World Trade Center Recovery

Leaders at Ground Zero

Contractors
AMEC, NYC
Bovis Lend Lease LMB, Inc., NYC
Tully Construction Co. Inc, Flushing, N.Y.
Turner Construction Co./Plaza Construction Corp., a joint venture, NYC

Labor
Building and Construction Trades Council, NYC

Engineers
LZA Technology/The Thornton-Tomasetti Group, NYC
Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers, NYC
Structural Engineers Association of New York, NYC

It was a grim and heroic effort that began on Sept. 11, 2001 and was completed on July 1, 2002.

The recovery of the World Trade Center site was accomplished well ahead of its original 12-month estimate and at a cost of approximately $550 million, well below its initial $1 billion estimate. It involved unprecedented cooperation between government, private contractors, engineers and labor. While it was not, strictly speaking, a construction project, it was the obvious prerequisite for further development in downtown Manhattan.

The recovery effort began within minutes of the terrorist attacks in which 2,825 lives were lost and 13 million sq. ft. of primarily commercial real estate was destroyed. Workers from the Tully Construction Co. were laboring on West Street when the planes hit; as the towers collapsed, they used their heavy equipment to clear the streets surrounding the site so that emergency vehicles could get in.
A reconnaissance inspection by the New York City Department of Design and Development and the engineering firm of LZA Technology/The Thornton-Tomasetti Group took place on the afternoon of Sept. 11.

Beginning on Sept. 13, consulting support was provided by the Structural Engineers Association of New York, Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Urban Search and Rescue Unit and others. Structural engineers acted as guides through the site, providing descriptions of the structures and offering judgments about the stability of structures and debris.

Meanwhile, the DDC called upon four of New York's leading contractors - AMEC, Bovis Lend Lease LMB Inc., Tully Construction Co. Inc., and Turner Construction Co./Plaza Construction Corp. (in a joint venture) - to begin the work of rescue and cleanup. The 16-acre WTC site was divided into four quadrants, each under the supervision of one of the contracting firms. Later, the work was consolidated, with Bovis serving as the prime contractor.

Work went on 24 hours, seven days a week until it was finished. It was never a simple demolition and removal project. The first priority was rescuing survivors.
When it became clear that there were few survivors, the priority became the dignified recovery of remains. That is the context in which the removal of the debris took place.
Despite the long hours and emotional strain, there was not a single fatality during the entire recovery process and few injuries.

"In all the years I've been around, it was one of the safest jobs I've ever seen," said Thomas Maguire, president and business agent for the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 15. "It's a real tribute to the construction industry."