DesignBuild Source

How Wide Will Prison Builder Collapse Impact Spread?

Andrew Heaton — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:37:18 +0000

From the viewpoint of the Victorian government, at least one potential headache associated with the collapse of a construction firm that was involved in the current $350 million expansion of the Ararat Prison in Central Victoria does not appear as though it will be a problem: the taxpayer does not have to cough up more money.

Building firm St Hilliers Ararat Pty Ltd, which is part of the Aegis Correctional Partnership consortium undertaking the prison upgrade, has been placed into liquidation following a failure to secure $150 million in additional funding from its bankers and other project investors. Another related company, St Hilliers Construction Pty Ltd – the construction arm of the Sydney based St Hilliers Group – has gone into voluntary administration hoping to buy itself time to trade its way out of financial difficulty.

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu is adamant that responsibility to complete the prison now falls to other partners of the consortium, and that Victorian taxpayers will not be involved in bailing out the company or paying additional money in any way as a result of the transaction.

“I’ll make it very clear: this is a public-private partnership and the risk attaches to the private consortium” Baillieu says.

“That’s the basis of it, and it’s up to the members of that consortium to do what’s necessary to complete the project.”

That means that to the extent that other consortium partners are able to fulfil their obligations, the Ararat Prison project should not be impacted by these developments except for the obvious delays while the current mess is sorted out.

Will all hell break loose?

That, however, is where the good news stops.

Indeed, St Hillers’ collapse could have far reaching consequences for many parties in a number of areas.

First, there are other projects. The future of twelve public housing projects in New South Wales, for example, remains unclear.

Then, there are the workers and sub-contractors. According to a report on Australian Associated Press (AAP), Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union NSW State Secretary Brian Parker says he has been assured by the company that no sub-contractors were owed money and that employee entitlements are up to date.

This means that a situation similar to that of the collapse of Reed Constructions in New South Wales – where 1,500 sub-contractors were owed between $60 million and $80 million for work on public projects at the time it collapsed – seems unlikely.

Still, the immediate future of workers involved in the prison remains unclear, and that of other construction workers employed by St Hilliers around the country depends upon whether its broader construction arm currently in administration is able to trade its way out of difficulty.

Finally, there is the political fallout for the Victorian government. Rightly or wrongly, problems with the Ararat project, which has been hit by cost overruns and delays, will impact upon perceptions within the Victorian community about the government’s ability to deliver projects on time and within budget.

More specifically, questions abound as to how much the government knew about St Hilliers’ troubles, when it found out about the problems and whether or not it could have done anything. The CMFEU, for instance, accuses the government of failing thousands of workers in Victoria and around Australia, saying it has known about the situation for six months since St Hilliers raised the issue in December 2011 but done nothing to reach an agreement on financing.

Ted Baillieu may well be right in asserting that Victorian taxpayers will not suffer financial loss because of St Hilliers bankruptcy.

Beyond that, however, how far and wide the effects are going to spread remain to be seen, and will depend on how St Hilliers Construction Pty Ltd fares during its period in administration during the weeks and months ahead.

By Andrew Heaton

Treasurer Defends WA Infrastructure Budget

Tim Moore — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:30:43 +0000

The recent release of the federal budget has created industry turmoil. Tax cuts and various other issues have left industry nationwide losing complete confidence in the federal government and their allocation of money.

One such issue that has been sparked is an attack on the budget that suggests that federal government has neglected to sufficiently invest in Western Australian infrastructure projects.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan is lashing back at these comments with the proof of several hundred million dollar roadway projects that he believes will finally share the benefits of the mining boom with the rest of the WA public.

“We are substantially putting a lot of money into the state of Western Australia to make sure that the infrastructure that is required by this growing state is there because this state is one of the great engine rooms of the national economy,” says Swan. “A lot of people in this state don’t feel part of the mining boom, they don’t necessarily feel that they are receiving the direct benefits”.

Swan states that funding for projects such as the $668 million Gateway Project will encourage a sharing of mining stimulated wealth in the state.

“Well, they do receive direct benefit through our investment in the Gateway project, which is funded by revenue from the minerals resource rent tax” says Swan.

