Construction Industry News

NEW YORK—AECOM announced the addition of two respected infrastructure executives to the company’s New York, New York-based leadership team. Tom Prendergast, with more than 25 years of experience with the city's Metro Transit Authority (MTA), including as their chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), assumes a national role as head of transit within the Design and Consulting Services Americas (DCSA).

Following several reports from media, general contractor Tutor Perini released a statement this week confirming that the it has formed a special committee of its board of directors to discuss a potential acquisition of the company.

Last week, contracting firms WSP Global and Tutor Perini each announced profit results in two separate earnings calls—both full year 2019 and fourth quarter results. Here's a quick rundown of the key points from the calls for each company: 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Department of Labor will hold a teleconference meeting of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH) Workgroups next Thursday, March 5, 2020.

Last week, United States Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has allotted $520.5 million to fund grants for airport infrastructure projects in 287 airports across the U.S.

According to the DOT press release, some of the biggest (monetarily) beneficiaries of the grants are as follows: 

NEW JERSEY (February 18, 2020)—Total construction starts slipped 6% from December to January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $759.2 billion. All three major categories moved lower in January—residential building starts fell 8%, nonresidential building lost 6%, and nonbuilding starts moved 2% lower.

On Tuesday, Fluor Corporation announced its financial results for fiscal year 2019 and Q4 of 2019, as well as the news that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is conducting an investigation into the company's past accounting and financial reporting. 

Birmingham, Ala. (Feb.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently published 

NATIONAL—Last week, President Donald Trump's administration and the Pentagon announced plans to redirect $3.8 billion from the Defense Department's budget to fund the construction of the United States-Mexican border wall. 

The funding would have been distributed among 17 Navy and Air Force military programs, including money for fighter jets, combat aircraft and ships and National Guard equipment.

NEW JERSEY (Feb. 10, 2019)—The value of commercial and multifamily construction starts in the top 20 metropolitan areas of the United States gained 11% in 2019, reaching $139.6 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Nationally, commercial and multifamily starts were up 1% in 2019 at $227.5 billion.

LOS ANGELES—AECOM recently announced its first quarter results for fiscal year 2020 on a call, also addressing several other points of discussion pertaining to the infrastructure firm, including its rumored merger with WSP, the sale of one of its divisions, and more. Find highlights from the call below. 

NEW YORK (Feb. 3, 2020)—Lendlease announced the appointment of Mike Fratianni as managing director of construction for the Americas. Effective March 1, Fratianni will succeed Andrew Council to continue to drive the strategic growth and diversification of its construction business in gateway cities throughout the United States.

NEW YORK (Jan. 29, 2020)—Dodge Data & Analytics released the findings of a landmark study that provides a comprehensive examination of the current state and future expectations for prefabrication and modular construction.

NATIONAL (Jan. 27, 2020)—Nonresidential construction spending on buildings is projected to grow by just 1.5% through 2020, and less than a 1% increase in 2021, according to a new consensus forecast from The American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Does your company offer work in New York? If it doesn't currently, you might want to consider it. There's potentially a wealth of opportunity in the next few years for infrastructure contractors, thanks to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

McDermott International, an energy contractor headquartered in Houston, Texas, announced in a press release this week that it is filing for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a restructuring strategy.

The plan includes the sale of its asset, Lummus Technology, to The Chatterjee Group and Rhône Group for $2.7 billion. The sale must be approved by a bankruptcy judge through an auction process, though. 

Things have been busy in Washington lately, in a surprise to no one. The good news, though, is that some of what's happened could potentially lead to lower materials prices for the construction industry—or at least the mitigation of price fluctuation.

Here's two updates you need to know:

CLEAN Future Act aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

This week, The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have a