Archinect - News

Miami Beach preservationists sound the alarm over concerning new building safety law

2024-03-26T15:04:00-04:00

The New York Times has picked a side in the fight between Miami Beach historic preservation advocates and developers supporting the recently signed Resiliency and Safe Structures Act, a law those in the former category claim will augment a devastating erasure of the local architecture character over time.

The rift that has for years played out amidst a backdrop that includes the tragedy at Surfside and a spate of new starchitect-designed developments on the nine-mile island has recent salients in the demolished Deauville Beach Hotel and the yet-decided fate of Miami Marine Stadium.

Advocates say the new law is a guise that uses climate change and building safety as its premise to usher in what is, in reality, a slate of insidious and destructive requirements. The Commercial Observer said they also work to "hamstring the powers of municipalities to dictate what can replace demolished structures."

'Grenfell: in the words of survivors' play comes to New York this spring

2024-03-21T13:36:00-04:00

A new dramatization of the deadly 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy is being staged next month at the St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, after traveling from the National Theatre in London, where it premiered last summer.

Playwright Gillian Slovo’s interviews with survivors are the basis for the play’s verbatim dialog. Directors Phyllida Lloyd and Anthony Simpson-Pike will reprise their roles for the four-week run, beginning an opening night performance on April 13th.

A July review of the first adaptation from The Guardian called it “a masterpiece of forensic fury.” The New York Times’ Alex Marshall wrote about the play's proselytizing effects, framing it as a democratic and justice-driven “call for change.”

The aftermath of the blaze that claimed the lives of 72 people has indeed led to several proactive reforms, including a recent mandate concerning cladding remediation and the appointment of a new building safety regulator. Potential criminal charges stemming from the London Me...

EPA bans the last commercially used asbestos product in the United States

2024-03-20T11:49:00-04:00

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it will be banning the use of chrysotile asbestos, the last commercial asbestos derivative available in the United States. The ban will primarily impact the automotive industry and puts an end to the 40-plus years of reforms against its use, which has for a long time been proven to cause multiple forms of cancer.

In a statement on the ban, EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters: "The science is clear — asbestos is a known carcinogen that has severe impacts on public health. President Biden understands that this concern that has spanned generations and impacted the lives of countless people. That’s why EPA is so proud to finalize this long-needed ban on ongoing uses of asbestos."

CNN noted that the chrysotile type of asbestos is most commonly used to manufacture car brakes and linings and other automotive p...

Preliminary NIST report on Surfside condo investigation details key flaws that factored into building's collapse

2024-03-12T14:41:00-04:00

Preliminary details from the ongoing National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) investigation into the deadly 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium building in Florida were shared recently, revealing evidence that supports theories about the precise source of its structural failure and other prevailing factors.

Among other findings, the report released last Thursday details the exact moment of the pool deck's collapse preceding the wider structural failure that killed 98 people. The report also outlines several critical lapses in standard design practices and failures to meet building codes that were present from the time of its construction. The findings could provide some clues for those questioning the soundness of its support columns, foundation, site, and steel reinforcements as well.

“It becomes clear that the design and construction did not meet all the safety standards of its day,” local Commissioner Marianne Meischeid told CNN of her concerns. “...

America's first 3D printed fire-resistant ADU concept is under construction in Southern California

2024-02-29T11:57:00-05:00

A new 3D printed ADU prototype made of concrete and other fire-resistant materials is under construction as part of a demonstration taking place this month in Walnut, California.

The first-of-its-kind project was born of a collaboration between the fire departments of both Walnut and Los Angeles. A local couple volunteered to give the host the design for general contractor Builtech Construction Group in the interests of applying lessons valuable for disaster prevention at a time when an influx of peri-urbanization has left the state more susceptible to fire-damaged structures than ever before.

Image courtesy RIC Technology

The unit is both non-combustible and fire-resistant and is being constructed using contractor RIC Technology’s robotic 3D printer.