The treasurer has further lashed out at the premier of WA, Colin Barnett for comments made in regards to the state’s dwindling GST share.

“We have hit the bottom of the barrel, there is nothing left, there is nothing left” says Barnett.

Swan has labeled these remarks as ‘rubbish’, citing the various infrastructure upgrades such as the $280 million Commonwealth contribution towards the $350 million highway upgrade in order to reduce bottlenecks as proof of the government’s economic support for the WA industry.

“Mr Barnett is just talking rubbish,” Says Swan. “When it comes to investing in infrastructure, we’re here in Western Australia doing the right thing.”

While the federal government has agreed to the request by Barnett to do an independent review of the GST allocation, Swan argues that the revenue share is out of federal government hands.

“The GST revenue comes through and is divided up and the judgements are made by an independent commission,” says Swan. “No matter how much Mr Barnett and (WA Treasurer Christian) Porter want to try and imply the federal government has got something to do with the reduction in GST revenues, it has not.”

Issues with the budget continue to roll in. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has pleaded with the industry to trust the federal government in light of the tumultuous times, but they may be a tall order for those who are increasingly feeling slighted by those in Canberra.

By Tim Moore

Shaking a Building Without Shaking a Building

Andrew Heaton — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:22 +0000

In California, it seems the latest way for engineering teams to simulate what happens to buildings and equipment inside them in an earthquake is to literally subject a real five-storey building packed with medical gear to the same motions they would experience through such disasters.

In Canada, the latest way is somewhat less intense. In fact, it involves using a recently upgraded version of a technology which dates back, in one form or another, more than a century: shake tables.

Common throughout the US, Europe and many parts of Asia, shake tables test buildings or structures under simulated earthquake conditions, typically by fixing structural models or building components to a rectangular platform that is driven by up to six degrees of freedom by servo-hydraulic or other types of actuators.

On display recently at the University of British Columbia (UBC), however, was a new multi-directional shake table – the first of its kind in Canada.

Unlike traditional shake tables, which involve shifting the table using side to side movements only, multi-directional tables involve movements in multiple directions, providing tests which more closely simulate actual earthquake conditions.

The model on display at UBC was completed last year.

Carlos Ventura, director of UBC’s Earthquake Engineering Research Facility, is excited about the potential uses for the new table, which he says include seeing how models of buildings react under a range of different shake related conditions and testing how individual building components, such as walls, react to the shaking.

With the current popularity of retrofitting existing buildings, the tables can easily be used to test whether or not retrofitted components work as expected.

“[The shake table is] being used to develop retrofit strategies”, Ventura is quoted as saying in a recent article in the Vancouver Courier. “We develop some ideas of what we think will be a low-cost retrofit and then, before that way of strengthening the building [is accepted], we construct a model and we put it on the shake table, shake it, and do different experiments. That allows us to confirm the theory.”

Seismic Upgrades for Schools

The demonstration followed a May 11 press conference in which Education Minister George Abbott announced seismic upgrades for 152 of British Columbia’s schools.

The upgrades follow a comprehensive reassessment of seismic safety at schools throughout the province involving the Ministry of Education, the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia and UBC’s Department of Engineering.

Based on a re-evaluation of more than 500 schools previously identified for potential funding under the School Seismic Mitigation Program, the new assessment identified 152 schools with at least one ‘high risk’ building that needs to be addressed.

Outside of these ‘high priority’ schools, the department says options to fund upgrades to the remaining schools, which have buildings classified as ‘low’ or ‘medium’ risk, will be considered in 2013/14.

Along with the updated schools assessment, the three bodies have also been working together since 2005 to upgrade technical guidelines for seismic retrofits based on the latest scientific research and a study of major earthquakes around the world.

By Andrew Heaton

Will Austerity Worsen Engineering Shortage?

Andrew Heaton — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:47:43 +0000

Given the global shortage of qualified engineers, the need to attract more students into the profession is well-recognised.

Yet due to the fiscal constraints many governments now face, budgets for technical education and training, as well as career support services, are set to come under enormous pressure going forward in a number of countries.

The United Kingdom is a case in point. To meet industry demand, the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IME) says the country needs 31,100 new graduates per annum for the next five years.

