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Houston is growing, and with that growth comes jobs. More jobs mean a stronger economy. But as employers have a difficult time finding qualified, skilled workers, San Jacinto College steps in offering affordable training for the hard-to-fill middle-skills jobs.San Jacinto College is working with UpSkill Houston, an industry-led workforce development program launched earlier this month by the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) aimed at filling the need for skilled workers in the Gulf Coast region. It is a blue print for leaders across the board – in the business community, at educational institutions, and within social service organizations – to build a quality workforce that meets employers’ needs. The initiative is supported by a $250,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase, the largest ever private-sector effort aimed at addressing the skills gap.
Reshaping the Construction Industry
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Most of us drive by skyscrapers in major cities without ever thinking about how they stand up. In Los Angeles and most other major cities, they have to stand up to the politics, the winds, the storms, the earthquakes, and an occasional change of developer, owner and/or General Contractor, especially in landmark $1 billion projects. On the new Wilshire Grand Center in LA, almost all of those factors came into play over the years before construction even began. What started with a handshake in true Texas style between two USC graduates is now becoming the tallest tower west of the Mississippi River, but that journey has been quite turbulent at times.
January 21, 2015
Construction Career Collaborative continues to gain momentum. During the past year, the Board of Directors of C3 approved 52 contractors as Accredited Employers, including nine general contractors and 43 specialty contractors. In addition, eight companies were approved as Project Participants, all of whom are working on the C3 project, Texas Children’s Hospital - The Woodlands. But, we still have much, much more work to do in order to achieve our goal of creating a sustainable workforce for the commercial construction industry. In fact, we have hardly started.The next step in our growth is to hire an Operations Manager. We are looking for someone with experience in the construction industry that fits the qualifications listed in the job description below. If you, or someone you know, fit these qualifications, please consider this job opportunity.Position Description for the C3 Operations Manager: Construction Career Collaborative is an alliance of socially responsible Owners, Contractors and Specialty Contractors whose mission is to positively affect the issues facing the craft worker for the commercial construction industry.
January 20, 2015
PPI falls in 2014; mixed price changes loom; nonresidential construction pay acceleratesEditor’s note: Construction Citizen is proud to partner with AGC America to bring you AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's Data DIGest. Check back each week to get Ken's expert analysis of what's happening in our industry.If you have not already, please help AGC craft its 2015 Construction Business Outlook and take this short survey.The producer price index (PPI) for final demand decreased 0.4%, not seasonally adjusted (-0.3%, seasonally adjusted), in December and increased 1.1% for the year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Thursday. AGC posted an explanation and tables focusing on construction prices and costs. Final demand includes goods, services and five types of nonresidential buildings that BLS says make up 34% of total construction. There are no indexes yet for other building types, or for residential or nonbuilding construction.
January 19, 2015
The main stream media isn’t well known for covering construction stories, especially in depth, but Thomas Curwen and his colleagues at the LA Times did an outstanding report on the construction of what will be the tallest building west of the Mississippi in the Wilshire Grand Center construction. The five part series written by Curwen augmented by photos from his associates focuses the complexity and challenges during the planning and construction of a major project on a downtown constricted site that are usually not talked about openly in the press or outside of the owner, designers and construction teams.
January 16, 2015
Brent Smith, PhD gave a stimulating presentation titled Managing Talent: Myths and Realities at the 2014 fall conference hosted by Kiley Advisors. Pat Kiley introduced the Rice University dean and professor with a mention of the companies who have hired Dr. Smith “to help them with talent development and leadership coaching” including ExxonMobil and other companies who are the “who’s who of the energy industry” as well as those from other industries such as Microsoft.
January 15, 2015
According to an article in DeZeen Magazine, the ten tallest skyscrapers under construction for completion of core and shell in 2015 are located across the globe, but only one of them is in the US – 432 Park Avenue in New York City, which will be “the tallest all-residential building in the world.”Others of note are the Vostok Tower in Russia, the Shanghai Tower in China, Capital Market Authority Tower in Saudi Arabia, and the Marina 101 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Read the full article to check out the stats, the designers and the engineering marvels that are being used to achieve new heights.
January 14, 2015
Educators will tell you there was a time, not all that long ago, when folks in higher education had very little interest in working collaboratively to address the workforce needs of businesses in their communities. Those days are over. The needs are so great that there is now a recognition that unprecedented teamwork is necessary for the good of businesses and their potential employees.
January 13, 2015
Jobs added in 2014 are most since 2005; union pay raises inch up; retail metrics improveEditor’s note: Construction Citizen is proud to partner with AGC America to bring you AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's Data DIGest. Check back each week to get Ken's expert analysis of what's happening in our industry.If you have not already, please help AGC craft its 2015 Construction Business Outlook and take this short survey.Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 252,000 in December, seasonally adjusted, and by 2,952,000 (2.1%) over 12 months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday. Construction employment rose by 48,000 for the month and 290,000 (4.9%) over the year to 6,166,000, the highest total since March 2009 and the largest annual increase since 2005. Residential construction employment (residential building and specialty trade contractors) climbed by 13,500 for the month and 132,100 (6.0%) for the year.
January 12, 2015
The word “audit” doesn’t necessarily have the most pleasant connotation for most non-profits. However, Construction and Maintenance Education Foundation (CMEF), the training affiliate of Associated Builders and Contractors of Greater Houston, successfully passed their recent NCCER audit. After a training facility is accredited by NCCER, they participate in an audit every three years as part of the reaccreditation process. Acting almost as a review, an auditor will assess the facility’s effectiveness by evaluating equipment, classes, student performance and instructor records. NCCER awarded CMEF the Accredited Assessment Center and Accredited Training Sponsor Certificates, and endorsed the Foundation for Mobile Crane and Rigger/Signal Person certification delivery.
January 09, 2015
