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Florida Sunshine-Skyway bridge.

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A-6

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I have heard of a flight simulator but Tower Crane simulator are new to me! Not sure I would want to do this for a living but it would be fun to try

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With the Tower Crane Simulator Training Pack, operators learn the fundamentals of standard top-slewing tower crane work, including load charts, blind lifts, and 2-part/4-part-of-line operation. They'll also learn the fundamentals of safety systems including anti-2-block, lower limit switch, and trolley limit switch.

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Tower Crane Simulator Training Pack - CM Labs simulations

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With the Tower Crane Simulator Training Pack, operators learn the fundamentals of standard top-slewing tower crane work, including load charts, blind lifts, and 2-part/4-part-of-line operation. They'll also learn the fundamentals of safety systems including anti-2-block, lower limit switch, and trolley limit switch.

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This is a History Channel video on the Golden Gate Bridge and other bridges in the U.S.

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Deconstructing History: Golden Gate Bridge Video - San Francisco - HISTORY.com

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Get the facts about one of the world's most beautiful bridges.

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This is a company that focuses on sustainable building systems in the Florida area. They just happened to be called Green as well!

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This is a company that focuses on sustainable building systems in the Florida area. They just happened to be called Green as well!

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Florida Green Construction is the custom Green home builder. Energy and water efficient homes, while living in a healthy indoor environment.

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This is a different picture of "Green Building" techniques

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Nice article about sustainable building and how it is necessary for future building success!

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Nice article about sustainable building and how it is necessary for future building success!

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Credit: ponsulak/Shutterstock

From improving energy efficiency to mitigating the impacts of climate change, businesses have been working to meet the demand of a marketplace that's ever-more ecologically conscious. As the shift has occured, executives have learned that "greening" operations isn't just an ethical or marketable endeavor, but a profitable one as well. One industry in which this shift has been markedly noticeable is construction, where companies have turned to new, more efficient techniques, especially when it comes to the modern office building.

"In major markets now, conventional construction doesn't really exist," Nathan Taft, director of acquisitions for green builder Jonathan Rose Companies, told Business News Daily. "We've seen a real shift in the industry, getting a push from government mandate to push people along on the learning curve. People are just realizing that green building makes sense."

In most major cities in the U.S., at least 40 percent of office square footage is now "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" (LEED) certified, according to real estate market research from CBRE. Chicago leads the way at 66 percent LEED certified office space, followed by San Francisco at 61.8 percent. And CBRE found that much of the trend is driven by a market imperative rather than a regulator compulsion. In other words, companies recognize that strategic energy management gives them a competitive advantage.

"Even though the current federal legislative agenda has shifted the focus away from energy efficiency and sustainability, the momentum in the commercial real estate industry toward improving building operating performance and enhancing building quality is hard to derail," Dr. Nils Kok, associate professor at Maastricht University, said.

As more companies begin to embrace green building standards, LEED certification will become less of a competitive edge and more of a market necessity. Coupled with the advent of Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning-driven energy management systems, eco-friendly building standards offer business a way to save more dollars, which can then be reinvested elsewhere. Companies that fail to embrace these standards will inevitably find themselves at a disadvantage. [How are IoT and artificial intelligence helping companies reduce their ecological footprint?]

Sustainable building involves an analytical, data-driven approach to various renovations, including installing insulation, updating lighting to LED fixtures, and diagnosing heating and boiler systems. This approach helps companies identify the most wasteful aspects of a given structure and determine how to best address that waste. But sustainable building is not just about renovations. New construction is also a key element, with the designs created from the ground up to accommodate both environmental sustainability and ergonomic needs.

"We position buildings from a holistic standpoint to enhance efficiency, as well as tenant and resident experience," Taft said. "Energy retrofits are often combined with creating a new community space. ... We're always integrating green from the very beginning, not just tacking it on at the end. It's really what the building is about from its first inception."