Construction takes only 20 days from the start of the printing process to finish after the foundation has been laid. It yields a total of 1,200 square feet of space with 2 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. The design works by eliminating any...

A fatal apartment building fire in Valencia, Spain, raises questions on the safety of building materials

2024-02-27T13:11:00-05:00

Valencia is reeling from a fatal fire at an apartment complex in the Spanish city. The incident began on the night of Thursday, February 22nd, and though the cause has not been definitively established, early reporting has suggested that the building’s cladding may have played a part in the disaster.

Ten people have been confirmed to have been killed in the fire, whose identities match the list of ten people deemed missing by authorities. In an isolated moment of relief, four people who had been included on the preceding list of 14 missing people have been located alive.

As per Spanish outlet El Pais, the vice-president of the Valencia College of Industrial and Technical Engineers, Esther Puchades, suggested that the building’s cladding included polyurethane and when “heated it is like plastic and it ignites.” In response, IPUR, Spain’s polyurethane manufacturers’ association, issued a statement saying there was no evidence that polyurethane was used in the subject building.

Related...

San Francisco's Millennium Tower is sinking again despite foundational corrections

2024-02-22T17:52:00-05:00

San Francisco’s ill-fated Millennium Tower is making headlines once again for problems taking place beneath its turbulent foundation.

This time, the 58-story skyscraper is sinking even further on its vertical axis as it settles to the north and west, alarming some building scientists who feel the movement could result in significant corrosive damage despite some recent positive corrections.

Engineers say a fix that has been previously made to anchor its foundation into bedrock on the north and west sides has mostly failed to produce the 4-inch reversal their advanced data models had predicted, instead posting a correction of just a quarter-inch a year and, as outside experts surmised, causing the new directional shift that's happening in an unexpected area.

Now, the building is sinking from underneath the center of its foundation mat at a rate of one-tenth of an inch per year. The phenomenon is known as "dishing." A local geothermal engineer who is monitoring the issue told NBC Bay...

Drexel University researchers develop AI-guided robotic structural inspection system

2024-02-12T08:00:00-05:00

Researchers based at the Drexel University College of Engineering have devised a new method for performing structural safety inspections using autonomous robots aided by machine learning technology.

The article they published recently in the Elsevier journal Automation in Construction presented the potential for a new multi-scale monitoring system informed by deep-learning algorithms that work to find cracks and other damage to buildings before using LiDAR to produce three-dimensional images for inspectors to aid in their documentation.

The development could potentially work to benefit the enormous task of maintaining the health of structures that are increasingly being reused or restored in cities large and small across the country. Despite the relative age of America’s built environment, roughly two-thirds of today’s existing buildings will be in use in the year 2050, according to Gensler’s predictions.

As the UK’s Raac problems grow, concerned educators complain of a stalled government response

2023-12-27T18:00:00-05:00

The number of schools with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), which the Health and Safety Executive has said is now 'life expired' and could collapse 'with little or no warning,' has been steadily rising since the government announced the sudden closure of more than 100 schools at the end of August, just days before the start of the new academic year.

There are now over 230 schools and colleges listed on the government’s register of buildings under consideration for Raac replacement and repair. The challenge is twofold at present, with contractors' inability to hasten repairs before 2026 being made worse by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's cuts to the rebuilding program just weeks after it was initiated.

No one knows exactly what will happen to the endangered schools in the interim. An anonymous headteacher shared with The Guardian, “The best result would be rebuilding as we have so many problems, but actually we just need some certainty. Parents like shiny new buildings, and Raac definitely isn’t helping our reputation.”

The country's National Audit Office estimates the cost of repairs to be £2.2 billion (or about $2.81 billion USD) annually at present.

UK museums report new Raac concrete investigations as safety concerns spread

2023-11-09T14:01:00-05:00

The issue of unsafe concrete panels in the aging structures in the UK is affecting museums and cultural institutions who now report conducting their own building safety investigations after a spate of school closures linked to the issue first stirred controversy in August.

