Crain’s reports in this week’s (print) edition that Amec, a large British construction/ engineering services concern, is selling its New York office as the last step in withdrawing from the U.S. market, due to concerns about “risk and low margins.” Though Crain’s cites a press release from Amec, none was turned up in a cursory review of their site. With high-profile (and presumably lucrative) projects such as the MoMA expansion and the new Times Building, this is notable defection. They were one of the four firms involved with cleanup at the WTC, have an active role in the Iraq rebuilding, and presumably operate in the London market, where development and construction is even more tortured than it is here, which leads me to wonder what ‘risks’ they perceived. And, given that the WTC cleanup was done as a cost-plus contract (meaning they got to bill every hour earned with an agreed upon profit markup), what kind of margins are they demanding?
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NYC market too rich for everyone’s blood.
Crain’s reports in this week’s (print) edition that Amec, a large British construction/ engineering services concern, is selling its New York office as the last step in withdrawing from the U.S. market, due to concerns about “risk and low margins.” Though Crain’s cites a press release from Amec, none was turned up in a cursory review of their site. With high-profile (and presumably lucrative) projects such as the MoMA expansion and the new Times Building, this is notable defection. They were one of the four firms involved with cleanup at the WTC, have an active role in the Iraq rebuilding, and presumably operate in the London market, where development and construction is even more tortured than it is here, which leads me to wonder what ‘risks’ they perceived. And, given that the WTC cleanup was done as a cost-plus contract (meaning they got to bill every hour earned with an agreed upon profit markup), what kind of margins are they demanding?