Peter Davoren, president and CEO of New York City-based Turner Construction Co., gives a sobering take on his industry”™s future: The global economy is passing them by.
“This year, only 65,000 students (in the U.S.) will be graduating with an engineering degree. In Asia, they”™ll be graduating 650,000,” said Davoren, who addressed members of the construction trade at Rockland”™s Country Club in Sparkill May 2. “Where are our new engineers going to come from? There is a real brain drain here and it is going to affect every trade.”
After nearly three decades with Turner Construction, Davoren has risen through the ranks to become the 103-year-old company”™s president and CEO.
He said he hopes the field will appeal to more students, especially those who are not just scientifically cerebral but also conscious of the challenge of global warming. “(Leave) the earth a better place than you”™ve found it, and make it sustainable,” said Davoren, who lives in Garrison.
Turner, he said, is focusing on reducing construction waste, recycling debris and storm-water management, working toward a goal of cutting waste to 90 percent. “That”™s our mission.
We are at 55 percent now, using techniques that not only reuse construction materials but recycle wastewater for outside plantings. We are literally putting the rain barrel under the spout. I don”™t think I”™ll live to see that 90 percent benchmark, but it”™s a good goal and one I believe the company will eventually attain.”
Creating sustainable buildings that are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified is a hallmark Davoren said Turner has worked to establish worldwide. “We”™ve made a commitment to build green, challenging our engineering staff to come up with better ways to build that are environmentally and economically sustainable for the owner and climate friendly.”
He questioned photovoltaic paneling as an energy efficient way to save electricity: “They (solar manufacturing companies) do not have it down to a science that is truly economically sustainable, at least not yet.”
Geo-thermal technology, he said, is proving to be the answer to saving energy, cutting electric costs by providing a heating and cooling system that comes from the ground, not the sun.
With more than 1,500 projects under way globally and nearly $230 billion of work being performed by Turner, Davoren said more people are embracing geo-thermal technology, as well as recycled materials and storm-water management, to cut long-term costs, and save energy and drinking water.
Davoren, whose company was construction manager on three of Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union”™s Hudson Valley branches, is providing preconstruction services for the Northern Westchester Hospital expansion. In 2004, it completed the $147 million Maria Fareri Children”™s Hospital.
It is also construction manager for the new headquarters of Royal Bank of Scotland North America in Stamford, Conn., using the very technologies in the 1-million-square-foot-building that Davoren said will be the construction standard of the future. With a trading floor of 95,000 square feet and 300,000 square feet of office space for 3,000 employees, the building is scheduled for completion in 2009. It is one that Davoren says is aiming for platinum LEED certification.
“While some may say that the cost is still too great, prices have come down considerably since the new ”˜green”™ and LEED-certified construction processes were first introduced into the market ”¦ not only do these applications appeal to those coming into the field, it has an intangible benefit to the employers who are willing to spend a bit more to build LEED-certified buildings. ”¦
“(It) comes back to the building owner in employee loyalty. You can”™t open the windows on the 45th floor, but if the people who work inside feel like the air is clean enough to be in all day ”¦ they are grateful the company cares enough to spend what it takes to keep them healthy. ”¦That”™s a by-product of the new technology you cannot buy.”
As the concept continues to catch on, Davoren said it eventually will cost as little to build LEED-certified as it does to construct a conventional building.
“Right now, hybrid cars are coming onto the market and their prices are considerably higher than those depending on regular fuel ”¦ but I believe in a few years, we will see those cars coming down in price, just as LEED-certified building practices and materials have come down in price.”
When the notion of building “green” first appeared on the construction horizon, estimators figured in a 20 percent cost hike in materials and labor. That figure, Davoren said, has gone down to between 2 and 6 percent and he expects it will eventually disappear.
One listener expressed concern about another 9/11 disaster. What has Turner or other large construction firms done to make buildings safer from attack?
“Builders are doing more to strengthen framing in the post-9/11 world,” he said. “Besides strengthening interior beam construction, they (are) putting huge planters or bollards in front of buildings ”“stairwells have been widened. But there is not a building in the world that can eliminate what we saw happen at the World Trade Center. I wish I could tell we were capable of doing it, but I can”™t. No one is.”
Davoren encouraged those in the trades to spend the extra effort to train workers about new building standards. He also said he hoped to accomplish getting the word out: “We need more engineers. If America is to remain a leader in the global market, we must encourage our young people and make it possible for them to get those degrees to enter the field, or we can expect to become minor players in the global market.”