A report compiled by The Art Newspaper details efforts on the part of the Southbank Centre, Royal Academy of Arts, and others to document and deinstall reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (or Raac) panels that have been proven to be susceptible to water damage and structural failures.

No use of the materials had been discovered in the Barbican Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum, or newly renovated National Galleries Scotland, all four institutions independently confirmed.

Twentieth Century Society Director Catherine Croft told the publication: “There is an urgent need to understand where Raac was used, to examine whether or not it is now failing in each case, and then work out how best to repa...

Over 100 schools close in the UK over concrete safety concerns

2023-09-08T11:41:00-04:00

More than one hundred schools and education settings in the United Kingdom have been closed due to concerns over the integrity of concrete roof panels. So far, 147 schools are known to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), with approximately one hundred fully or partially closed, impacting more than 100,000 students at the start of the new school year.

The latest developments began in August when a Raac panel collapsed in a school in England, prompting a wider government review. While 147 schools have been identified as containing Raac, education unions warn that “hundreds more” schools could be impacted. Meanwhile, thirteen universities have closed or partially closed, alongside a number of theaters and cultural venues that have closed as inspections continue. The Guardian additionally reports that the number of UK prisons containing Raac may take two years to identify.

Raac, also referred to as “aircrete,” was utilized from the 1950s to the 1990s in UK public buil...

San Francisco's Millennium Tower is tilting even further, despite engineering fixes

2023-06-15T16:54:00-04:00

Despite initial progress in the first phase of the so-called fix earlier this year, the sinking and leaning Millennium Tower in San Francisco is now tilting more to the west than ever, according to monitoring data reviewed by NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit. The tower is currently leaning more than 29 inches at the northwest corner of Fremont and Mission streets, much of the added tilt occurring during the digging needed to prepare to support the tower along two sides.

The data came from a rooftop monitoring system, which the fix’s chief engineer Ron Hamburger said was less reliable than the one contained in its foundation before stating the half-inch tilt recorded was "negligible."

A geotechnical engineer working on the $100 million project expressed his dismay to reporters, saying: "You spend all this money, but you still have an uncertain result long term."

The structure is leaning so much that some involved think it could potentially be red-tagged in the aftermath of a major earthquake, which the U.S. Geological Survey says has a 20% likelihood of occurring in the next 30 years.

Collapsed Surfside condo tower had ‘severe strength deficiency’ in pool deck, preliminary findings say

2023-06-15T14:43:00-04:00

Federal investigators have released their preliminary findings into the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Florida. As reported by The New York Times, the building’s pool deck contained a “severe structural deficiency,” with construction in some areas failing to meet both building codes and its original design parameters.

The investigation is being led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and has so far included witness interviews, a review of historical records, tests on building materials, and the analysis of models for structural performance. The original design and construction of the building have been examined, as have any renovations and repairs in the years since. The potential for corrosion, ground settlement, and vibrations from nearby construction to contribute to the collapse has also been examined.

“In summaries of their preliminary findings ahead of a hearing Thursday, the investigators wrote that the pool deck’s design ...

42-story tower catches fire in Hong Kong

2023-03-04T08:00:00-05:00

A 42-story building under construction in Hong Kong caught fire late Thursday, showering a bustling shopping district with sparks and debris and lighting up the nighttime sky. Onlookers flocked to the waterfront neighborhood of Tsim Sha Tsui to take in the spectacle, as the flames made their way through the skyscraper and the scaffolding around it and explosions pierced the air.

The sight lasted for a period of 9 hours before emergency workers finally extinguished the blaze. Only two injuries were reported by Friday evening.

2021 was an increasingly deadly year for construction workers in New York

2023-02-24T14:24:00-05:00

In 2021, 12.1 per 100,000 construction workers in New York state died on the job, a 9% increase from 11.1 the year before, according to a new report from the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. The total number of workers who died in the state increased to 61 in 2021, up from 41 in 2020, reported NYCOSH, a membership organization that represents workers, unions and health and safety professionals.

