Author Archive:

After a Manhattan woman fell to her death by leaning against an unsafe balcony railing at her Upper East Side apartment in July 2013, the New York City Department of Buildings issued a new inspection requirement to lessen the chance...

Two weeks after I joined RAND as a Senior Structural Engineer this summer, I received an email from our human resources manager announcing this year’s New York Canstruction competition and inviting RAND staff to participate. Canstruction is a design and...

While it may seem that the previous New York City Local Law 11/98 facade inspection cycle just passed, the new cycle is nearly upon us. The 8th Cycle of the Facade Inspection Safety Program (FISP), as Local Law 11/98 is...

Next week RAND will participate in a symposium addressing key topics important to cooperatives and condominiums. RAND's Principal and Vice President Peter E. Varsalona, PE, will discuss the challenges and considerations of oil-to-gas conversions, a major capital improvement project that...

With the high price of oil relative to gas and the phasing out of No. 6 heating oil by 2015, more and more property owners are converting their building's heating plants from oil to gas-burning systems. Owners and managers are...

Today is SteelDay, an annual event sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction to educate the public on how the structural steel industry contributes to building America. As an engineering student in college, every day was steel day for...

All of you New York City Art Deco fans, here’s a pop quiz to test your knowledge. Identify the following buildings: This residential cooperative was built in 1929 but its starring role in a 1984 movie made it a New...

Bill Nye the Science Guy recently said, “There's nothing I believe in more strongly than getting young people interested in science and engineering, for a better tomorrow, for all humankind.” He would have loved my summer internship at RAND. Every...

It’s our high five. For the fifth time since 2007, RAND has made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States. RAND, which was ranked 4,508, recorded $10.7 million in revenue in 2013, a 57%...