Despite this, the IME says, funding cuts to career counselling and work experience programs under new austerity measures will result in fewer school students entering engineering and technical courses.

Already, the Institute says, some schools have indicated that career counselling services will be scaled back in response to the measures, which involve slashing funding for career services in schools by £200 million, the loss of key support for programs such as Connexions, Aim Higher and the Education Business Partnerships and the discontinuation of support for employers who participate in the Key Stage 4 work experience program.

Even more concerning, the IME says, some schools may discontinue face-to-face counselling support, choosing instead merely to point students to web sites.

The Institute fears these factors will reduce the capacity of students to develop an awareness of the breadth of opportunities available in science and engineering-related professions.

IME director of engineering Dr. Colin Brown says the new measures are short-sighted. He argues that the UK career advice system is lacking as it is, and that cutting funding rather than improving services will place the country’s longer-term economic prospects in jeopardy.

“The UK’s career advice system is still sorely lacking,” he says. “We need to be boosting funding to ensure we can steer talented young people into careers which are vital to the country’s future like engineering and science.”

Instead of tackling the problem, he says, the UK is “cutting funding, scrapping face-to-face counselling in schools and there is still insufficient involvement from industry. We need the people in industry who are creating these jobs to provide careers advice, particularly given that many teachers and career advisors are unaware of the realities of working in different industries.”

The IME says that instead of being forced to bear funding cuts to career services, all schools in the UK need adequate resources to help students understand future labour market needs. In addition, the organisation feels all careers advisory agencies should have at least one specialist in engineering and technology careers.

The IME says science, technology and engineering teachers throughout the UK should themselves be provided with opportunities to continue to develop their awareness of career paths for students in their respective areas.

Will this be a trend?

The concern for the industry is that what is happening in Britain right now with work experience and careers services may be a sign of things to come across much of the western world – extreme fiscal pressures on education and training at a time when the engineering profession needs more graduates to meet industry demand.

If the world is to train and develop enough engineers to meet ongoing future requirements, it is imperative that career guidance and work experience programs, not to mention technical education, be adequately funded and resourced in spite of these pressures.

Unfortunately, the latest developments in Britain are an ominous sign.

By Andrew Heaton

Angry Council Takes Light Rail Lead

Ahn Jae Wook — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:45:13 +0000

Frustrated by a lack of federal and state government action, one local council has taken matters into its own hands in order to advance the proposed construction of a light rail service in the western suburbs of Sydney.

Speaking at the Parramatta Economic Development Forum at the Sydney Opera House on Wednesday, Parramatta Lord Mayor Councillor Lorraine Wearne says the Parramatta City Council will allocate $1 million toward a feasibility study for the Western Sydney Light Rail Project.

Lashing out at state and federal governments, Wearne says councils and local residents are sick of empty talk about transport matters.

She says that although transport issues are usually the responsibility of state and federal governments, Council has decided to take a lead role for the region.

“There’s always plenty of talk about transport matters – whether it’s the congestion on Parramatta or Victoria roads – or lack of efficiency and service – on our public transport networks, but unfortunately there’s not enough action” Wearne says.

“We want to change this. This is a project that Council believes in, and we feel, will go a long way towards relieving congestion, providing strong regional connections across Western Sydney and will also integrate with existing transport infrastructure such as heavy rail”.

Planned to be segregated from existing road and train networks, with virtually no sharing of road space, the new project will improve regional connections across Western Sydney, Council says. Such connections include Castle Hill, Bankstown, Liverpool, Blacktown and Sydney Olympic Park.

Council also says the proposed network will improve access to employment in Westmead, Parramatta city centre, Macquarie Park and have links to the University of Western Sydney and Macquarie University.

In a statement, the Council says the $1 million it has committed will be allocated toward a number of initiatives to realise the light rail project – most significantly a feasibility study, the successful tenderer with regard to which is to be selected in July.

Wearne is calling on federal and state governments to get behind the light rail project.

“We’ve made a commitment to get this proposal up and running, and we’ll be calling on our Federal and State leaders to also get behind it and help provide solutions and the funds that will support the future growth of our City and our region” she says.

Wearne’s frustration comes amid uncertainty over the funding of major road upgrades in New South Wales following a row between the state and federal government over funding.