The Committee also found that one-quarter of all workplace fatalities across New York state took place on construction sites, a repeat of the figure contained in the Deadly Skyline Report for 2020. Latino workers accounted for 25.5% of the deaths recorded, keeping pace with a larger grisly national trend. Overall, an average of 53.6 workers have died on job sites each year in New York over the past decade.

The NYC Department of Buildings had the same year enacted “zero tolerance” safety sweeps resulting in nearly 1,500 stop-work orders. The reform efforts were added to recently in the form of the new Carlos’ Law, which will increase the financial penalties on employers in negligent death cases from $10,000 to $500,000 (to a maximum of $1 million). In New York City alone, where 20 workers died, some 89% of construction sites had some form of safety issue, according to a ...

UK announces massive cladding remediation mandate in wake of Grenfell inquiry

2023-01-31T11:45:00-05:00

England's housing developers have been given an ultimatum - commit to repairing unsafe buildings or be banned from operating in the market. Developers now have six weeks to sign a government contract to fix their unsafe buildings from the past 30 years. According to the government's new plan, homeowners living in buildings whose construction poses a potential fire risk will be reimbursed, and building companies who installed the unsafe cladding must pay to replace it with a safer material.

Speaking to the press on Sunday, UK Housing Secretary Michael Gove admitted “faulty” guidance was to blame for the Grenfell Tower tragedy, stating his opinion that the building industry had gone underregulated for years. Cladding manufacturers like Celotex and Kingspan were not included in the mandate. Gove said the government will be committing a total of £5 billion ($6.15 billion) towards the effort.

FEMA is getting tough on property managers with the hopes of preventing another Bronx fire tragedy

2023-01-12T17:05:00-05:00

On the first anniversary of the Twin Parks fire in the Bronx that killed 17 people, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will announce a new national plan to combat “America’s fire problem” using investigatory muscle granted by federal legislation that President Biden signed last month. The legislation will give the United States Fire Administration the power to identify the causes of fires like the one at the Twin Parks North West housing complex.

A year removed from the tragic blaze that took the lives of 17 people in the Bronx apartment complex once lauded by Paul Goldberger for its trend-bucking design, lawmakers in Washington have finally heeded the desperate pleas of public housing advocates who appealed for stricter safety measures in response to the Twin Parks fire and another incident in Philadelphia just days prior.

Biden appointee Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, the head of the U.S. Fire Administration, said the lack of adequate fire data will also be addressed for the first time. The results will hopefully benefit the estimated 1.3 million Americans who live in public housing. Last year alone, there were more than 1.2 million reported structure fires (of all types), resulting in the deaths of some 2,500 people nationwide.

Related Feature on Archinect: America’s Public Housing is Burning, Fueled by Cold Indifference

“It’s always in our neighborhood,” one former Twin Parks resident told the Times, referring to the deadly di...

Finger-pointing closes Phase II of the Grenfell Tower fire inquiry as possible criminal charges loom

2022-11-09T15:09:00-05:00

The close of the 300-day-long inquiry into the devastating 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London saw attorneys for the victims pinning the “primary responsibility” on the building's designer, Studio E Architects, adding that a “rogue's gallery” comprised of Arconic Architectural Products and the engineering concern Exova were also to blame, along with the “rolled-back state” and a coterie of Grenfell subcontractors.

“The full extent of the disaster was caused by a complex combination of corporate greed with complete disregard for safety, professional incompetence, oversight and organisational failings, and facilitated by an insufficiently robust regime,” Barrister Stephanie Barwise said during her final statement.

A representative for Kingspan, makers of the faulty K15 insulation used in 5% of the facade, added their view that “responsibility also rests with those responsible for the design, construction, and approval of the refurbishment.”

