Skanska USA Building Inc. has begun construction on the $18.75-million Science & Technology Magnet High School in New London, Conn. Skanska is providing construction management services for the new 60,000-square-foot, three-story school, which is located on existing New London High School property. The new school will be framed of structural steel design and have an exterior curtain wall system and exterior stairwells located on three of the four corners. The project also involves providing parking and emergency access routes. Skanska recently provided pre-construction services for the project as part of the project team that includes: Friar Associates, the architect of record and mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineer; Szewczak Engineering as the structural engineer; and Dicesare Bentley Engineers, Inc. as the civil engineer. Skanska USA Building Inc., part of the Skanska AB global group of companies, is headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., and has approximately 4,100 employees. The group has 53,000 employees in Europe, Latin America and the United States, and had total sales of $17 billion last year.

Chicago-based NES Rentals Holdings, Inc. has acquired the operating assets of the Kingston, Mass., branch of United Rentals' (UR) Highway Technologies division. The branch provides traffic control equipment services used during highway and other construction projects, including signs, barricades, lights, message boards, and related products. The branch will become part of NES Rentals' Traffic Safety northeast district, which is headquartered in nearby Avon, Mass. NES Rentals Holdings Inc. has 3,000 employees at 131 locations in 34 states. The company rents more than 750 types of machinery and equipment to industrial and construction end users, distributes new equipment, sells used equipment, and provides repair and maintenance services to its customers. Also, it is the second-largest supplier of traffic safety services to the construction industry. The company said it has invested in more than $150 million worth of new rental equipment during the last 18 months. UR, headquartered in Greenwich, Conn., is the largest equipment rental company in the world, with a network of 730 rental locations in 48 states, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The company's 12,700 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and others. UR rents over 600 different types of equipment with a total original cost of $3.7 billion.

Restoration of historic North Bridge in Concord, Mass., got under way recently as Lumus Construction, Watertown, Mass., began removing wooden decking. Famous for its association with the "shot heard 'round the world," when British regulars fired on Lexington militia on April 19, 1775, and then marched on to Concord, the bridge work is part of a larger repair and rehabilitation project involving the entire North Bridge area of the Minute Man National Historical Park. The improvements, designed to enhance public safety and access to this part of the park, include rehabilitating historic structures and repairing deteriorating crosswalks, pathways and amphitheaters. The battle at the famous site began after the initial battle on Lexington Green that left seven militiamen dead, and British regulars had marched on to Concord to search for weapons and supplies the colonial militia had reportedly stored in the area. Incensed, 400 militiamen converged on the three companies of British regulars near North Bridge and the battle began. As the militia closed in, the British could not form up and began an undisciplined retreat back to the town of Concord. When the British departed Concord thereafter, they marched through a withering gauntlet of militiamen who lined the road back to Boston and fired almost continually on the British. That evening, when the British finally returned to Boston, the militia surrounded the area and began the Boston Siege that ended in March 1776 with the British evacuation of the city.