It also comes amid anticipated pressure on infrastructure budgets over coming years due to fiscal constraints – which could see local councils and municipalities competing more fiercely for a tighter pool of project funding.

By Ahn Jae Wook

Developing a World Class Oil Spill Response

Andrew Heaton — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:43:34 +0000

It’s an engineering nightmare.

In 2009, no fewer than four attempts failed to plug a leak at the Montara oil field in the Timor Sea with as much as 2,000 barrels of oil per day bucketing out into the sea over 74 days.

Less than a year later, however, the problems at Montara paled in comparison to those in the Gulf of Mexico as oil gushed out from the site of the Deepwater Horizon spill almost unabated for three months. Desperate well operator BP tried anything and everything in an effort to figure out what to do.

Such events clearly served to demonstrate the catastrophic consequences of uncontrolled leakage on offshore oil rigs.

Following these disasters, energy companies – with help from the engineering profession – are proactively looking at ways to respond to an emergency situation along with ways to prevent such a situation from happening in the first place.

The latest of such efforts revolve around what the industry describes as a ‘world class’ subsea response solution, funding for which was announced at the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) Conference in Adelaide earlier this week.

A key part of the new system revolves around SFRT – specialised equipment to be located in Australia and contracted through the industry-funded Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre (AMOSC) for immediate mobilisation at the onset of a subsea well control event.

The SFRT contains all the equipment needed to clean the area around the wellhead, enable intervention and prepare for relief well drilling and safe installation of a capping device.

In addition, a high-tech well capping device will be stationed in Singapore, where it will be ready for use either in Australia or elsewhere in the region when needed, one of four such devices to be stationed around the world for use by oil firms around the world.

APPEA chief executive David Byers says the announcement of the new system will mean Australia has an industry-wide means to respond to any uncontrolled discharges from offshore wells that is integrated into an international and regional response strategy.

Byers also says the announcement highlights not only the industry’s commitment to global best practices but also to its technological advancement.

“The continued development of offshore oil and gas is essential for Australia’s prosperity and energy security, but the industry must ensure we have access to the latest systems, technology and expertise to achieve the highest standards for our environment and safety performance,” Byers says. “This investment will enable the Australian oil and gas industry to manage a subsea uncontrolled hydrocarbons release incident without delay and with maximum efficiency.”

A global push

The latest developments highlight ongoing industry efforts not just in Australia but also globally.

Following the Montara incident and especially the Deepwater Horizon incident, oil firms are acutely aware of the costs they themselves incur from uncontrolled spills in terms of litigation and environmental clean-up funds, not to mention restrictions on exploration areas and operating licenses following public outcry in response to major incidents.

The strategic positioning of capping devices in various locations around the world is one example of how the industry is working toward a globally integrated response system.

As demonstrated with this week’s announcement, this work extends to the local level, where the industry and government are working together to develop better response systems. Last year, the Australian government signed an accord with both key APPEA member companies and with offshore petroleum regulator NOPSEMA for an Australian Action Plan to respond to any spills or disasters.

By Andrew Heaton

Trigeneration | How It’s Creating World-LEEDing Buildings

Emily D'Alterio — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:42:59 +0000

Renewable energy and energy efficient technologies are generally lauded for their inclusion in projects but, while we understand they are relevant, we often do not understand exactly what they do and how they make energy savings possible.

This is an imprecise way to practice, and can lead to greenwashing of the public and the industry and cause industry members to miss out on opportunities to implement highly efficient green technologies due to a lack of education.

One technology sneaking under the radar is the trigeneration system. While the systems themselves are growing in popularity, there is little promotion of exactly what they do and why they are so successful.

As the name would suggest, a trigeneration system is the simultaneous producer of the three energy forms: electricity, heating and cooling. Waste heat gathered from the generation of electricity – which is created through solar collectors in high energy efficiency systems – is captured by the system and is then used to heat and cool water. An absorption chiller, which is powered by the captured heat, operates like a refrigerator, creating low temperatures which can be channeled into air-conditioning systems. The use of wasted energy and the close-range electricity exchange allow some systems to run at 80 to 90 per cent energy efficiency levels. This is a marked increase over the 35 per cent efficiency level achieved by conventional on-grid energy.

