Masonry Magazine November 2005 Page. 62
News
News continued from page 58
Also among projects moving forward this year are buildings planned for several industrial parks, the Imperial Business Park in North Fayette, and two sites in Findlay: McClaren Woods and the Clinton Industrial Park.
St. Louis
John Finder and Paul Wienke have been appointed to positions on the Masonry Institute of St. Louis (MISL) Board of Trustees.
Finder, appointed as trustee, is president and business representative of Bricklayers' Union Local No. 1 of Missouri. Wienke, vice president and general manager of St. Louis-based Kirchner Block & Brick, will serve as a supplier advisor.
The Masonry Institute of St. Louis is a technological organization that serves as an educational and informational resource for those interested in masonry design and construction. For more information on MISL, please visit www.masonrystl.org.
Utah
Reported by KUTV-2, "State's Education Construction Priorities Set, Sept. 17, 2005:
The state Board of Regents will ask the 2006 Legislature for more than $186 million to build classrooms and other facilities at Utah's publicly funded colleges and universities....
A $25 million classroom building for Weber State University tops the list. A $16.5 million fine arts building for the College of Eastern Utah ranked second, although regents won't pursue it unless private donors make good on donation promises.
Industry News
JCB Earns Prestigious OSHA Sharp Award
JCB, the fifth largest construction equipment manufacturer in the world, has earned membership in the prestigious Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). JCB is one of only five companies in the state of Georgia to be SHARP certified for 2005.
"JCB has demonstrated an exemplary safety and health management system at its Savannah facility," says John J. Deifer, OSHA area director in Savannah, Ga. "It is clear that the safety of its work site and the health of its workers have been top priorities at every level, from employees to management. JCB is setting a great example for others to follow."
SHARP was created by OSHA to provide incentives and support to those employers that implement and contin
AGC Predicts Double-digit Rise in 2006
Construction Materials Prices
Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), discussed the impact of Hurricane Katrina on construction activity, materials and labor and believes construction material prices will rise at least 10% next year, instead of the 6 to 8% rise he had expected before the storm. Simonson spoke at AGC's Midyear Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. and was joined by Mark Zandi, chief economist for the economic consulting firm Economy.com, and Gina Martin, economic analyst for Wachovia.
Drawing on first-hand accounts from AGC's member companies, Simonson says, "Contractors can expect increased diesel fuel costs to operate off-road equipment, such as bulldozers, tower cranes and trucks. Fuel cost increases will also show up as freight surcharges on the thousands of deliveries to a typical construction job site.
"Most of the increased costs in construction materials throughout the country will result from a reduction in oil and natural gas production, and not from higher demand for those materials for the reconstruction projects in the devastated areas."
Simonson predicts, "Lost production and imports due to the storm will result in higher prices and/or supply disruptions for PVC pipe, other construction plastics, tires for large off road equipment, galvanized steel, gypsum products and cement.
"The New Orleans customs district led the nation with 12% of total imports, which accounted for more than 3% of the nation's cement shipments during the first six months of 2005," he notes. "Therefore, cement shortages are expected to worsen in some of the 32 states that were already experiencing shortages and spread to new states. Cement prices are likely to rise even more steeply than the 12.7% increase that occurred between August 2004 and August 2005."
The AGC sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce urging that the Bush administration provide an immediate suspension of the anti-dumping duty on Mexican cement and allow imports of cement from all countries without duties or quotas in light of the emergency created by Hurricane Katrina.
"In light of the lost supply, it is imperative that other supply sources be made available as soon as possible," Simonson states. "Without it, construction projects and manufacture of concrete products in many states will have to halt, potentially laying off thousands of workers. Moreover, vital infrastructure repairs and reconstruction in the hurricane zone could be imperiled.
"One alternative is to import cement from Mexico by barge to all of the Gulf states and by rail into the Southwest. Such cement could arrive more promptly than cement from most of the current leading sources of imports, such as South Korea, China or Greece. But the current 55% anti-dumping duty makes Mexican cement prohibitively expensive."
The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) is the largest and oldest national construction trade association in the United States. Visit the AGC website at www.agc.org.