Table of Contents

NYBC Recognizes Industry Trio
Developers Discover Brooklyn
Hevesi Details City’s Aging Infrastructure
Task Force Explores Gowanus Options
SCA Addresses Capacity Needs
Construction Firms Go Hi-Tech
NYBC Salutes Members

The New York City School Construction Author-ity (SCA) has been adding seats for the public school system at an increasingly rapid and efficient pace while taking measures to in-crease construction site safety, said SCA President and CEO Milo Riverso, PhD, P.E., dur-ing a breakfast forum co-sponsored by the New York Building Congress and New York Construction News.

Riverso, a former executive at AJ Contracting and a Special Projects Manager at Tishman Construction Corp., is the fourth president of the nine-year-old agency. Since he became chief executive in January, 1998, the SCA has committed $1.2 billion for numerous projects, including two new school buildings, eight additions, 36 transportable classrooms and other modernizations and leased site work.

In its nine-year history, the SCA has awarded $7 billion in school construction contracts and added 80,000 new seats. Of that total, 27,000 seats, or 35 percent, have been added in the past two years. Another 31,000 currently are in the pipeline. These seats have been added mainly through the construction of 89 new schools and 70 major modernizations.

In addition, the SCA has eliminated 188 of the 353 coal-burning furnaces that were in use just 8 years ago. “As funding becomes available, we will continue to eliminate coal burning furnaces,” Riverso pledged.

“Milo Riverso’s intimate knowledge of the building industry has made him successful. He’s hands-on in getting things done, and his public and private sector experience has made him the most qualified person to be in this position,” said Building Con-gress Vice Chairman Richard Tomasetti in his introduction.

According to Riverso, the creation of the SCA has helped make school construction in New York City much more efficient. Before the SCA was created by the New York State Legi-slature, the duration of projects from start to finish averaged eight to ten years. Since the SCA, the duration has been cut to an average of three years.

Furthermore, 58 percent of all SCA projects in 1997 were completed on-time or early, which was up from 24 percent in 1995, and just 5 percent in 1995. These statistics, Riverso said, “will keep improving.”

Schools are getting built more quickly thanks in part to design/build methods instituted at the SCA, which allow the authority to save time by overlapping the two functions. Rather than waiting until aftrr the design process, projects now are put out to bid after approximately 60 percent of design work is complete.