CT Construction Digest Monday June 15, 2020
Electric Boat awards $544 million contract to build site where ballistic-missile submarines will be assembled
Electric Boat announced Friday that it signed a $544 million contract with Los Angeles-based AECOM to construct a 200,000-square-foot building, where 1,400 shipbuilders will assemble a new fleet of ballistic-missile submarines.
The new building is the centerpiece of an $850 million expansion project in Groton. Overall, the company is investing $1.7 billion to modernize and upgrade its facilities in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
EB is the prime contractor for the 12-ship Columbia-class program, which will replace the aging fleet of Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines built in the 1980s and '90s.
Early construction began in 2017 at the company's facility in Quonset Point, R.I. Final assembly and testing will take place starting in 2024 in Groton.
"General Dynamics Electric Boat continues to make investments — in facilities, in our supply chain and in the next generation of shipbuilders — to support the Columbia class, the Navy’s top strategic priority," company President Kevin Graney said in a statement.
$20M Hartford Boys & Girls Club facility breaks ground ahead of 2021 debut
Joe Cooper
he Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford (BGCH) broke ground Thursday morning on a new $20-million recreation facility in Hartford's South End that it plans to debut later next year.
State and local officials during a socially distanced groundbreaking ceremony Thursday praised the 30,000-square-foot development’s goal of serving an additional 1,500 children in the city's southeast corridor at the former Alfred E. Burr Elementary School, 129 Ledyard St.
The 160-year-old BGCH, currently serving 8,000 school-aged kids, says the project will be completed by fall 2021.
“The Boys and Girls Club of Hartford is an institution in this community and the state of Connecticut is proud to be supportive of this investment,” said Gov. Ned Lamont, who attended Thursday’s groundbreaking and previously declared Jan. 23 “Boys and Girls Club Day in Connecticut.”
The so-called “Dig In” campaign debuted in Oct. 2018 with a $1 million pledge from property-casualty insurer The Hartford Financial Services Group. The insurer’s commitment also included its chief executive and chairman, Christopher Swift, serving as the campaign’s chairman. Since then, the State Bond Commission has pledged $7 million and millions of dollars have been raised from personal funds of 30 BGCH board members.
Donations of $1 million were also provided by Travelers Cos., Stanley Black & Decker and Raytheon Technologies Corp. (formerly United Technologies Corp.). Bank of America donated $750,000, Hartford law firm Shipman & Goodwin LLP donated $250,000 and an anonymous donor contributed $1 million.
The new BGCH facility is being built on 3.3 acres the city gifted to the organization for $1 in 2019.
Electric Boat announced Friday that it signed a $544 million contract with Los Angeles-based AECOM to construct a 200,000-square-foot building, where 1,400 shipbuilders will assemble a new fleet of ballistic-missile submarines.
The new building is the centerpiece of an $850 million expansion project in Groton. Overall, the company is investing $1.7 billion to modernize and upgrade its facilities in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
EB is the prime contractor for the 12-ship Columbia-class program, which will replace the aging fleet of Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines built in the 1980s and '90s.
Early construction began in 2017 at the company's facility in Quonset Point, R.I. Final assembly and testing will take place starting in 2024 in Groton.
"General Dynamics Electric Boat continues to make investments — in facilities, in our supply chain and in the next generation of shipbuilders — to support the Columbia class, the Navy’s top strategic priority," company President Kevin Graney said in a statement.
$20M Hartford Boys & Girls Club facility breaks ground ahead of 2021 debut
Joe Cooper
he Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford (BGCH) broke ground Thursday morning on a new $20-million recreation facility in Hartford's South End that it plans to debut later next year.
State and local officials during a socially distanced groundbreaking ceremony Thursday praised the 30,000-square-foot development’s goal of serving an additional 1,500 children in the city's southeast corridor at the former Alfred E. Burr Elementary School, 129 Ledyard St.
The 160-year-old BGCH, currently serving 8,000 school-aged kids, says the project will be completed by fall 2021.
“The Boys and Girls Club of Hartford is an institution in this community and the state of Connecticut is proud to be supportive of this investment,” said Gov. Ned Lamont, who attended Thursday’s groundbreaking and previously declared Jan. 23 “Boys and Girls Club Day in Connecticut.”
A campaign aimed at financing the new clubhouse has raised $21 million of its $20-million fundraising goal to cover the cost of construction and operation of the club for the first five years, officials said Thursday.
The so-called “Dig In” campaign debuted in Oct. 2018 with a $1 million pledge from property-casualty insurer The Hartford Financial Services Group. The insurer’s commitment also included its chief executive and chairman, Christopher Swift, serving as the campaign’s chairman. Since then, the State Bond Commission has pledged $7 million and millions of dollars have been raised from personal funds of 30 BGCH board members.
