St. Louis Construction Briefs: January 21, 2005

St. Louis Daily Record & St. Louis Countian, Jan 21, 2005 by St. Louis Daily Record Staff

Habitat for Humanity holding fund-raiser

Habitat Friends, an organization for individual volunteers and supporters of Habitat for Humanity St. Louis, will celebrate the group's first anniversary with Have a Heart for Habitat, on Friday, Feb. 11, which will take place from 8 p.m. until midnight at the Architectural Hall at City Museum, 701 N. 15th St.

St. Louisans can dance to the music of Groovethang while helping Habitat for Humanity St. Louis. Admission is $40 per person or $70 per couple. Ticket price includes a one-year membership in the Habitat Friends organization. Scrumptious appetizers, beer and wine are also included. For tickets, call 314-371-0400 or register online at http://www.habitatstl.org.

Habitat Friends members enjoy a number of benefits, including discounts on future Friends events, a coupon for a 10 percent discount at the ReStore, special Friends build days, a Habitat Friends e-newsletter and an exclusive gift. The annual membership is $50 per person or $90 per couple. Membership fees sustain Habitat for Humanity St. Louis' homeownership programs in the St. Louis area.

Habitat Friends allows Habitat for Humanity St. Louis to build future leadership, increase awareness of Habitat's mission, enhance the volunteer database and create an additional revenue source through membership dues and fund-raising events. Habitat Friends offers an affordable way to join the important mission of eliminating substandard housing in the St. Louis area.

Habitat for Humanity St. Louis is a not-for-profit, ecumenical housing ministry working in partnership with individuals and communities of all faiths to improve living conditions and provide affordable housing in the St. Louis community. Habitat for Humanity sponsors, volunteers and partner families work side by side to build new homes. Each homeowner families invest 450 hours of sweat equity into their home and other projects. Sponsors include corporations, organizations, religious groups and individuals. To date, Habitat for Humanity St. Louis has built 165 homes in the St. Louis area. Habitat for Humanity St. Louis regularly ranks among the top Habitat for Humanity affiliates in the country. Habitat for Humanity headquarters is at 3763 Forest Park Ave.

ABA conference explores construction insurance

How have the insurance and surety markets that provide services and products to the construction industry evolved in the last decade, and where are they headed? What insurance coverage issues should sureties address when their principals default under a bonded contract? What are the top 10 insurance contract requirement flaws in the construction industry, and what can the legal practitioner do about them?

These are some of the issues to be addressed by a host of nationally recognized experts in construction insurance issues during Are You Covered? Insurance Products for Construction Projects, an in- depth, one-day program, held Jan. 27 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. The program is sponsored by the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry and the Fidelity and Surety Law Committee of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section.

Among program topics are current insurance and surety market conditions, the importance of insurance coverages for sureties, the evolution of the commercial general liability policy, coverage afforded by a professional liability policy, under various project delivery systems, additional insured endorsement form changes and agreements to procure insurance.

Registration fees are $450 for general attendees, $385 for Forum and TIPS members, $285 for government and academic representatives and insurance company employees, and $160 for law students. For more information on the meeting, visit http://www.abanet.org/forums/ construction/home.html.

The American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry is the largest organization of construction lawyers in the United States and abroad. Its 6,000 members are drawn from large law firms, small firms, solo practitioners, government agencies and corporate law departments. Members represent all segments of the construction industry, including owners, design professionals, general contractors, construction managers, subcontractors, suppliers, insurers and sureties.

With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.

Nominations sought for NAHMA Awards

The National Affordable Housing Management Association has announced a new set of awards to be given for outstanding individual lifetime achievement, outstanding individual leadership and outstanding partnership organization such as a government agency, nonprofit or business partner in the field of affordable housing development and management.