Some view sustainable construction as a vehicle to spur further economic development, particularly in communities that are typically seen as disadvantaged when it comes to attracting businesses. The U.S. Green Building Council (GBC) maintains this philosophy as part of its work to spread green building practices throughout the world.

By promoting its LEED certification standards, the U.S. GBC encourages building designs that use less water and energy, reduce overall carbon emissions, and save money. The group might focus on buildings, but the effort is intended to have a ripple effect throughout the economy of entire communities and, ideally, the world, said Mahesh Ramanujam, chief operating officer of the U.S. GBC.

"When we look at the buildings-to-communities-to-cities mission, it's no longer just a green building but it's also an economic development tool," Ramanujam said. "Being able to establish this from an environmental lens [and] economic lens, and most importantly [resolving] the income inequality gap ... makes it attractive for businesses to come and invest in and grow the market.

"Our mission is about fundamental behavioral change in the marketplace, for [people] to understand sustainability principles in everything they do, in life cycles of consumers and businesses," he added. "We want sustainability to be embedded in [the] life of the consumer, so that everything you touch, be it clothing, be it eating habits and hobbies, reflects the principles of environmental and human sustainability."

Ramanujam said he believes green construction can affect every other industry, from health care spaces to retail. Not only will operating in a green building save these companies money, but it will also help themproject a sense of corporate social responsibility, which is increasingly important to consumers, according to a Nielsen report issued in October 2015. The report found that 66 percent of consumers said they were willing to pay more for sustainable brands.

"Consumer brands that haven't embraced sustainability are at risk on many fronts," Carol Gstalder, senior vice president of reputation and public relations solutions for Nielsen, said in the report. "Social responsibility is a critical part of proactive reputation management, and companies with strong reputations outperform others when it comes to attracting top talent, investors, community partners and, most [importantly], consumers."

There has also been a rise in organizations that aim for environmental sustainability beyond the confines of green construction. One such group is the nonprofit One Tree Planted, which empowers entrepreneurs who want to give back to the environment. For each sale a partnered small business makes, One Tree Planted will plant one tree in a region of the world specified by the partnering entrepreneur. Partnering with a laundry list of NGOs, the nonprofit has helped to plant millions of trees.

Laura Ellis, founder of startup Hidden Hippie, is one such partnering entrepreneur. Having grown up on farmland in Australia, Ellis said she maintained a deep reverence for nature and wanted to integrate a form of sustainability into her business. By partnering with One Tree Planted, she found a way to easily communicate to her customers the added benefit of their purchases.

"I was trying to find something that I was really excited about but that also tied in with my brand," Ellis said. "I love how easy [One Tree Planted] made things and how clear the message is."

Similarly, Taft, who is focused on green building, said marrying the construction aspect with other community-based efforts is essential to bringing about the sort of drastic environmental and economic changes that the U.S. GBC aims to achieve.

"The construction level is the building block, and that's where we're focused, but community-wide efforts are a really important part of the puzzle," Taft said. "Eco-districts and communities with more residential developments and more concentrated real estate are making great strides and really cutting their carbon emissions and greenhouse gas emissions."

With the proliferation of these efforts and the further development of disruptive, green technologies, the promise of greening existing towns and cities becomes more and more likely. For these green builders and entrepreneurs, business has become a tool to help achieve that goal, and if everything goes as planned, environmental revitalization will also lead to economic growth and cleaner, greener communities.
Some source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.

Adam C. Uzialko

Adam received his Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Journalism & Media Studies at Rutgers University. He worked for a local newspaper and freelanced for several publications after graduating college. He can be reached by email, or follow him on Twitter.

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Green Offices Are No Longer The Exception, They're a Competitive Must

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From improving energy efficiency to mitigating the impacts of climate change, businesses have been working to meet the demand of a marketplace that's ever-more ecologically conscious. As the shift has occured, executives have learned that "greening" operations isn't just an ethical or marketable endeavor, but a profitable one as well.

