| USG Joins Sustainable
Building Alliance
Chicago-based USG Corp. has joined the Alliance
for Sustainable Built Environments, a group of major companies that since 2003
has been working to educate the marketplace and top management on the benefits
of reducing the overall impact facilities have on the natural environment and
on building occupants.
Members of the Milwaukee-based alliance include
Johnson Controls, also located in Milwaukee, and Toledo, Ohio-based Owens Corning.
The
Alliance invited USG to join based on the company's commitment to green operations
and product offerings, as well as its recognition of sustainability as a critical
part of its business strategy.
Alliance programming and activities include
education and promotion of a number of environmental metrics, including the U.S.
Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design programs,
Energy Star, Climate Leaders and others.
In February, the Alliance announced
a collaborative agreement with the Houston-based International Facility Management
Association to develop and deliver sustainability educational programs, and provide
research and planning tools to more than 18,000 IFMA members who collectively
manage more than 23 billion sq. ft. of workspace.
For Alliance information,
visit www.greenerfacilities.org
on the Internet.
Study: Conditions Help Create Perfect Project Managers
A reason that the perfect project manager is so hard to find is that few companies
provide an environment in which the best project managers can thrive, according
to a study by Raleigh, N.C.-based FMI Corp., a management consulting firm.
Results
from the FMI 2006 Project Management Survey suggest it may be more profitable
for companies to spend less time chasing after the mythical perfect project manager
and more time creating a culture that fosters perfect project management.
Companies
can take steps in their hiring process to improve their chances of finding the
right person for the job.
Construction industry executives were asked about
the performance of their project managers and their practices in four main areas
- technology use, personnel, operations, and project coordination. Key findings
included the following:
Experience and communication skills (written
and verbal) are the most highly prized traits in project manager candidates.
Financial management tops the skills most lacking in new project manager candidates.
Client/customer relations and building skills are the strongest skill sets for
current project managers.
Among the weakest skill sets of current
project managers are cost-to-complete and profit projections.
Only
21 percent of respondents rated their project managers' effectiveness in the area
of documentation as "efficient, concise and well documented."
The project manager is the primary contact and project leader from the customer's
perspective according to 80 percent of respondents.
Better integration
and coordination of trades, according to 85 percent of executives responding to
the survey, could result in an improvement in schedule of 5 percent or more.
For
a copy of the report, contact Phil Warner, FMI marketing coordinator, at 919-785-9357
or via e-mail at pwarner@fminet.com.
Park 1000 to Fall Under Landmark Guidelines
Ground
will be broken in October for Park 1000, the first development under the Michigan
Avenue landmark ordinance.
The building design by Chicago architects DeStefano
and Partners calls for the use of
European stone and a porte cochere entrance
that will harmonize with surrounding early 20th century buildings.
Park
1000 will work in harmony with the historic character of the Michigan Avenue street
wall, said Warren Barr, president and CEO of Oak Brook-based Renaissant Development
Group LLC, the developer.
Park 1000 is a 40-story, 346-unit condominium
and retail luxury development at 1000 S. Michigan Ave.
Boldt Wins Fourth Safety Award Since 1996 For the fourth
time since 1996, the Appleton-based Boldt Co. is the winner of top honors among
Wisconsin companies for maintaining a safe working environment.
The firm
recently received the safety excellence award at the annual Wisconsin Safety and
Health Congress Expo.
The Wisconsin Corporate Safety Awards are co-sponsored
by the Wisconsin Council of Safety and the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
"This
year, Boldt's lost time incident rate is 1.2 compared to a national average of
2.9 and we've consistently been below the national average for the last twelve
years," said Chuck Voigt, Boldt's corporate safety director.
A lost
time incident rate measures the number of injuries and fatalities.
Voigt
estimates the Wisconsin work force logged 1,930,786 hours over the past year and
has a clean safety record thanks to the integrated safety education throughout
the company. Team members average 70-75 hours per person, per year in safety education.
For
Boldt, many safety advances have changed in the last several years due to changing
requirements from their customers. Workers in sterile environments such as food
processing or hospitals are required to learn additional safety requirements that
go beyond a typical construction job site.
Illinois Town to Get Wastewater System
A wastewater
treatment plant is planned for Cortland, Ill., a town on Interstate 88 between
Batavia and DeKalb.
Cortland chose Glen Ellyn-based Sheaffer International
LLC to be their supplier of the wastewater system.
Entries Sought for Anti-Graffiti Competition Stamford,
Conn.-based Keep America Beautiful Inc. has announced the 2006 Graffiti Hurts
National Awards.
Communities are encouraged to enter for an opportunity
to win up to $6,000 in cash and prizes and to earn national recognition for their
graffiti prevention and removal programs.
Graffiti Hurts was developed
through a partnership between Keep America Beautiful, the nation's largest nonprofit
education and community improvement organization, and the Cleveland-based The
Sherwin-Williams Co.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, graffiti
contributes to lost revenue associated with reduced ridership on transit systems,
reduced retail sales and declines in property value.
First-place awards
will honor innovative anti-graffiti programs in two population categories: over
300,000 and under 300,000. Both winners will receive a $1,000 cash prize and a
digital FlashCAM-770 graffiti deterrent system.
An additional award category
honors the best "paint brush mural" project. The winner will receive
a $500 cash prize and a Graffiti Removal Starter Pack from Urban Restoration Group.
Award
winners will be selected by an independent panel of judges from the public, private,
and government sectors. The entry deadline is September 15, 2006.
Download
an entry form at Keep America Beautiful's Web site, www.kab.org,
or the Graffiti Hurts Web site, www.graffitihurts.org. | 
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