Lake/Flato Architects Inc. of San Antonio received the 2004 AIA Architecture Firm Award, which recognizes a practice that has consistently produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years. The award will be presented at the American Architectural Foundation Accent on Architecture Gala March 3 in Washington, D.C.

While Lake/Flato's roots are firmly affixed in San Antonio, the firm has used its approach to architecture in a variety of places, project types and scales, ranging from family retreats and museums to universities and corporate headquarters. During the past 20 years the firm has won more than 90 regional and national architecture awards, including AIA honor awards in 1992, 1997 and 1999.

EPA official Peter Truitt recently spoke to several AGC chapters in Texas and visited highway and building construction sites in Austin and Houston.

Truitt and AGC's Leah Wood spoke at several chapter meetings about the AGC's partnership with the EPA in the agency's Sector Strategies Program. They also jointly led discussions about how the EPA, the state and contractors can improve operations.
As a partner in the program, the AGC is working with the EPA to develop an environmental management system template for the construction industry.

The National Council of Structural Engineers Associations recently created the first certification program for structural engineers. NCSEA had previously endorsed certification as a step toward separate licensing of structural engineers. The NCSEA said certification would "grandfather" in structural engineers already licensed as professional engineers. (Engineering News-Record).

Houston-based Walter P. Moore won the NCSEA's 2003 Excellence in Structural Engineering Award in the "outstanding building over $25 million" category for Reliant Stadium. The stadium has "set new standards for operable roof design," according to the NCSEA.

The American Subcontractors Association recently released a statement praising the passage of Oregon's anti-indemnity law for construction contracts. The ASA said rising insurance costs top the concerns of specialty-trade contracting firms, and many states have failed to address the problem.

Texas currently does not have an anti-indemnity law for contractors.

While specialty-trade contractors say that better safety management, improved company operations and other measures will help, the ASA believes that closing legal loopholes is the best way to prevent construction companies from writing contracts that "immunize them against liability."

Oregon's law sets limits on what liabilities one party can contractually transfer to another. According to the law, a contract clause could not save a prime contractor from facing the consequences of personal injuries or property damage that it negligently caused, or from covering those losses with its own insurance.

"Oregon's anti-indemnity law for construction contracts is a powerful statement that construction project stakeholders have to be held responsible for their own actions for the protection of the public," said ASA President Rick Wanner, executive vice president of Wanner Metal Worx in Delaware, Ohio. "While there is always some transfer of risks in a construction contract, there should be limits."

With the Feb. 29 end date of the five-month extension for the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) nearing, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers says it is committed to working with its coalition partners and Congress to support a well-funded, six-year bill.

AEM applauded the leadership of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on the introduction of the six-year, $375 billion highway and transit funding bill.

The association issued this statement in support of the bill: "Enactment of a well-funded, multiyear highway and transit bill is critical to create jobs, meet the identified needs to improve the condition of the nation's highway and transit systems, improve safety and stimulate economic activity."

In addition, the association said a multiyear bill is essential in giving contractors and equipment dealers confidence to make long-term capital investment to build and maintain the nation's transportation system.

Salaries Increase for Landscape Architecture Grads

The American Society of Landscape Architects 2003 Graduating Student Survey revealed that salaries rose for those who found positions to an average of $35,000 in 2003, compared to $33,000 in 2002.

ASLA membership increased by six percent last year to more than 14,000 members, a record in the society's 104-year history.

"All of these figures reflect the growing demand for landscape architecture services," said Susan L.B. Jacobson, FASLA, president of ASLA. "In addition to more traditional projects like parks, residential, commercial and planning, our members are leading new markets such as security design and green roofs. It's a good time to be a landscape architect."