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Tallest building in the world

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Awesome pic! Want to visit that building some day

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I have never climbed a cell phone tower, but I have experienced working near them!

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I have never climbed a cell phone tower, but I have experienced working near them!

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V-1

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This video shows some of the challenges rescuers may face during a tower emergency.

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I got a chance to visit the new Tappan Zee last semester. Cool Moles trip!

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21st-Century Span

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. - The building of the twin-span Tappan Zee Bridge, the first major new bridge in the New York area in half a century, has reached the halfway point.

Already, more than a mile of concrete road deck has been laid, stretching from the bridge's South Nyack end over the waters of the Hudson River. Thirty-five of the 43 pairs of piers that will hold up the 3.1-mile bridge are finished, with a framework of cornflower blue steel beams between many of them, so that more than half of the horizontal silhouette of the bridge is in place.

Almost the entire steel skeleton should be completed by October, said Neil Napolitano, who manages work on the long approaches from both the Rockland and Westchester County shores.

The toppling of a 256-foot crane on July 19 onto the roadway of the existing bridge, an accident that shut down traffic in both directions for five hours but remarkably caused no serious injuries, seems to have been a minor problem in the progress.

In late July, workers began laying the bridge's signature feature - the thick cables that will attach the main decks at midriver to eight 40-story towers and help firmly brace them like suspenders holding up a pair of trousers. The first of 192 cables, a 140-foot-long cord made up of strands of braided steel, was stretched from the eastern tower of the Rockland-bound span and a projecting section of road deck, locking into anchors built into the deck. By Aug. 1, four cables were strung, in whole or in part.

In all, the length of cable used will total roughly 14 miles. To passing travelers, the cables, sheathed in white plastic, might look like strings on a set of eight giant harps.

"A cable-stayed bridge is a perfect mix of form and function," said Sky Lee, the Oklahoma-born engineer supervising the construction of the main spans. "We are using cables to build the bridge, and ultimately it's what everyone sees: the icon for the bridge."

If everything goes according to plan, said Jamey Barbas, the engineer orchestrating the entire project for the New York State Thruway Authority, the first section should open to eight lanes of two-way traffic toward the end of next year. Demolition will then begin on the present Tappan Zee Bridge, which opened in December 1955, built cheaply during Korean War austerity for just $60 million ($531.5 million in today's dollars). Its replacement is expected to cost just under $4 billion.

Sometime in 2018, seven years after work began, the second section should be finished, carrying four lanes of traffic heading westbound toward Rockland on the northern stretch and four lanes heading east toward Westchester on the southern stretch. Bicyclists and pedestrians will have their own scenic lane, whose terminus, after some controversy, has been shifted from a residential neighborhood to a traffic circle in South Nyack.

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Sky Lee, the engineer supervising the construction of the main spans. A cable-stayed bridge, like the Tappan Zee, "is a perfect mix of form and function," he said. Credit Fred R. Conrad for The New York Times

The bridge is not progressing as fast as the first optimistic schedule had it (the Thruway Authority once said the first span would be ready early next year), but a key to the relatively timely progress has been the strategic decision to prefabricate pieces of the replacement bridge on land, saving months of perilous work above the river. The large steel girders - 30 miles long in total - and 6,000 concrete roadway panels are assembled 14 miles upriver at Tomkins Cove near Bear Mountain or at Port of Coeymans, 10 miles south of Albany. They are then shipped to the Tappan Zee site by barge, where cranes lift them up and, guided by workers, swing them slowly into place.

Much of the concrete needed for piers, foundations, platforms and towers has been poured from floating plants on the river, requiring far fewer trips by truck through residential neighborhoods - 30,000 fewer, Ms. Barbas said.

On a boat tour the other day, a reporter and photographer could see three barges lined up to deliver steel beams and other modular pieces to crane operators. A team of schedulers synchronize delivery of beams, concrete deck panels, nuts and bolts and other supplies as they are needed.

