Skip to main content

News Briefs

Date Posted: October 31 2008

The first U.S. construction outlook for 2009 has been released - and it's not good.
McGraw-Hill Construction reported on Oct. 23 that U.S. construction starts are expected to decline 7 percent to $515 billion. That follows a 12 percent decline predicted for 2008.

"The speed and scope of the events in September and October were startling," said Robert A. Murray, vice president of economic affairs for McGraw-Hill Construction, at their Outlook 2009 Executive Conference. "Tighter lending standards are a major constraint for the construction industry. For single-family housing, declines are continuing and showing no sign of an upturn. "Home prices are continuing to drop - a 20% drop so far this year - and we expect another 10% decline through the first half of 2009. Then, things should level off."

The faltering national economy showed up in construction employment numbers in September - 35,000 jobs were lost in the building trades. Unemployment in construction was up to 9.9 percent, compared to the overall national jobless rate of 6.1 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Associated General Contractors of America Chief Economist Ken Simonson said the numbers could get "even uglier" because the financial fallout didn't start until mid-September. We quoted him last issue as saying: "The 2009 construction employment and spending outlook will be very bleak unless credit markets revive promptly."

Consumers delays new Karn plant work
Speaking before a meeting this month sponsored by the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, George C. Hass, executive director of new generation at Consumers Energy, said groundbreaking for its new $2.3 billion coal fired power plant has slipped from late next year to the spring of 2010.

Despite the delay, he added, his company wants the facility to be operational by 2010.

The 800-megawatt facility is planned as an addition to the utility's Karn-Weadock complex in Bay County's Hampton Twp.. The plant is needed to help Consumers to accommodate the state's growing demand for electricity, which is increasing by an average rate of 1% per year.

For the existing Karn-Weadock facilities Consumers recently hired WorleyParsons, Reading, Pennsylvania, to provide construction management services for the installation of $330 million in new pollution control technology. That project is to commence in late 2010 and be completed by 2014. Originally ground for it was to be broken this year.

Hass also told the group Consumers wants to develop about 500 megwatts of wind turbine generated electricity over the next ten years, mostly using sites in Tuscola County. Delaying work, however, have been issues with inadequate electrical transmission lines and interference with airport flying zones. (From Michigan Construction News.com)