The winners of this year’s American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment (AIA-COTE) green building projects showcase the success of this energy efficient technology.

As part of the ‘AIA Top Ten’, architectural firm Perkins + Will’s redevelopment of a midtown Atlanta building at 1315 Peachtree Street, which was originally built in 1986, is a prime example of how the trigeneration system can be implemented into a project.

Due to the fact that the designers were dealing with an already built structure, certain ‘ground up’ sustainable design principles, including extensive solar orientation planning and the widespread use of low embodied energy structural materials, were not possible given that only 9 per cent of the retrofit was to be newly built. In order to make up for some of these limitations while still creating a high-performance office building, a trigeneration system has been included. The system incorporates microturbines on the office building’s roof, allowing the system to run completely on natural gas, reducing the overall carbon footprint by 68 per cent.

Due to this system, along with a number of further green technological implementations, the building has achieved the highest LEED platinum score in the northern hemisphere, making it a leading structure in the green building sector.

“1315 Peachtree Street exemplifies the kind of environmentally sustainable measures that can be taken during a building retrofit,” says Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). “It has earned its high LEED score and will continue to pay dividends through energy saving measures for decades to come.”

Trigeneration systems are making the most out of wasted energy, reaping environmental and economical reward. Now, they are also earning critical acclaim and being recognized for their contributions to green building excellence.

By Emily D’Alterio

First Green Casualty | Opposition Calls for Energy Minister Dump

Tim Moore — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:41:14 +0000

The government’s green backflip has reached a boiling point, with the West Australian opposition calling for a parliamentary vote of non-confidence in energy minister Peter Collier.

Labor leader Mark McGovern has called for Collier to be ousted from his position after the state’s solar tariff scheme blew its budget and was cut due to its popularity, sending mixed messages to the WA public and industry alike.

Collier, who has been criticised for mismanaging his portfolio, explained the exceeded 150 megawatt cap as a faux pas resulting from an underestimation of the scheme’s popularity. The Minister added that he had received mixed messages from both energy company Synergy and the Office of Energy regarding the status of the cap.

“From one day to the next, I would get different information on where we were in terms of the cap,” says Collier. “There was a very real distinction between information the Office of Energy was providing and what Synergy was providing to the Office of Energy and vice versa.”

The opposition has further accused the state government of failing to disclose the cap breach to the public for over a month.

Whether the exceeding of the cap was sue to miscommunication or otherwise, McGowan has called for the minister to face serous consequences regarding the issue, which has further rocked the green building sector and is expected to increase energy prices in the coming months.

“To move a motion of no confidence in a minister in the government is a very serious matter, one of the most serious matters that can take place in parliament,” says McGovern. “This minister has been responsible for a whole range of problems and mistakes in his portfolio that have cost the taxpayers of this state very dearly.”

The opposition has found further conflict with the state government in Collier’s promise that the WA public would not have to pay for the governmental incompetence.

While the energy minister assured the public that Synergy would be paying for the excess costs associated with the overblown cap, McGowan has countered that due to the fact the energy company is state-owned, taxpayers will in fact incur the added costs.

“This is incompetence on a grand and gross scale,” he told parliament. “(The extra cost) is lost to the taxpayers of Western Australia and was lost by a bungled and mishandled government program.”

The motion is unlikely to pass in parliament however, due to government numbers. Nonetheless, the ministerial challenge is enough to solidify the public and industry skepticism toward government handling of green technology projects.

By Tim Moore

Will ‘Unconventional’ Gas Power Up SA?

Ahn Jae Wook — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:40:17 +0000

If what Premier Jay Wetherill says is any indication, the state of South Australia may soon have another key driver of economic growth, energy generation capacity and civil construction activity: ‘unconventional’ sources of gas.

Not long ago, Wetherill told a conference of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) that conventional wisdom dictates that energy production in the Cooper Basin had peaked and entered a period of gradual decline.

Now, he says, ‘unconventional’ sources of gas, such as shale gas and coal seam gas (CSG), have changed all this.