Previously on Archinect: New findings state ...

New report highlights inadequate oversight of building construction sites by the NYC Department of Buildings

2022-09-14T10:00:00-04:00

According to a new report by the New York State Comptroller’s Office, 89% of the visited active construction sites across New York City had safety issues, highlighting the need for the improvement of the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) oversight of construction sites.

Between June 10, 2021 and August 31, 2021, officials from the New York State Comptroller visited 43 construction sites in all five boroughs of New York City. Eighteen of these sites were actively under construction at the time of the visits, and 16 of the 18 sites had a total of 77 safety issues. They included not having a site safety manager; missing or incomplete site safety logs and daily inspection records; and no documentation of workers completing required site safety training or attending mandatory safety meetings.

Previously on Archinect: NYC Department of Buildings shuts down 322 construction sites in 'zero-tolerance' safety sweep

Additionally, the report found that DOB did not issue violations for ...

Surviving Surfside: Documentary about Miami condo collapse announced

2022-07-07T14:04:00-04:00

The Miami Herald is partnering with 101 Studios and Grain Media on a documentary that will investigate the deadly 2021 collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida. Surviving Surfside will interrogate the failure of the 12-story building in the early morning of June 24, 2021 that left 98 people dead and is still under official investigation, the companies announced on Tuesday.

The Herald's in-depth breaking news coverage of the disastrous Champlain Towers South collapse one year ago recently won the paper a Pulitzer Prize and will be a primary source of information for the upcoming Surviving Surfside documentary.

An adaptive-reuse project in the Bronx has become New York's most notorious construction site

2022-06-07T09:00:00-04:00

This site, where an old building is being transformed into a charter school, has just distinguished itself from the 40,000 other major construction projects in New York City by having its third worker fatality in less than three years. No other construction site in New York City has had this many separate fatal incidents since at least 2003, when the Department of Buildings began keeping electronic records. But despite the pattern of deaths, the consequences have been negligible.

In full view of the Major Deegan Expressway, 20 Bruckner Boulevard, known throughout the New York area as the site of the iconic former History Channel (and later iHeartRadio) billboard, was once the ice storehouse of a former Yankees owner and is now being transformed into a charter school by developer Maddd Equities, who has had a scant $28,000 in fines levied against them in the past years despite the record-high fatalities.

Being a construction worker is one of the most lethal occupations in New York City, with rates of injury and death rising ahead of the pandemic before falling slightly owing to the economic downturn. Most of the men profiled in the Times are nonunion immigrant laborers working for $120-per-day to start, with some being recruited from homeless shelters to meet demands. An OSHA investigation revealed that some deaths were not properly reported for weeks.

Previously on Archinect: Nearly 1 in 4 workplace deaths in New York occur in construction

Multiple stop-work...

Surfside condo collapse site purchased for $120 million to make way for luxury residential high-rise

2022-05-25T16:38:00-04:00

DAMAC Properties, a Dubai-based luxury real estate developer, has agreed to pay $120 million for the site where 98 people died in June when the Champlain Towers South residential tower collapsed in Surfside, Florida.

DAMAC, owned by Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani, reportedly known as the “Donald Trump of Dubai,” set the minimum price of $120 million for the 2-acre property in 2021. No competing bids were submitted by last Friday’s deadline, resulting in the cancelation of an auction scheduled for May 24th. DAMAC reportedly plans to build a high-end residential project on the site, which will likely be a for-sale condo project.

Previously on Archinect: 12-floor residential building collapses in Miami, leaving at least four dead and 159 missing

Whether building on the site is safe or not is up for debate. Despite geotechnical engineering reports on the site having not been released, some experts believe the site itself remains buildable and safe, claiming that the Champlain Tower South’s collapse was primarily due to the design and maintenance of the building.

Previously on Archinect: Several groups call for higher building safety standards after Surfside collapse

Others, however, believe the...

