Work is halted at BofA tower.

The bathtub-sized bucket of debris that smashed off a crane as it was being lowered onto the 53rd story of the Bank of America tower in Times Square this week seemed to deal the green super-tower a mighty hit.

As firefighters worked late into the afternoon knocking out additional windows and measuring the building's stability, developers at the Durst Organization heaved a sigh of relief as it seemed the material damage to the glass tower was minimal.

The stop work order that the Department of Buildings issued the next morning made the damage to the developer's bank account and the future of the project less clear. Every day a large scale project is shut down--particularly a 2.1 million s/f project--could have catastrophic consequences. Yet Tishman Construction, the construction manager on the project, was convinced that work could resume relatively quickly as soon as the DOB lifted sanctions.

"Of course we worry every day about loss. Yet we have the ability to get the workers back on the project through a quick, efficient process. We will not face any threats to our heavy equipment as the leases all have extra days for weather or other emergencies written into them," said Richard Kielar, a spokesperson for Tishman Construction.

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Though no serious injuries were reported, four Tishman Construction workers who were restoring a subway entrance on West 43rd street were injured when the container plummeted through protective scaffolding. Four pedestrians were scraped up from the falling debris and glass. In response to the DOB stop work order, and an additional citation for a "failure to safeguard the public and property from falling objects," Tishman agreed to create additional safety measures onsite. These included assigning a site manager to monitor the crane (which was being operated by subcontractor, Century-Maxim, at the time of the incident), securing the equipment used on the circumference of the building with tethers, and repairing all the guardrails and netting around the building.

Kielar emphasized that Tishman Construction already has in place a remarkable safety record on the Bank of America tower.

"For a job of this size where we have approximately a thousand workers on the job, performing thousands of activities every day, our safety record is excellent compared to industry standards. Unfortunately, on a project of this magnitude, there is a chance of an accident happening," Kielar said. In 2006 there were over 100 reports of objects falling from construction sites in the city, according to DOB statistics.

The Bank of America tower broke the mold for green building and new techniques were developed to create everything from an ellaborate thermal heating and cooling system to a new brand of steel and concrete skin. Accordingly, Tishman has written new safety measures on their worksites, which they revisit on a regular basis, Kielar said.

"Over the past few months, we have reemphasized and stressed with principals of the subcontractors, the training and retraining of workers on a project regarding safety procedures," Kielar said.

The tower has been under construction since 2004. The facade and the spire on top of the building are almost complete. Prior to the accident, crews were also wrapping up the installation of elevators and interior mechanical and electrical work. When work resumes, that work will be secured and the rest of the interior work will continue "full speed ahead," Kielar said. Initial occupancy is slated for April 2008.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A profile that of Mark Varian that ran in the Sept 26 issue of Real Estate Weekly, design and construction section incorrectly stated the following facts. The article stated the firm built-out the Columbia University School of Journalism. In fact the firm built out the CUNY School of Journalism. The firm will be celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2011 in 2011, rather than it's 120th Anniversary. The firm built-out over two-million square feet of space, rather than 200,000 s/f of space, at the World Trade Center.