McGraw-Hill Construction Mobilizes Information Relief Effort

New York, NY (September 13, 2005) - McGraw-Hill Construction today launched a concentrated relief effort to serve the extraordinary demand for information among construction industry professionals and property owners in the Gulf States region as they begin to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

In print, online and on the ground in affected areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, McGraw-Hill Construction news and data resources are being deployed to connect architects, engineers, contractors and the property owners who urgently need their help with the resources they will need to get the job done.

"While it is too early to calculate the losses suffered by our customers and colleagues in the affected areas, it is clear that trustworthy information systems will be key to the short-term recovery and long-term rebuilding efforts in the Gulf States," said company President Norbert W. Young, FAIA. "Whether they need to recover plans, learn the status of projects or locate materials and equipment, construction professionals and property owners in the affected areas can depend to McGraw-Hill Construction as the first response information resource for their relief and recovery."

Online the company has launched www.katrina.construction.com, a central resource for all storm related construction. The site features the new Katrina Recovery Resources Directory, a searchable database of contractors, construction service providers and equipment suppliers who are prepared to support area recovery and rebuilding efforts. Users also can post their requests for materials and services to the site.

A list of area construction project plans and data available through the McGraw-Hill Construction Network will be posted and maintained on the site along with Gulf States employment classified listings. The Network, the industry's leading resource for construction information and intelligence, maintains a database of 600,000 projects and is supported by more than 600 reporters and correspondents throughout North America.

The site also features news reports and ongoing analysis from McGraw-Hill's construction.com, and its industry leading publications, Engineering News-Record, Architectural Record and Louisiana Construction. Louisiana Construction editors are preparing a special Recovery edition of the magazine for distribution within the month.

On the ground, plans are being finalized to extend the company's existing Construction Plan Room services with 600-square-foot Mobile Business Resource Centers. The Centers will be equipped with hard copy plans, computers, photocopying capability, telephones and faxes. Plan Rooms temporarily closed by the storm have reopened in Gulfport and Jackson, Miss.; Mobile, Ala.; and Baton Rouge, LA. At press time, the New Orleans Plan Room had not reopened.

About McGraw-Hill Construction www.construction.com
McGraw-Hill Construction connects people, projects and products across the design and construction industry. From project and product information to industry news, trends and forecasts, the Company provides industry players the tools, resources and applications that help them save time, money, and energy, especially through the new McGraw-Hill Construction Network TM. Backed by the power of Dodge, Sweets, Architectural Record, Engineering News-Record (ENR) and 12 Regional Publications, McGraw-Hill Construction serves more than one million customers within the $4 trillion global construction community.