Donations of $1 million were also provided by Travelers Cos., Stanley Black & Decker and Raytheon Technologies Corp. (formerly United Technologies Corp.). Bank of America donated $750,000, Hartford law firm Shipman & Goodwin LLP donated $250,000 and an anonymous donor contributed $1 million.
The new BGCH facility is being built on 3.3 acres the city gifted to the organization for $1 in 2019.
WASHINGTON, June 9—Associated Builders and Contractors reported today that its Construction Backlog Indicator rose to 7.9 months in May, an increase of less than 0.1 months from April’s reading. Furthermore, based on an ABC member survey conducted May 20-June 3, results indicate that confidence among U.S. construction industry leaders continued to rebound from the historically low levels observed in the March survey.
Nonresidential construction backlog is down 0.8 months compared to May 2019 and declined year over year in every industry, classification and region. Backlog in the heavy industrial category, however, increased by nearly one month in May after reaching its lowest level in the history of the series in April.
ABC’s Construction Confidence Index readings for sales, profit margins and staffing levels expectations all increased in May, although sales and profit margin expectations remain below the threshold of 50, indicating ongoing expectations of contraction. The staffing level index remained above that threshold, with more than 38% of contractors expecting to expand their staff during the next six months.
More than 45% of contractors expect their sales to decline during the next six months while 35% expect sales to increase. More than 48% of contractors expect their profit margins to decrease over the next two quarters.
“Given the depth of the economic downturn and myriad other issues facing America today, backlog and contractor confidence data have held up better than one might have anticipated,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “But the marketplace is still tilted toward pessimism. For instance, more contractors expect sales and profit margins to decline than increase over the next six months, which is consistent with anecdotal information suggesting that many project owners are considering postponing projects and possibly rebidding them.
“After falling meaningfully in April, backlog remained relatively unchanged in May, hinting at a stable nonresidential construction marketplace,” said Basu. “However, the underlying survey received fewer responses compared to earlier months in the COVID-19 crisis, perhaps suggesting that some contractors are no longer operating at previous capacity, inducing available work to move toward better-positioned contractors. To the extent that these stronger contractors are reflected in the survey, this would tend to bolster average backlog even in the context of a subdued marketplace.
“Contractors still expect to boost staffing levels over the next six months,” said Basu. “But this may simply be a function of jobsites reopening as construction shutdowns end. Almost 70% of respondents had jobsites shut down due to government mandates and other reasons, and with labor shortages in place before the pandemic, contractors may have residual staffing needs. It remains to be seen whether expected employment growth going forward coincides with speedy recovery in overall contractor confidence and backlog.”
Note: The reference months for the Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index data series were revised on May 12 to better reflect the survey period. CBI quantifies the previous month’s work under contract based on the latest financials available, while CCI measures contractors’ outlook for the next six months.
Nonresidential construction backlog is down 0.8 months compared to May 2019 and declined year over year in every industry, classification and region. Backlog in the heavy industrial category, however, increased by nearly one month in May after reaching its lowest level in the history of the series in April.
ABC’s Construction Confidence Index readings for sales, profit margins and staffing levels expectations all increased in May, although sales and profit margin expectations remain below the threshold of 50, indicating ongoing expectations of contraction. The staffing level index remained above that threshold, with more than 38% of contractors expecting to expand their staff during the next six months.
More than 45% of contractors expect their sales to decline during the next six months while 35% expect sales to increase. More than 48% of contractors expect their profit margins to decrease over the next two quarters.
- The CCI for sales expectations increased from 41.1 to 44.9 in May.
- The CCI for profit margin expectations increased from 39.8 to 41.7.
- The CCI for staffing levels increased from 51.4 to 53.
“Given the depth of the economic downturn and myriad other issues facing America today, backlog and contractor confidence data have held up better than one might have anticipated,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “But the marketplace is still tilted toward pessimism. For instance, more contractors expect sales and profit margins to decline than increase over the next six months, which is consistent with anecdotal information suggesting that many project owners are considering postponing projects and possibly rebidding them.
“After falling meaningfully in April, backlog remained relatively unchanged in May, hinting at a stable nonresidential construction marketplace,” said Basu. “However, the underlying survey received fewer responses compared to earlier months in the COVID-19 crisis, perhaps suggesting that some contractors are no longer operating at previous capacity, inducing available work to move toward better-positioned contractors. To the extent that these stronger contractors are reflected in the survey, this would tend to bolster average backlog even in the context of a subdued marketplace.
“Contractors still expect to boost staffing levels over the next six months,” said Basu. “But this may simply be a function of jobsites reopening as construction shutdowns end. Almost 70% of respondents had jobsites shut down due to government mandates and other reasons, and with labor shortages in place before the pandemic, contractors may have residual staffing needs. It remains to be seen whether expected employment growth going forward coincides with speedy recovery in overall contractor confidence and backlog.”
Note: The reference months for the Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index data series were revised on May 12 to better reflect the survey period. CBI quantifies the previous month’s work under contract based on the latest financials available, while CCI measures contractors’ outlook for the next six months.