The Reality of Risk

Design and Construction Industries Creating New Standards for Building Security

by Natalie Keith

When terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, they did more than destroy buildings and lives.

They created a new reality for the construction and design industries, one where engineers and architects must look past functionality, form and aesthetics when designing buildings and into the murky territory of creating buildings resistant to terrorist attacks.

"This is a challenging and historic time," said James Kallstrom, senior adviser to Gov. George Pataki for counterterrorism. "Hopefully it will be a time we'll look back on with pride because we've changed our ways."

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Kallstrom was one of the speakers at a late spring seminar sponsored by the Manhattan law firm of Zetlin & De Chiara LLP called "Security and Terrorism: Evolving Standards for the Design, Construction and Real Estate Industries Post 9/11."

The other speakers were John Ulianko, director, Northeast and Caribbean Region, Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Robert Selsam, senior vice president and regional manager of the New York office of Boston Properties Inc.; John Paczkowski, director of operations, emergency management, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and Stephen Colo, senior vice president, Science Applications International Corp.

The moderators were Michael Zetlin, senior partner, Zetlin & De Chiara LLP; and Michael Golden, managing director and head of New York operations for Marsh Inc., a risk and insurance services firm.

"This is for real, we have to take this seriously," Kallstrom said. "We have to go beyond our jobs as architects and engineers and be good citizens."

Ulianko described steps the Federal Protective Service, the law enforcement and security arm of the Department of Homeland Security, has taken since Sept. 11. The FPS is responsible for more than 8,000 federal buildings and a daily employee population of over one million.

Among steps the agency has taken at 26 Federal Plaza, one of its buildings in Lower Manhattan, are constructing bollards around the building to prevent vehicles from driving close to it and inspecting delivery trucks with dogs trained to sniff bombs.

"It's great that you came to this conference, but you need to leave here and spread the message that we need to fight this war," Ulianko said.

Selsam offered an owner's perspective about the issue of building security. He outlined steps that were taken at Citicorp Center, a prominent office building in Midtown Manhattan that Boston Properties acquired in April 2001. Shortly after Sept. 11, tenants at Citicorp Center requested a meeting with building owners.

"We found that the tenants were extremely realistic," he said. "They didn't expect to be protected from planes crashing into the building, but they expected us to take some reasonable measures."

Among measures taken at Citicorp Center were strengthening the building to make it more bomb resistant, changing the air intake system so that it can shut down quickly, installing bollards and planters to protect the building perimeter and instituting random bag checks and fire drills.

"When combined, all these measures do have a deterrent effect," Selsam said. "Landlords cannot make tenants safe - that's the police's job - but they can make them feel safe."

With new construction - Boston Properties has developed two Times Square office towers in recent years - issues considered were structural redundancy, stairwell capacity and loading dock security. Mechanical systems, particularly air intake systems, were made more secure.

"I would want to design a building so that it could lose a column, or maybe two, and not collapse," Selsam said.

Paczkowski outlined some of the measures the Port Authority has taken to enhance safety and security at the airports, train stations, bridges and other facilities the agency oversees in the metropolitan New York area.

Emergency management initiatives include building a new agency command center, developing weapons of mass destruction response plans in 13 major facilities, developing a New York City disaster evacuation plan and developing a trans-Hudson blackout evacuation plan.

Security management initiatives include assessing threat and risk at Port Authority facilities and developing an identification card system for controlling access to facilities, Paczkowski said.

"The threat is ever-changing," he added. "The last attack is not going to representative of the next attack."

Colo agreed with Paczkowksi, saying that "trying to predict the best target for terrorists is difficult." Colo described some new technologies that are being developed or implemented to enhance security.

For instance vehicle and cargo inspection systems, or VACIS, and railroad VACIS involve the use of gamma-ray technology to inspect truck or rail cars in a similar manner as luggage is inspected in airports, Colo said.

Biometrics biosecurity involves the use of retina scans, voice recognition systems and other means of identify people. Among "smart building" initiatives are technologies designed to detect the presence of a chemical or biological agent and develop an appropriate HVAC system response, Colo said.

"We are in a war, we have been for a long time," Kallstrom said. "Not necessarily with a country but with a radical movement."