NYC Mayor Eric Adams signs executive order strengthening fire safety enforcement in response to deadly January Bronx fire

2022-03-21T17:09:00-04:00

Mayor Eric Adams said the city will crack down on buildings with a high number of fire safety violations, two months after a blaze killed 17 tenants of a Bronx high-rise with a history of complaints. As part of a new executive order signed on Sunday, the city will increase information sharing between the FDNY and the city’s housing inspectors “to identify safety violations earlier and increase fire safety compliance.”

As part of what’s called Executive Order 12, the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) will launch a broad campaign to educate New Yorlers on fire safety. The order will also require the FDNY to conduct more frequent inspections of buildings found in violation of the city’s fire code. The HPD will work to ensure that fire safety notices are posted on the front doors of apartment buildings and will alert the FDNY and building owners if not.

Previously on Archinect: New York's deadliest fire in years was the product of a space heater and mechanical issues

The severity of the January 9th fire was due to an apartment door not closing automatically, which allowed smoke to rapidly spread through the building. The city will work with the City Council to enact additional fire safety legislation, which includes legislation that increases fines for landlords who falsely report curing a self-closing door violation. There is currentl...

NYC construction workers injured at the site of architect Erica Tishman's 2019 death as concerns mount

2022-03-15T13:54:00-04:00

A collapsing floor injured two workers Monday at a midtown office building where falling exterior work killed a prominent architect in 2019. The accident at 729 Seventh Avenue happened just before 10 a.m. During active demolition work on the 18th floor, part of the floor collapsed, sending two workers dropping to the 17th floor. They were taken to area hospitals; their conditions were not immediately clear.

The address is well known as the site where, in December 2019, architect Erica Tishman was struck by a piece of falling debris that her family claims directly resulted from negligence on the part of the property developer and the Department of Buildings. Administrative code charges brought against the former before the New Year are still pending.

Previously on Archinect: Criminal charges have been filed in the accidental death of architect Erica Tishman

Monday’s incident highlights a hidden problem in construction sites across New York City. One recent study by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) revealed a rising number of fatalities amongst construction workers in spite of a continued Covid-induced downturn in new projects. Non-union workers are particularly prone to such accidents. It is not clear at this time whether or not workers on the site were unionized or not.

Florida fails to pass bill increasing condo structural inspections following Champlain Towers collapse

2022-03-14T15:38:00-04:00

Florida’s state legislature has failed to pass a bill which would have strengthened requirements to inspect and repair the state’s aging condo stock. The new legislation was drafted in response to the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in June 2021, which killed 98 people.

The reform bills, one crafted by the state’s House of Representatives and one by the state Senate, both included strict inspection measures for condo associations, incorporating recommendations from a group of industry experts set up after the Champlain Towers collapse.

Archinect Feature: A House of Cards: The Miami Condo Collapse Exposes a Dehumanized Mindset in the Built Environment

Under the House bill, condo buildings three stories or higher would have to be recertified after 30 years of habitation, while buildings within 3 miles of the coast would have to be recertified after 25 years. Subsequent inspections would be required every 10 years thereafter. Such information would also be plac...

The Millennium Tower is now sliding as it sinks (and tilts)

2022-03-01T11:06:00-05:00

It’s doing it (again). San Francisco’s Millennium Tower is on the move once more, this time in an entirely different dimension as the 13-year-old building is sliding while it sinks and tilts.

Now the tower is said to be moving to the east, specifically. The firm in charge of stabilizing the former Handel project testified the 58-story building’s “horizontal movement” in documents that were provided to the city during last year, according to NBC Bay Area.

The reflection of a building and crane on Millennium Tower's (301 Mission Street) curtainwall glass. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons user Hydrogen Iodide.

Ron Hamburger is back again as the engineer telling everybody they were essentially fine to occupy and that the building’s shift left has added another half inch since beginning construction on the perimeter pile upgrade late last summer, coupling with the 24-inch tilt on the roof to create an inch-wide gap between the tower’s foundation mat and adjacent building's five-floor und...

