< PreviousWRITTEN BY DAVID O'NEILL N ew York City has long been at the forefront of the green movement. From the demands placed upon businesses to retrofit buildings, to a more sustainable footing, right through to the Green New Deal which has revolutionized the way we think about sustainability, the city is pushing forward in ear- nest. It is therefore unsurprising that NYC is once again leading the pack in terms of green construction. Alternative energy, cooler buildings and energy neutral designs are all high on the agenda when it comes to the built environment. Buildings have long been acknowledged as the highest emitters of carbon in densely populated areas. As such, New York City has placed strict regulations on the decarbonization and modernization of its buildings. Gas connections to new buildings has been banned and caps have been placed on existing buildings. By 2027, all buildings will need to be fully electric. If successful, the results will be incredible. It is estimated that by 2050 New York City will have decreased its carbon emissions by 80%. That is the good news. As with anything, there are two sides, however. The unfortunate truth is that there are serious challenges to the success of these goals and not just in New York City. Across America, states and busi- nesses alike are attempting to meet climate goals. The main issue they face is one that has almost become synonymous with the construction industry and that is the lack of skilled workers capable of doing the work required. | 10 FEBRUARY 2023| 11 APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONTake electricians for example; according to Rewiring Amer- ica, an electrification nonprofit, the nation needs a million new electricians just to meet the demands of rewiring in anticipation of the energy transition. According to Ari Matu- siak, CEO of Rewiring America, the situation needs to change. “The pipeline for new electricians has been too narrow for too long. The scale that is needed to meet the moment when it comes to our climate goals—but also to deliver savings to households and to reinvest in our communities—is massive. And that requires people who know how to do that work.” Enter BlocPower, a Brooklyn-based climate technology com- pany rapidly greening American cities. Since its founding in 2014, the company has completed energy projects in over 1,200 buildings. The company has, in recent times, been working with New York City to remedy the debilitating short- age of workers in order to meet current targets. According to Donnel Baird, CEO of BlocPower, the company is helping because the need is undeniably there. “America has a short- age of skilled construction workers of any kind.” To combat this, the company has set up the Civilian Climate Corps, a program designed to bring new faces into the construction world and ease the challenges being faced in the industry. The goals of the program are multifaceted and, according to the company, are hugely beneficial to the new recruits. “They can earn competitive wages throughout the program, including during training sessions prior to onsite work. [In addition to this] they will receive valuable, transferable technical training that prepares them for a career in the rapidly growing field of green construction and they will connect to employers who want to hire employees with the skills the training program helps to develop.” Since 2021 the program has trained over 1,700 workers and received $37 million in funding from the mayor’s office. While this is always music to the ear, the company is attempt- ing to go even further. Alongside assisting the construction industry, BlocPower is also trying to help with another chal- lenging aspect of life in New York City. “We are going into the lowest-income communities, where folks are at risk of gun violence—personally, their families, their communities—we’re training them on the latest, greatest software to install green infrastructure in urban environments, in rural environments,” Baird said in 2021. “That’s going to solve not only crime rates in low-income communities in New York City,” he added. “It’s going to solve the business problem of the shortage of skilled construction workers across America.” The program recruits trainees from low-income areas identified as having high rates of gun violence. It consists of a one month training course entered around workplace etiquette and business commu- nication classes followed by an additional two months of technical training, which includes low-voltage electrical work, heating, ventilation, and air conditioner (HVAC) installation and workplace safety training. Most members then move on to on-site apprenticeships. The program is open to res- idents of the five neighborhoods with the highest rates of | 12 FEBRUARY 2023gun violence: East New York, Flatbush and East Flatbush, Far Rockaway, Harlem and Melrose. In its first year, 30% of par- ticipants found full time employment and 62% have passed Occupational Safety and Health Administration training. Given the dual mandate that this program has, both of vital importance to New York City, it is unsurprising that ate last year, Mayor Eric Adams announced a further infusion of investment in the program. Announcing that an additional $54 million is being allocated to the program in order to train an additional 3000 workers, Mayor Adams said, “If we want less crime on our streets, we must make sure people are employed and they see the opportunities of the future. Green jobs are going to bring green dollars into communities and really put people on a pathway of success.” Speaking fur- ther, Mayor Adams acknowledged that these issues are both proving to be hugely challenging for New Yorkers. He did additionally offer hope that the partnership can make positive changes across a number of fields. “It is not easy to turn your life around, or to fight the climate crisis, but our Precision Employment Initiative allows New Yorkers to do both. That is why we are invest- ing $54 million into expanding the program, serving up to 3,000 New Yorkers. Working with BlocPower, we are creating an upstream solution to several downstream problems, including gun violence, unemployment, and envi- ronmental injustice.” In recent times, the idea of a Climate Corps has been a con- tentious one. President Biden had included it in his bid