Mr. Lee, a civil engineer, said one challenge of the Tappan Zee's parallel main spans was that they were "so isolated on the river." Other bridges he has worked on, like the replacements of Gulf Coast bridges destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, had far more land access, while the central spans of the new Tappan Zee are in the middle of a three-mile-wide stretch of river. Work requires regular commutes by small boats from Tarrytown and deliveries by barge.

"We're in the middle of the Hudson River, so everything is multiplied by two," he said.

Because the work will take several years, his wife and high-school-aged sons moved with him to Westchester from the New Orleans area.

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Under the bridge. Right, the project's first stay cable is anchored to one of the bridge's concrete towers and to the sides of a section of structural steel. Credit Left: Fred R. Conrad for The New York Times; Right: New York State Thruway Authority

A classic suspension bridge like the George Washington has cables that are anchored to the shore. A cable-stayed bridge like the new Tappan Zee has its cables anchored to tall towers, which bear the load.

The construction of the four pairs of towers - massive wing-shaped concrete structures each 40 stories tall and leaning outward about 5 degrees - use an inventive engineering process that relies on what are called jump forms. The blue steel and wood forms - boxlike work rooms without a ceiling - allow carpenters and ironworkers to construct the successive concrete segments of each tower, one huge block of steel rebar encased in concrete piled atop another. Then after the concrete block is cured, or hardened, the forms can be elevated on vertical rails attached to the block, so the next block of concrete can be built atop the previous one within a safe enclosed space.

The size of each block varies from 12 to 18 feet tall, with those at the top narrower than those at the bottom; it takes 26 lifts of a jump form to stack all the blocks for a tower that tops off at 419 feet tall. Though the towers are only two-thirds complete, crossbeams have already been extended from one tower to its sidekick to hold up the decks of the main spans. The cables, once pulled taut, will strengthen the grip.

Seen from some angles, the towers look like four slender people doing an open-armed yoga exercise. Several holes in which the cables will be anchored are already visible. There will eventually be 12 holes each on flip sides of a tower, which means that 192 cables - some 11 inches in diameter, others two feet thick, with the longest segments reaching almost 800 feet - will be supporting the main deck.

Depending on where it is placed and the weight it must support, a cable can be made up of 30 or 60 or 80 strands of wire, each strand - three-fourths of an inch thick - itself made up of seven slim wires braided together. The cables are so heavy and stiff that they need to be threaded through the holes not by human hands but by a cranklike winch.

Alessandra Rosso of the Bronx, a field engineer on the project. Credit Fred R. Conrad for The New York Times

Supervising much of the work on the jump forms and cables are field engineers like Alessandra Rosso of the Bronx and John McCullough of Piermont, N.Y. Two or three times each day, they climb metal staircases to reach work areas in the towers that are 15 stories now and keep getting higher.

"If you're not in shape you get in shape pretty quickly," Ms. Rosso said.

Still, 90 percent of her job is coordinating the ordering and delivery of materials, finding ways to get tools to where they are needed, talking to crane operators who must be nearby to hoist the materials to where they are needed but who must not be left to idle long. "Crane time is like gold around here," she said.

At times the bridge has had two dozen cranes doing various jobs. The one that collapsed, which was using a vibrating hammer to force cylindrical support piles into the river bottom, was quickly replaced.

"It's not going to impact our work," Ms. Barbas said of the toppled crane.

This is Ms. Rosso's first bridge. She previously worked on the East Side Access project that will connect Long Island Rail Road trains to Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. So she has had to adjust to working at daunting heights in all kinds of weather.

"The first time it's definitely scary, but then it's just work," she said. "I think about the task, not the heights."

Mr. McCullough, who last worked on renovating the Pulaski Skyway in New Jersey, seems simply awed by the scale of the job.

"This is 400 times bigger, everything is much bigger," he said. "You have to have a Plan B if Plan A doesn't work and a Plan C if Plan B doesn't work."

