NEWS

News In Brief

Road to safety

The U.S. Department of Transportations’ Build America Bureau has provided a low-interest, long-term loan of $41.55 million to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) to finance 49 percent of the $85.97 million in eligible costs for the Rural Two-Lane Advancement And Management Plan (RAAMP). The Bureau helps communities across the country reduce the costs of infrastructure projects by providing Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loans, known as TIFIA loans, and other types of financing. Under the Rural Projects Initiative (RPI), the loan is for nearly half the project costs instead of the customary 33 percent. The project will provide significant safety improvements, one of the primary objectives of RAAMP. The project is a compilation of eight rural projects that will add nearly 27 miles of 8-foot shoulders and asphalt resurfacing as well as 6.4 miles of roadway reconstruction.

Preserving history

Landmarks Illinois, the statewide historic preservation nonprofit, issued its first loan through its Reinvestment Program Loan Fund to the Greater Chatham Initiative (GCI) to help finance the preservation of a South Side building that is now home to the organization’s ‘Artist on the 9’ coworking space and gallery. As Bonnie McDonald, President & CEO of Landmarks Illinois explained: “Our goal with this loan program is to provide accessible funding and lending terms to worthy preservation projects in Illinois that may be unable to attain conventional financing. We also hope it provides economic opportunities in Illinois communities and sparks future investments in our historic places.”

Award winners

Mammoet’s USA team has won a Job of the Year award at the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association’s (SC&RA) Annual Conference in Washington D.C. The award was for Hauling Job of the Year in the Moving project category, which highlights transports done using specialized equipment such as selfpropelled transporters, dollies, and crawler assemblies.

Mammoet presented the successful completion of the transport of the furnace modules for the Gulf Coast Growth Ventures plastics manufacturing facility in San Patricio County, Texas. The largest furnace module measured approximately 91m long by 43m wide, towered over 21m tall (300 ft. long by 140 ft. wide and nearly 170 ft. tall). and weighed in over 8,000t. A single module required seven trains of SPMT trailers at 46 axle lines in length and each module was transported along a dedicated eight kilometer, or 4.7-mile, heavy haul route using SPMTs.

Adam Bettis, Engineering Team Lead at Mammoet stated how proud the company was to accomplish this project, and that it was a great honor to have the opportunity to receive the Hauling Job of the Year in its category.

$123m tunnel rehab

COWI, in joint venture with CHA Consulting, Inc. (CHA) as the owner’s engineer, has provided quality oversight to support the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) in the completion of five design-build contracts worth $123 million to rehabilitate the Hugh L. Carey and Queens Midtown Tunnels In New York. The upgrade project has advanced current systems, enhancing public safety and reliability of the city’s transport network.

Environmental events such as hurricane Sandy have had devastating effects on New York and its transport infrastructure, highlighting the need for advancement in design and technology. COWI and CHA were contracted to provide expert quality oversight and coordination of new ventilation and fire systems, including advanced smoke detection and communication systems in the tunnels. All upgrades were completed on budget during the pandemic and on-time, without closing the tunnels to traffic.

Steven Kramer, Senior Vice President and Project Director for the project at COWI said: “This project was very close to home for our engineers, most of us have used these tunnels and know how vital they are to the ecosystem of New York. Working on such a deep-rooted part of our transport network can be challenging but our proactivity and collaboration with construction partners provided a design-build model that offered significant cost and schedule reductions.”

Positive combination

Construction technology provider Causeway Technologies has acquired Yotta, a global provider of connected asset management software and services, from AIM-listed Oxford Metrics plc. Yotta serves over 200 customers worldwide, providing software to assist in the management of more than 35 million physical assets and related services, including highways, street lighting and waste management. The acquisition of Yotta marks another vital step on Causeway’s journey to digitize the processes that underpin the construction and maintenance of infrastructure assets.

Phil Brown, chief executive of Causeway, said: “With our new combined offering, data will flow seamlessly between local authorities and their contractors in one single end-toend solution, ensuring the needs of all stakeholders are met without compromise.

“The acquisition of Yotta brings us a team with fantastic knowledge of solutions for local authority asset management and services. This, combined with Causeway’s own expertise in contractor job and resource management, creates a team with an unparalleled depth of understanding.”

Investing to build and improve

With more than 37,000 veterans estimated to be experiencing homelessness, The Home Depot Foundation has granted an additional $8m to nonprofit partners as part of its overall commitment of half of a billion dollars to veteran causes. These latest grants will fund construction and renovation of more than 800 housing units, short-term residential programs, supportive services and other programs aimed at bringing an end to veteran homelessness.

The Foundation’s $1m investment in the greater Los Angeles area will help USVETS and Century Villages at Cabrillo, Inc. construct more than 200 new units of housing for low-income veterans and those experiencing homelessness. In Orlando, The Home Depot Foundation’s grant will support Step Up on Second Street, Inc. with the construction of 101 units of permanent supportive housing, with 30 units reserved for veterans and their families.

New HQ completes

When GNC was in the process of evaluating potential sites for its new world headquarters, it focused on three key criteria: the location needed to align with GNC’s brand vision and business outlook, reflect its culture of innovation, and foster conversation and communication among associates and teammates. And 75 Hopper Place, part of the 3 Crossings development in Pittsburgh’s innovative Strip District, delivered.

“Our Real Estate and Development teams did an incredible job identifying, vetting, and selecting a space that allows our associates to be creative while also supporting our strategic business plan,” said Josh Burris, CEO, GNC. “With the new office we are leaning into a hybrid work environment while also creating opportunities for growth and innovation that ultimately support the needs of our people – our consumers, our associates, our partners and our community here in Pittsburgh.”

GNC’s space spans three floors and 75,000 square feet. Located in one of the tallest buildings in the Strip District, the space is anchored by a fully-functioning GNC campus store at which associates can shop, a creative and production studio, and test kitchen for product innovation. In addition, there is a GNC branded shared gym for all 3 Crossings tenants to foster health and wellness as well as convenient on-site parking for associates directly across from the office.

The office also offers indoor-outdoor working spaces including a private outdoor terrace aptly named ‘The ‘Burgh’ and accompanying balcony. The layout also includes both permanent and hoteling desks, coffee bars, huddle rooms for small meetings and conference spaces for larger engagements. 75 Hopper Place also offers privacy booths and wellness rooms to ensure associates can Live Well.

GNC collaborated with several companies to brings its new world headquarters to fruition acknowledging partners like AHK Ventures, Donahue Advisors, LGA Partners, Oxford Development Company, Rycon Construction Inc., and Workscape Inc. as critical to the company’s successful move.