“We now know that, with new techniques, there is far more gas available from other levels of the basin than has yet been extracted,” Weatherill says. “Even in its infancy, the unconventional gas sector has the potential to deliver hundreds of millions, if not billions, of investment dollars to this state.”

According to a ‘roadmap’ for unconventional gas projects released by the state government, ‘unconventional ‘ sources of gas include coal seam gas (CSG), basin-centred gas, shale gas, gas hydrate, natural bitumen (tar sands), and oil shale deposits.

Typically, deposits exist in petroleum accumulations that are pervasive throughout a large area and are not significantly affected by hydrodynamic influences. Such accumulations usually require specialised extraction technology and the extracted petroleum may require significant processing prior to sale.

In other parts of Australia and overseas, these types of unconventional gas sources are generating enormous volumes of exploration activity. In Canada, for instance much excitement surrounds long term prospects regarding oil derived from tar sands, while in America, companies such as BHP Billiton are investing tens of billions of dollars exploring shale gas deposits.

In the northern states of Australia, too, huge amounts of investment funding are being poured into coal seam gas wells, much to the dismay of farmers, environmentalists and concerned residents who fear potential adverse consequences for agricultural production, water supply and the environment.

Already in South Australia, more than twenty companies and joint ventures are exploring unconventional gas plays. Given this kind of diverse activity, the government says in its roadmap that the odds that at least one of these plays will lead to a major discovery are good.

Indeed, Wetherill says, shale gas reserves alone are estimated at around 85 trillion cubic feet.

“Even in its infancy, the unconventional gas sector has the potential to deliver hundreds of millions, if not billions, of investment dollars to this state,” Wetherill says. “We all know that these new techniques have to be approached carefully, but most of us have come to the conclusion that it is inevitable that natural gas will be the most reliable fuel in our transition to an ever more renewable-energy future.”

By Ahn Jae Wook

Does Being Tallest Matter?

Ahn Jae Wook — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:14 +0000

In human terms, those who happen to be taller than others in their group/class/family etc. gain a number of advantages.

In building terms, skyscrapers that tower above nearby buildings stand out and are afforded a certain degree of prestige.

But does being the absolute tallest really matter? The question has surrounded the design of the One World Trade Center in recent days.

Previously, upon completion, the building was slated to be the tallest anywhere in America. However, a change to the design of a needle for the top of the building has cast doubt on whether this will be the case.

Under the original design, a 124.36 metre needle was to be enclosed in a fibreglass-and-steel enclosure, called a randome. However, under recent changes, the project’s developer says this will no longer be the case as such a structure would make the needle impossible to maintain or repair.

Without the enclosure, it is unclear whether the needle is an antenna or spire. That matters, since the height of a spire is included when calculating the height of the building whereas the height of an antenna is not.

Without the spire, according to a report on Australian Associated Press, the new building will be shorter than the Willis Tower in Chicago, which stands 442.6 metres, not including its own antenna.

Designs for the tower, which earlier this month became New York’s tallest building, call for its roof to reach 416.97 metres, the same height as the north tower of the original World Trade Centre. With the needle included, the tower’s height would rise to 541.32 metres.

That height, which equates to 1,776 feet, has symbolic value in terms of the country’s founding in 1776.

Exactly how to measure the height of skyscrapers that have masts, spires and antennas has been the subject of debate over recent years.

At the moment, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, a Chicago-based organisation considered an authority on the subject, says that antennas do not count toward a building’s height. This is because, unlike a spire, which is part of a building’s architectural design, an antenna is not a permanent part of the building’s structure and can easily be removed.

Though it will function as a broadcast antenna, the council has not yet decided on whether or not the needle’s lack of enclosure will impact its status.

“The short answer is we don’t know yet,” says council spokesman Kevin Brass. “There is no doubt that this change will raise questions about the height.”

Does it matter?

The debate about the new building’s height raises interesting questions about whether or not the building being the tallest in America matters or not. One possible view may be that given the building’s significance, it would be fitting if it was, indeed, deemed the tallest building in the country. An alternative viewpoint might say that actually being literally the tallest building in the US is not overly important, the main point being that the building is grand in scale and serves its function effectively.

Either way, whether or not the needle is included, one thing is for certain: it will be a huge building.