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: The New Tappan Zee Bridge Achieves a Milestone: It's Halfway Finished. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

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Milestone for New Tappan Zee Bridge: It's Halfway Done

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21st-Century Span TARRYTOWN, N.Y. - The building of the twin-span Tappan Zee Bridge, the first major new bridge in the New York area in half a century, has reached the halfway point. Already, more than a mile of concrete road deck has been laid, stretching from the bridge's South Nyack end over the waters of the Hudson River.

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The Gilboa Dam is close to where I live. This is a cool dam that is part of NYC's water shed.

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Gilboa Dam impounds Schoharie Reservoir, the northernmost reservoir in the NYC water supply system. The dam was recently rehabilitated to extend its service life and to protect downstream residents. The dam meets modern standards for safety and underscores DEP's emphasis on public safety for those that live downstream of its water supply infrastructure.

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This article is very helpful for learning guidelines for acquiring Construction professionals. It is a very important decision for owners of property to know what to look for when hiring a CM or PM, and possible architect firm. 10 very important tips are listed here to help in this process.

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Facility Executive - Creating Intelligent Buildings

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In today's economy, any organization looking to start a new construction project faces certain challenges. Choosing the right construction manager and design/builder using criterion based on individualized, industry-specific needs can make the difference between a successful project and a bona fide disaster. With the glut of service providers floundering in this space and willing to cut deals - and corners in kind, it's imperative for owners to take even a few fundamental considerations into account before signing on the dotted line.

A commercial construction project usually involves one overriding factor above all others: the bottom line. While certainly a critical factor in the decision making process, budget should not be the only one. When cost alone is the primary focus of a project, serious repercussions are likely to follow - poor service, time delays, hidden costs, changes orders, and non-existent follow up, to name just a few

When vetting construction managers and design/builders, it,s important to consider each and every aspect of the project life cycle, from the owner's vision to the post-project completion period. Here are a 10 key life cycle-based hiring considerations.

1. Budget: Understanding precisely how financial limitations will impact the related financing process at large is far easier when partnering with an organization knowledgeable about commercial construction finance and can walk the customer through each and every step. While most developers and design/builders will simply refer their customers to a bank or other lenders for financial advice, its best to seek a higher caliber, full-service firm that provides such financial planning consultation in-house.

2. Service Scope: The construction manager and design/builder industry is fragmented and there is little service standardization. The majority of companies offer only a portion of services required in the entire project life cycle and do not provide the comprehensive oversight that allows clients to disengage from the construction project and maintain focus on their other business development and growth initiatives. It's optimal to retain a construction manager and design/builder with a full solutions, end-to-end project management approach, which offers the benefit of single contact-point project control and accountability.
Related to this, if the proposed project is out of reach due to image reasons, a reputable developer and design build organization should be willing able to help resolve. This may involve the need to table the project for as long as necessary and assist the organization in corrective measures, such as an image change. Presenting lenders with the right image as a borrower can be facilitated by an experienced developer and design/builder that provides financing procurement as a service. Additionally, appearance is everything with local and regional authorities who can also impact a project. To best ensure necessary municipal approvals are granted, hire a developer and design/builder with the scope of service and experience to help position and project your organization's image in a way that's accurate and a beneficial.

3. Industry Experience: Whether a medical office, a church, an office park or any type of commercial property, each type of business has specific needs that not all construction managers and design/builders are prepared to meet. It is essential to hire a company with the ability, experience, and expertise necessary to plan and execute the project so that it meets both the vision of the client and realistic financial restraints. Companies that are suited for a given project will not only have the technical expertise to build a new facility to the desired specifications, but will also have the client's best interests in mind throughout the entire process.

4. Development: Many times organizations attempt to serve as project developer only to learn it takes a specialized skill set and years of development experience to do the job effectively. While development is viewed as exciting and challenging, it's usually underestimated from a time and experience perspective. When developing in the commercial realm it's important to hire a firm that has a demonstrated track record of working in partnership with high caliber architects, engineers and subcontractors with synergistic philosophies and culture to deliver a high quality product.

