Helping out in Haiti

Like a lot of other people, I have been looking for ways to help out with the tragedy in Haiti. Friends of mine, Turk and Christy Pipkin, who formed The Nobelity Project nonprofit and have two movies out, the most recent, "One Peace at a Time," are also doing project work in Haiti.

Because of this, the golf tournament that I am organizing on Feb. 23 in Austin, will go to support The Nobelity Project and Architecture for Humanity's work in Haiti.

Christy Pipkin will speak at dinner, following the tournament.

Details: http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=e8fae70a-20f2-4413-9389-10e8cdf41c59


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Texas still the hotest spot for capital projects?

Today I had lunch with an engineer friend of mine who does a lot of higher education work. I asked him how his business was going. He said 2007 was his best year, 2008 was slower, and 2009 slower than 2008. What he sees is that the current workload is moving into construction, which means that his engineering work, of course, is reduced.

The University of Texas (UT) is still the largest higher education Owner pushing out construction, and MB Galveston has the lion's share of work. Most of this work is being contracted to Houston-area firms, which makes sense. Still, if you kook at the current UT System Capital Improvement Program (CIP) you will see that many of the project schedules have been pushed WAY down the road, like from 2010 to 2014.

As the current UT projects are completed , what is the prospect for new work in 2011 or 2012? With a renewed interest in community colleges, this may be where future construction dollars are headed...