CI Holds Conference in Chicago

The Construction Institute Regional Conference was held June 15-16, 2006 at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago.  The conference program was a departure from the

Steve Medina and Rosemarie Andolino listen as a conference attendee asks a question about their presentation on the O’Hare Airport Expansion.

Mega Projects format of past CI conferences.  While the program did include several

project presentations, technical sessions presented by CI committees were also featured.  CI Construction Director Brian Manning chaired the event, which attracted more than 80 attendees. 

The conference opened on Thursday with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between CI and the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation.  CI President Richard MacDonald and DRBF President Harold McKittrick signed the MOU.  McKittrick then said a few words about the significance of the MOU. 

Richard MacDonald, President of CI, and Harold McKittrick, President of the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation, sign a memorandum of understanding between the two organizations.

Next on the program was a presentation on the Wacker Drive Viaduct, followed by a technical session on public contracts and sureties.  The rest of the day’s agenda included presentations on the McAlpine Lock replacement, the O’Hare Airport expansion, and the Marquette Interchange project and technical session on design-build and underground utility data (ASCE/CI 38-02).  The day concluded on a high note with 2005 Peurifoy Award winner Abraham Warszawski’s lecture on engineering and management in ancient construction.  After the conference presentations were completed, attendees and presenters were invited to participate in a networking reception. 

The second day of the conference opened with a technical session on environmental liabilities with regard to public contracts.  This presentation was followed by project presentations on the Trump International Hotel and Tower and the Manitowoc Water Transmission Main and technical sessions on claims avoidance and risk management usage by contractors and owners. 

CI staff and volunteers are at work on the next Construction Institute Regional Conference, which is to be held in Los Angeles on January 19, 2007.  More information on this event is forthcoming. 

Special thanks to the CI Regional Conference in Chicago presenters.