for office while early in his Presidency he states that a program was needed that could “mobilize the next generation of con- servation and resilience workers.” However, funding for such programs were eventually dropped from the final version of the Inflation Reduction Act. However, there is still belief that this model can be reintroduced at some point. For those at BlocPower, New York City is looking like a viable blueprint that can be rolled out across the nation. Other cities such as Ithaca and Menlo Park have announced partnerships with BlocPower in order to decarbonize their locality. While the program is still in its infancy, it seems to have massive potential, both in New York City and further afield. According to Baird, BlocPower is now actively working on duplicating this program in other cities to help them address the labor shortages in their communities while preparing the local workforce for green economy jobs. “There’s a lot of excite- ment. We do think it is a model for different cities across the country,” he said. “Working with BlocPower, we are creating an upstream solution to several downstream problems, including gun violence, unemployment, and environmental injustice.” | 13 APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONWRITTEN BY CAROLINE EBBS W hile Highbury Concrete (founded 2013) could be considered a relatively young company it is far from being rookie. In fact, quite the opposite is true. With a wealth of experience on-board, the company has a rich background to rely on when it comes to all things concrete. Highbury is made up of self-described ‘career professionals’ combining their expertise to provide an elevated service to Highbury’s clients. As Daniel Oswald, Health and Safety Manager at Highbury explains, this culture of building employees up from within the company is a core feature. It gen- erates loyalty and trust in the business with Oswald himself starting out as a laborer before working up to the role of Safety Foreman and then to become Health & Safety Manager, over the course of just six or seven years. This example lies at the core of Highbury Concrete, a company with education and training being central to its ethos. Highbury values providing new opportunities for its employees, especially upskilling them, which generates the career professionals that Highbury takes immense pride in employing. Highbury even has programs to upskill and ensure the safety of inexperienced workers. This initiative, called the ‘white vest program’ restricts workers from certain tasks until they can be guaranteed to do safely and correctly. Safety is paramount to Highbury and having a fully and properly trained team is just one of a wealth of safety measures. Another new program Highbury has introduced to maintain its workers’ safety is the optional ‘Red Wing’ boots program. Highbury has pre-approved boots selected for its construction sites that workers can pay for discounted boots by payroll deduction over the course of two to eight weeks. This ensures that Highbury workers are using boots that the company knows for cer- tain will protect them from anything that could happen on a construction site, including penetration hazards or slippery terrain. The Highbury approved Red Wing boots are also waterproof, with a safety-toe, and electrical hazard resistant. | 14 FEBRUARY 2023| 15 APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONEQUIPMENT REDEFINED TRADE FOCUSED SYSTEM WIDE HAMMERS & PRY BARS • UP TO 10X VIBRATION REDUCTION • MOST DURABLE FIBERGLASS HANDLE DUAL FACE MILLED & SMOOTH • UP TO 50% FASTER VS. PREVIOUS ULTRA™ BLADE • MAXIMUM RUN-TIME • REBAR DURABILITY NEXT GEN DIAMOND ULTRA™ SEGMENTED BLADES 49-93-7540 14" DIAMOND ULTRA SEGMENTED BLADE AVAILABLE ACCESSORIES GREEN BEAM LASERS • ALL-DAY RUN TIME • BEST VISIBILITY • BRIGHTEST GREEN LASER, OPTIMIZED FOR DISTANCE NITRUS CARBIDE SAWZALLS • UNMATCHED LIFE • SUPERIOR CUTTING VERSATILITY • FOR THE TOUGHEST CAST REMOVALS • UNIQUE CARBIDE BLEND REBAR CUTTERS • UP TO 3X LIFE IN REBAR VS. COMPETITIVE REBAR CUTTERS • UP TO 10X FASTER IN REBAR VS. 4-CUTTER BITS • SDS-PLUS HAMMER GUARD™ PROTECTIVE SHANK 12” & 15” PRY BARS 9”, 10” & 12” NAIL PULLERS 10” MOLDING PULLER 4-CUTTER SDS PLUS DRILL BITS SDS-MAX SCRAPING CHISELThe company has experienced ongoing success, as evi- denced by the numerous projects taking place around the country. For example, on the Upper West Side at 4650 Broadway, NYC, Highbury is working on a 272-unit building that totals 440,000 square feet. 40,000 square feet of that is for commercial use and thirty percent of it is designated for affordable housing. While this project boasts an impressive twenty storeys, another of Highbury’s projects is an enor- mous sixty-eight story’s high. This building, in Long Island City, is 820 feet tall and over 1 million square feet. Incredibly, once completed it will be the tallest building in Long Island City. However, as Oswald explains, given that the previous record is also held by Highbury Concrete, the company is only competing with itself. INSURANCE RISK MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEE BENEFITS MATTHEW TIAGWAD Partner, Senior Business Development Executive 856-552-4676 TRAVIS SHAFFER Partner, Senior Business Development Executive & Surety Manager 856-479-2235 Conner Strong & Buckelew is proud to partner with Highbury Concrete to keep their business and their employees protected. Congratulations on your continued success. MAKING A DIFFERENCE CONNERSTRONG.COM FOR OUR CLIENTS AND OUR COMMUNITY Photo by Elevated Angles LLC “On the Upper West Side at 4650 Broadway, NYC, Highbury is working on a 272-unit building that totals 440,000 square feet.”When the conversation around competition does arise, it is obviously a very nuanced subject. Highbury specializes mainly in superstructures rather than in foundations, so the nature of its competition is different to those typically found in the concrete sector. When Highbury expands into Florida though, Oswald does suggest that the company will be exploring more work in foundations as well as superstructures. Furthermore, about competing or bidding against other subcontractors for jobs, all Oswald says is that according to Highbury’s estimators, there is more work out there than can be estimated. (201)587-1755 INFO@GSESP.COM GSESP.COM | 19 APEIRON CONSTRUCTIONNext >