rapid development
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-28
The Guided Bomb Unit 28 (GBU-28) is a 5,000 pound (2,268 kg) laser-guided “bunker busting” bomb …
the total development time from conception to the first drop test took only 2 weeks, and the weapon went into active service after only one test drop.
Americans can still do things quickly.
It’s just that bureaucrats and NIMBYs often stand in the way.
Compare and contrast:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_stat…
Construction on the building started on March 17 [ 1929 ] …
Governor Smith’s grandchildren cut the ribbon on May 1, 1931…
2 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade…
Groundbreaking for the World Trade Center took place on August 5, 1966. The North Tower (1) was completed in December 1970
4 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_tow…
Construction … began on April 27, 2006.
Estimated completion April 2013
7 years.
…in the best case. Call it 8, or perhaps even 10.
It looks like the time to build a big skyscraper in America is doubling every 35 years.
Another 70 years will be two more cycles of doubling, at which point the time to construct a skyscraper will – at the time construction starts – be 40 years … and will double ever 35 years.
QED: no American skyscraper begun after 2079 will ever be completed.
December 29th, 2009 at 4:14 am
We’re no longer building for commerce. The practical value of major structures is no longer the primary consideration. It seems more about symbolism and honorifics…pyramids with a different aspect ratio.
December 29th, 2009 at 8:42 am
That’s okay, by 2079, no building could conceivably comply with every code and regulation anyway. ;)
December 29th, 2009 at 9:00 am
I have ‘roughed-in’ high rises at a floor a day.
Now….years for EPA permit.
December 29th, 2009 at 10:44 am
All the recent big buildings are in South East Asia. Permits will be death of us.
December 29th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Most of the delays in the skyscraper business are about money. It turns out that it’s really not a good business to be in… they cost a lot to build and are hard to fill. They’re more a status symbol/penis extension (hope the spam filter doesn’t grab that).
I love huge skyscrapers as much as the next inner-12-year-old-boy, but it’s very possible that the US has moved past its skyscraper era and no longer needs such conspicuous consumption to show our place in the world. The reason that the Freedom Tower is taking so long is largely because nobody particularly wants to pay for it, so the government (aka taxpayers) are footing a lot of the bill, and whenever you get government involved… you know how that goes. Main topic of this blog.
Really, TJIC, you should be ranting that there’s no economic justification for the Freedom Tower and that it shouldn’t be built at all, because it’s stealing money from your pocket at surely as a grant to train a letterpress apprentice. I see this as one of the little inconsistencies you have in message, like the lack of ranting about wasteful military spending….
GB is right that all the recent big buildings are in SE Asia, but I doubt permits are the problem. SE Asia is (or at least, has been) full of governments willing to spend billions to show that “they have arrived in the world economy”, just as with the orgy of the China Olympics. These too shall pass.
December 29th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
[quote comment="229498"]
That’s okay, by 2079, no building could conceivably comply with every code and regulation anyway. ;)[/quote]
Well, humor aside, I think that that is exactly the mechanism that’s causing development time to grow.
December 29th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
It should really be in terms of time per unit volume, not time per building.
December 29th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
[quote comment="229498"]
That’s okay, by 2079, no building could conceivably comply with every code and regulation anyway. ;)[/quote]
Even if you comply with all written codes the local fire and building inspectors can (and will) force you to make changes to meet their unwritten desires. You can’t get something passed in Burnaby BC without several thousand $$ in engineering studies to prove that the building won’t burn down if it’s built to national and provincial code requirements.
December 29th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
[quote comment="229519"][quote comment="229498"]
That’s okay, by 2079, no building could conceivably comply with every code and regulation anyway. ;)[/quote]
Even if you comply with all written codes the local fire and building inspectors can (and will) force you to make changes to meet their unwritten desires. You can’t get something passed in Burnaby BC without several thousand $$ in engineering studies to prove that the building won’t burn down if it’s built to national and provincial code requirements.[/quote]
The funny thing about government is if you want a variance, ask for it when the economy is bust and then wait to build in the boom when the inspectors are too busy to screw around with your site.
December 30th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Regarding the bunker buster (your first link) “The first foreign sale of the GBU-28 was the acquisition of 100 units by Israel, authorized in April 2005.[6] Delivery of the weapons was accelerated at the request of Israel in July 2006.”
I guess we know what Israel will use if they decide to take out an Iranian nuclear facility or 2.