PPP’s – Florida’s Past and Future
By: Doug Storer
April 2012
Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) are once again at the forefront of the debate for new solutions to delivering Florida’s much-needed and underfunded public facilities and infrastructure. The 2012 Florida Legislature debated legislation that would serve to encourage the alternative development, financing and ownership of public facilities and infrastructure only to let the PPP bill die in the final days of the session.
This runs contrary to a national trend to encourage PPP projects through enabling legislation. “There has been a remarkable increase in interest in PPPs with a nearly 30% increase (from 24 to 31 states) in state legislatures passing PPP statutes in just the last two years,” according to Richard Norment, Executive Director, National Council for Public-Private Partnerships.
Adapt or Die
By: Doug Storer
February 28, 2012
Adaption has become the mantra for surviving the Great Recession. It is no different in the building industry, where we have to ask ourselves, do we really need another building? That may sound like a strange question coming from a company who has built buildings for 76 years. Increasingly, adaptive reuse of existing buildings is becoming a more viable option to meet a wide variety of facility needs.
Wikipedia defines adaptive reuse as the process of reusing an old site or building for a purpose other than for what it was originally built or designed. The current economic recession has left an indelible mark on the nation’s urban communities, whose fabric has been torn by high vacancy rates, deferred maintenance, and abandoned retail and office space. The existing building market in the U.S. comprises more than 77.9 billion square feet of commercial buildings according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Adaptive reuse of existing buildings may make sense for a number of reasons:
The 2012 Construction Outlook May Require Desert Survival Techniques
By: Doug Storer
January 23, 2012
Construction will remain a challenging environment for 2012 much like a desert. Under the scorching sun and arid sands the desert environment may appear to be devoid of life. Surprisingly a large number of animals not only survive in the desert, but actually thrive. What can the construction industry learn from animals that survive in the desert? Analysts say the sector will eventually rebound, but for now that prospect seems like a desert mirage in the distance.
“The long-suffering construction sector still has another five quarters of job losses before it too joins in the labor market’s recovery,” University of Central Florida economists predict. “Job growth will not return to the construction sector until the second quarter of 2013.”