all-time highs
• Residential CPIP will be back to double-digit growth in 2013
• Transportation and healthcare CPIP will reach record levels by 2013
• Education CPIP will continue to rise achieving 2008 numbers by 2016

However, in 2013 commercial buildings, offices, manufacturing facilities, communications systems and lodging CPIP are expected to continue to underperform at an average of 60 percent of 2008 levels, off by more than $115 billion. By 2016 these sectors are predicted to only reach 70 percent of 2008 CPIP. In addition, excitement over the double-digit growth in residential construction is also balanced with the disappointment that by 2016 residential CPIP will still only be at 65 percent ($200 billion behind) the record high in 2006. 

Private equity investors increased attraction to smaller deals. Half of all deals in 2012 are valued at less than $50 million and about 95% of deals are less than $500 million.