Construction Biz Diversifying As It Grows

NEW YORK CITY—Decision-makers in the Metro New York construction community are sitting on billions of dollars in capital program budgets. That was one of the main takeaways from the “Meet the Construction Chiefs” event, held by the Professional Women in Construction late last week.

The panel session, introduced by PWC president Barbara Armand—president and CEO of Armand Corp.—featured five of the metro area's top construction professionals. Battery Park City Authority president and COO Shari C. Hyman praised her organization's Diversity team for bringing contract totals with Minority- and Women-owned Businesses (MWBEs) to 29% for 2014, exceeding the 20% goal set by New York State. This spring, she noted, the BPCA expects to exceed the recently raised 2015 MWBE utilization goal of 30%. 

“MWBEs need to share in the continued economic growth of Downtown as the neighborhood matures and becomes a destination for all New Yorkers,” said Hyman.

Richard Kennedy, COO for Skanska USA's building operations in Metro NY, pointed out that the firm's newly formed Women's Network and its Building Blocks program in construction management—which has graduated 350 companies—just added a “Subcontractor Spotlight” to bring small MWBE contractors to the decision makers. Last year, Kennedy's division of the firm put “$1.2 billion of construction work in place,” and “we see the market continuing to grow and strengthen every day.” As examples he cited institutional work at the United Nations; the multi-lab research facility for the City University of NY; the new headquarters for IBM's Watson computer Downtown; and work done in the fields of healthcare and higher education.

More women need to enter the construction trades, stated Sharon Neill, deputy commissioner for the New York City Department of Buildings. On the plus side, the number of women entrepreneurs is growing: “women-owned construction firms constitute the fastest growing urban business sector in the US,” she said.

Meanwhile, IBEX Construction's president, Andy Frankl, told of his firm's work for the Chapin School, whose mission is aligned with PWC's "to prepare and promote a diverse and talented community to thrive and lead in a global society and to become self-directed learners who value the process of learning as much as the end result.”

Chapin's goals have "driven us to go beyond the normal expectations and unlock and expand every tool in our toolbox,” said Frankl. He added, “We like to think of ourselves as the intelligent construction company,” referring to IBEX's use of state-of-the-art technology.