Most likely has nothing to do with measurement units. Problem is change or more properly, very poor change control. Changes ALWAYS make a project grow grander and more expensive than it was intended to be. Some are really necessary due to mistakes or missed requirements in the original plans, but many are just ways to sneak in things that couldn't or wouldn't be approved in the original submittal.
Somebody wanted a much bigger courthouse than Congress would approve. After initial approval, he got it approved one change at a time. The changes probably drove design costs way up, as wasted time. As long as the changes were done before construction in that area began, hopefully nothing was actually torn down and rebuilt. It would take an extensive and detailed investigation to determine all the ways the change control system failed and who pulled the wool over who's eyes. Trust me, it will all be swept under the rug; we will never learn the answer. ________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sat, May 25, 2013 6:51:16 PM Subject: [USMA:52825] RE: Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse: Most overbuilt in nation | ksdk.com I am glad you caught this, a waste of space and American money, I was not near my computer to pass this on, when I read this. I still can not see how they overbuild it using SI Metric units, I tried several different SI Metric units and pretended it was 'American', made it smaller than what they claim, so can someone explain it to me? Bruce E. Arkwright, Jr Erie PA Linux and Metric User and Enforcer I will only invest in nukes that are 150 gigameters away. How much solar energy have you collected today? Id put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we dont have to wait til oil and coal run out before we tackle that. I wish I had a few more years left. -- Thomas Edison♽☯♑ May 25, 2013 09:58:14 AM, [email protected] wrote: I think this is workforce issue, more than anything. I have spoken to some companies who would like to build in SI units but the typical construction worker exiting our public school system is not qualified. The summary argument is that it is cheaper to convert the plans, than to pay to fix the mistakes made trying to build in metric units. ; A related example, I am friends with a sand control engineer who works on oil rigs. It is an international company. They attempted to bring metric tankers to the US. The oil workers made so many mistakes on the rig that the company decided it was cheaper to build tankers for use only in the U.S than to correct all the errors….. ; We must start to change the Education system or we will continue to produce a workforce ill-equipped to work in metric units. ; From: Kilopascal [mailto:[email protected]] >Sent: Thursday, May 2, 2013 8:52 PM >To: U.S. Metric Association >Subject: Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse: Most overbuilt in nation | >ksdk.com ; ; http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/378267/3/Eagleton-Courthouse-Most-overbuilt-in-nation- ; ; A government report reveals the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse in downtown St. Louis is the most over built courthouse in the nation. The building dominates the St. Louis skyline. At 557 feet, it is the tallest courthouse in the country and the first built using the metric system. ; The GAO didn't look at whether the government's use of the metric system is part of the problem when it comes to over-building Eagleton and the other courthouses.
