ANNUAL REPORT 2002 - Skanska

The impossible made possible
Over the past two years, Skanska has received contracts
for almost 100 percent of the power plants built in the
New York area – an achievement based on extraordinary
trust and performance.
For Mike Lembo, President of the
Slattery Skanska Power Group, it is
easy to explain how Skanska carved
out the leading position as a builder
of power plants in the New York City
area. ”We took on an unbelievable
task, and we delivered on what we
promised,” he says.
It was December 2000. New York
Power Authority (NYPA) had stepped in
to solve an emergency situation. “They
were predicting a shortfall of 400–600
megawatts of power,” Mr. Lembo
explains. “And in New York, if you have
blackouts, that’s a serious problem.”
With the summer heat waves only
five months away, NYPA needed to
build no fewer than eleven power units
at seven locations. So John Grzan,
Senior Project Manager at NYPA,
turned to Skanska for help.
“They trusted us. They knew that if
we made a promise, we would make
the end date,” Mr. Lembo explains.
“And we knew that if we did it, we
would truly be helping the people of
New York.”
Both Skanska and NYPA agreed
from the start that the project would
have to be run in an unconventional
way. Skanska began working before
the design and scope of the project
were approved.
“We talked constantly and came
to agreements. We had to trust each
other, and do whatever it took. NYPA’s
effort was Herculean. Our teams
worked day and night, seven days a
week for at least three of those five
months – we were faxing in the designs
and running with them out to the
field,” Mr. Lembo continues.
Skanska used the first site as a way
to speed the process. “The Hell Gate
site in the Bronx was always three to
four weeks ahead of the others. So
we’d have meetings at 5 or 6 a.m. and
talk about any potential problems
and share knowledge,” Mr. Lembo
explains. And with three specialized
Skanska companies – Slattery, Gottlieb
and Underpinning – working together
far into overtime, Skanska got the
job done, right on time, despite an
impossible schedule.
Mr. Lembo recalls the completion of
the first unit with pride: “It was 1 a.m.
when we started it up, and there were
people there whose shifts were long
over. They weren’t getting paid, but they
wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
Then word of Skanska’s achievement
spread. In 2002, KeySpan Energy
Development Corporation and Calpine
Corporation awarded Slattery Skanska
contracts to construct a total of five
power units using the same aggressive
construction schedule. All of them were
completed profitably and were delivered
on schedule. In the past two years,
Skanska has built a total of 19 plants
of varying capacity for four different
customers in the New York area.
“It’s a small community. Your
reputation, honesty and ability to
deliver what you promise are vital –
almost more important than the price,”
says Mike Lembo. “And we have that
kind of attitude. Our customers mean
everything to us – when we make a
commitment to them, we live up to it.”
The impossible made possible – Skanska Annual Report 2002 25