5. Land/Property Acquisition: The most critical step to a successful land acquisition is a properly structured agreement. While this may sound elementary, all too often organizations forego consultation and enter into a land agreement that doesn't provide them the protection they need when faced with unforeseen circumstances. This can include land that ultimately does not meet their needs, more time is required to complete governing approvals or, worse, the project fails all together. Ensure the construction manager and design/build firm you hire has direct experience formulating land agreement documentation and be sure to cover a variety of "what if" scenarios as the paperwork is being prepared.

6. Architecture: The architecture aspect of a project can make or break the budget if clarity is not achieved in the organizational phase. Problems arise when organizations circumvent organizational and financial assessments and go right to the architect, which can lead to multiple plan changes throughout the design phase or a floor plan that does not meet organizational needs. A qualified construction manager and design/builder will work very closely with the architect, along with professional subcontractors who will be performing the work, to ensure project parameters are crystal clear and maximize the chance of the project being completed to spec, on time and on budget.

7. Engineering: A veteran construction manager and design/builder will partner with an engineering firm based on three criterion: The first is an exceptional relationship with town, borough or city personnel to better ensure required township approvals are secured. The second is firm size. Usually the bigger the firm, the higher the cost and longer the work turnaround time. While this isn't true with all large firms it does happen more often than not. Third, an engineering firm must have an in-depth understanding of state, county and local agency requirements. A well rounded engineer understands the black, the white and the grey of a projects interpretation.

8. Legal: Hiring legal help is very similar to engineering with respect to relationships and understanding requirements of state, county and local agencies, including laws and ordinances. Legal counsel that knows the players within a particular township can make a project much less turbulent. It's also important that legal representatives have adequate experience in Land Use Law, as the right counsel will know when a governing body is operating outside its jurisdiction. As a course of businesses, a full service construction manager and design/builder will identify and manage such legal aspects of project to readily work through the red tape.

9. Construction: Once the design, development and other front-end aspects of a project are approved, it's time to build! Having a construction manager and design/builder on board from the vision stage through project completion means that you don't have to go through the bid process yet again when it's time to break ground. As goes without saying, the construction manager and design/build firm you hire should have extensive experience serving as project manager and general contractor for commercial construction projects of similar size, scale, scope and complexity - optimally in the same industry. Be sure to take on-site tours of buildings the company has helped design, develop and build, both new and old, as you'll want to ensure the buildings stand the test of time.

10. Client Service: Construction management and design/build companies, like any other organization, operate for profit. The most desirable of these, however, are aware that their own success hinges upon that of their clients. Be sure to assess a firm beyond photographs in a project portfolio. Look for a company that has verifiable examples of how they provided solutions when unexpected problems that arose. Experienced firms will have a well honed protocol to minimize surprises and to keep a client duly informed. Much is also said about providing outstanding client service throughout the course of a project, but what about after final payment has been rendered and a project is complete? Will the level of service change? It's important to thoroughly interview past clients of the development and design/build firm under consideration, and to specifically ask about post-project interactions. Stellar referrals in this regard will speak volumes about a company's integrity and character.

Use this project life cycle-based checklist when hiring a commercial developer and design/builder and you'll be well on your way to a successful outcome that not only meets, but may very well exceed, expectations.
Regina is the co-founder and owner of BIG SKY Enterprises, a Gibbsboro, NJ construction manager, design/builder, and finance firm that strategizes, executes and oversees every aspect of a project development life cycle to provide clients with single professional contact-point control.

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10 Tips When Hiring A Construction Manager For Your Project

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In today's economy, any organization looking to start a new construction project faces certain challenges. Choosing the right construction manager and design/builder using criterion based on individualized, industry-specific needs can make the difference between a successful project and a bona fide disaster.