Tom Myers
Leader of the Pacific area
Brown and Caldwell
The Honolulu construction sector has been occupied lately, and this is good news, according to Myers.
“The construction business seems to be strong in both Honolulu and the rest of Hawaii,” he says. “We still do not see a slowdown, with some projects blocked during the next two or three years.”
Sanguine evaluation has a stumbling block in the construction of Honolulu begins last year. According to Dodge Data & Analytics, the total value of the new beginnings fell by 25% to $ 5.2 billion by 2024.
Advant, the data is much closer to Myer’s observation. The beginnings are estimated to have more than $ 6.5 billion this year and $ 7.8 billion by 2026. A key factor for the increase will be a growth of residential beginnings – says multifamily – with the total sector expected to exceed $ 2.1 billion in 2026. The region has a significant need for homes, says Myers, especially affordable.
“These are construction projects and improvements related to infrastructure, including updates to water, sewer and rainwater systems,” he says.
This impact is also reflected in the DODGE data that show that environmental public works are expected to grow almost 45% up to $ 2.4 billion by 2026.
A key example of this investment is the project of Sand Island West Waste Water Treatment Plants (Enr West 06/17/24 p. 48), which will total $ 2.5 billion in two phases. While the expected demand has made the project a priority, the regulatory requirements have also caused changes in the installation.
Brown and Caldwell are currently a subcontractor that supports the first phase of $ 700 million construction management for the project that will update the plant massively, which serves the Honolulu urban area, including Waikiki.
Climate concerns are also a factor. Managing and adapting to extreme weather events is essential to ensure the sustainability of limited freshwater resources on the island.
“Honolulu is focused on the management and adaptation to the impacts of extreme weather events, such as too rain that causes significant floods or little rainfall that creates drought conditions,” says Myers. “Increasing sea levels also affects infrastructure near the shores and, with these changes, ensuring that the sustainability of water resources is a priority.”
Additionally, Brown and Caldwell guide an initiative of the island and the island known as One Water Honolulu.
“The initiative brings together agencies from all over the city and the county of Honolulu to develop and implement capital improvement projects that support the resilience of the community to this type of climate change,” says Myers.
He says he hopes that they will coordinate and coordinate about 50 long-term projects in the medium term and coordinate the agencies as part of the program.
One Water Honolulu is based on milestone efforts such as the climate of the city ready Oahu and Oahu’s resilience strategy. If successful in Honolulu, the concept can help other Hawaiian islands meet similar water challenges.
“Hope is to provide an approach and a roadmap that can be used and adapted to address their particular drivers for a water plan,” says Myers.
“Increasing sea level also affects infrastructure near our coasts … Guaranteeing the sustainability of water resources is a priority.”
—Tom Myers, leader of the Pacific area, Brown and Caldwell
The always present in the fortune of the Hawaii AEC sector is personal. The problem throughout the industry finding and hiring workers is aggravated by the geographical isolation of Hawaii.
Myers says that the side of the construction of the business seems very well personalized, but the engineering and architecture companies feel the pinch like the municipalities. The result is a compound effect.
“Labor shortages affect the speed with which projects can be done,” says Myers. “This means that municipalities also trust the AEC community to do more to support their programs.”
And the spectrum of economic interruption due to inflation continues to shade.
Earlier this year, the Hawaii Accounting and General Services Department said that some of the $ 1.8 billion in design projects may have to reduce their reach to keep in budget.
Myers says that supply chain problems, as Covid pandemic has created a longer driving culture culture to adapt to any possible delay in achieving supplies.
“Given economic uncertainty, there is a discussion that some projects can dry out and that materials can increase the cost,” he says. “However, this has not yet come to fruition.”
