World Trade Center

One World Trade Center became the tallest building in New York this afternoon, surpassing the Empire State Building, when ironworkers installed one of the steel columns of the tower, which will rise 104 stories high after the last 4 floors are completed.  Several news journalists were invited up to the 100th floor of the tower yesterday and today to talk to some of the construction workers, many of whom witnessed the fall of the Twin Towers at the site on 9/11, and all of whom consider working on this project an honor and a privilege.

ABC News journalists George Stephanopoulos and Bob Woodruff visited the 100th floor of the One World Trade Center today, which they explained must be achieved first with elevators and then with ladders for the last ten floors.  Read more »

This week, an article by Matt Dunning in Business Insurance lists some of the numbers which reveal the enormity of the combined projects currently under construction at the World Trade Center site in New York.  The article states that “there are 13 integrated megaprojects”  in progress at the site.  When the projects were initiated, details of risk management such as safety inspections and incident reports were maintained separately for each individual project, but in 2008, risk managers for the developers and their insurers implemented a system which integrates relevant Read more »

The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters have set up their makeshift camp in Zuccotti  Park in New York in the shadows of the construction of the new World Trade Center Towers.  We find it interesting that while there is a growing shortage of skilled craftspeople in the USA who could work on building projects like the World Trade Center Towers, there is a growing number of people Read more »

As Hurricane Irene approaches New York and other cities on the east coast of the US, construction sites everywhere are halting work and securing work sites in preparation for the coming wind and rain.  According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, preparations at the construction site at ground zero on the towering One World Trade Center include placing sandbags to block flooding and readying pumps for clean-up following the storm, covering electrical equipment, storing scaffolding, and securing the large cranes which are in use at the site.   Read more »

According to Chris Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey, construction of the memorial at the site of the 9/11 attacks to the World Trade Center towers will be completed in time for the 10th anniversary of the tragedy this September.  The New Jersey newspaper Asbury Park Press interviewed Ward about the obstacles this important project has faced which threatened the achievement of the 10-year deadline.  In 2008, the port authority appointed Ward to take over the lead of the project, and Ward is happy to report that the team has “turned the project around”.   Read more »

In an earlier post about the progress of the construction of the World Trade Center complex and memorial, we told you about the invitation from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to submit any questions you had about the project.  They have now published sixteen questions which they received along with answers from Thomas J. O’Connor, senior engineer of construction for the World Trade Center Construction Department.   Read more »

Steel construction on One World Trade Center, formerly called the Freedom Tower, reached the 52nd floor just before Christmas last month, marking the half-way point toward structural completion of the 104-floor tower in New York.  The 16 acre World Trade Center complex will be the site of a transportation hub and several other buildings, including a performing arts center, office and retail space and a memorial and museum to remember those who lost their lives in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the original World Trade Center towers nine years ago.   Read more »