Ratner Center Gets Eminent Conceptor

Chicago-based design firm OWP/P has received the Eminent Conceptor award.

The award, which the Springfield-based Consulting Engineers Council of Illinois presents, comes for the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center at the University of Chicago.

Eminent Conceptor recognizes an engineering achievement that demonstrates a high degree of merit and ingenuity, contributes to the advancement of the practice of engineering and enhances the economic and social welfare of the public.

In total, 41 firms were recognized for engineering excellence. They were recognized for 51 projects.

The winners, project descriptions and photographs can be viewed at
www.cec-il.org/exawards_2004.cfm on the Internet.

AGC: Steel Prices Squeezing Contractors

Public construction is jeopardized by soaring steel prices and shrinking availability, the Associated General Contractors of America said to the House Small Business Committee.

The committee, chaired by Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Ill.), held a full committee hearing to investigate the recent dramatic surge in prices for steel and other metals, and how those cost increases are affecting small manufacturers and threatening job creation in America.

"Unprecedented escalation of steel prices over the past few weeks threatens the ability of general contractors and their subcontractors, usually small businesses, to complete projects on which 'firm' steel prices have been replaced by 'scrap surcharges' and other unexpected costs," said AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr. "Even more alarming, we are hearing reports that suppliers will no longer guarantee delivery at any price because of fast-dwindling supplies of certain steel products."

As a result, the AGC Board of Directors has adopted a resolution seeking "equitable adjustment of fixed-price contracts" to compensate contractors for the unprecedented rise in steel prices.

The Board acted after Federal Highway Administration Administrator Mary Peters said that the FHWA would allow states to include steel-price adjustment clauses in construction contracts for federal-aid highway projects.

Two Wisconsin Projects Win CRSI Awards

Two Wisconsin projects were among the 11 winners in the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute's 17th biennial Design Awards Competition.

The East Campus Substation Screen Wall in Madison and the Sixth Street Viaduct in Milwaukee won merit awards, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based group announced.

The two were selected for exemplary achievement in one or several areas of design accomplishment, according to CRSI. Entries were evaluated on four primary criteria: design innovation, contextual response, engineering excellence and construction quality and efficiency.

WIU Student Wins Estimating Scholarship

John Amos, a student from Sherrard, Ill., in construction management at Western Illinois University in Macomb, has won a $700 scholarship.

The award came from the Davenport, Iowa, chapter of the American Society of Professional Estimators.

Findorff's Kruska Honored

Ken Kruska, retired chairman for Madison, Wis.-based J.H. Findorff & Son, was recently honored for his lifetime contribution to the construction industry.

The Associated General Contractors of Wisconsin appointed him an honorary member. Honorary membership is granted to individuals that have served in leadership positions in the AGCW and member firms.