Passersby injured by falling ice from Billionaires' Row supertall

2022-02-28T13:55:00-05:00

Ice believed to have fallen more than 1,400 feet from a Midtown condo crushed the roof and smashed the windshield of Deneice O’Connor’s car as she drove up Sixth Ave., the shaken motorist said Saturday. “It just crashed down on me. I immediately thought a body had fallen on my car,” O’Connor, 35, told the Daily News.

The ice is believed to have fallen from the SHoP Architects-designed 111 W. 57th Street supertall, one of the world's thinnest skyscrapers and tallest residential buildings in the Western Hemisphere. It is a prominent fixture along “Billionaires’ Row”. Police have also reported that another person, a 17-year-old girl, was injured by falling ice originating from 40 W. 57th Street. The Friday afternoon incidents are being investigated by the city Building Department, with the inspectors issuing a violation against the owners of 111 W. 57th Street.

The TikTok post below shows large panes of ice falling one by one onto the surrounding street as pedestrians walk by.

@japanesecarlos The thump was loud af #nyc #nyclife #nycproblems #omg #newyorker #newyorklife ♬ Paris - Else

Nearly 1 in 4 workplace deaths in New York occur in construction

2022-02-23T15:18:00-05:00

Construction work in New York — city and statewide — remains the most deadly profession in the country. A total of 41 laborers died on the job in New York state in 2020, a decrease from 2019. However, fewer workers climbed scaffolding and pounded nails during the pandemic, so the rate of deaths still rose.

According to an analysis of data from the New York Department of Buildings, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducted by the labor group New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), workplace deaths in construction accounted for 24% of on-the-job fatalities in New York, compared to 21% nationwide.

Previously on Archinect: NYC Department of Buildings' 'zero tolerance' safety sweeps have resulted in 1,499 stop-work orders

Latino construction workers are disproportionately impacted, accounting for 18% of fatalities, yet only 10% of the population. In addition, nearly 80% of worker deaths were on non-union job sites. The NYCOSH has called on lawmakers to expand regulations that hold contractors liable for endangering workers.

Lawmakers are calling for federal action in the wake of this month's deadly Bronx fire

2022-01-28T12:18:00-05:00

On the heels of [the] horrific Bronx fire that killed 17 people, including eight children, Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Ritchie Torres on Tuesday unveiled a "4-point federal fire safety package" that includes addressing sprinklers, self-closing doors, heaters and federal investigation powers.

The pair of lawmakers had recently joined together to push the federal government to include the Cross Bronx Expressway into the infrastructure bill. Their new fire safety plan includes a mandate on automatic space heater shutoff features. The early-January fire that killed 17 at the Twin Parks North West apartment building near Fordham University has been blamed on a device that had been left unattended for days.

Torres has been adamant about bringing the incident into the national conversation on housing inequality, pushing in Congress for punitive measures that can be affected against landlords that do not properly maintain routine building safety measures like the self-closing doors that failed in Twin Parks.

“People of color in places like the South Bronx often live in conditions that put them at far greater risk of losing everything — their homes, their families, their own lives — from a catastrophic fire,” Torres said at a press conference. “We have the tools to save lives. ...

San Francisco’s infamous Millennium Tower is still sinking… and it may be running out of time

2022-01-11T19:35:00-05:00

[...] Millennium Tower – a luxury condominium where star athletes and retired Google employees bought multimillion-dollar apartments before they realized it was sinking – is continuing to sink and tilt to the side by about 3in (7.5 cm) a year, according to the engineer responsible for fixing the troubled building.

At that rate, the building’s elevators and sewage systems would cease to function within a few years according to engineer Ron Hamburger’s report to the city’s municipal Board of Supervisors last week. He also told the 11-member body that the movement was inevitable, adding that, based on his observations, the degradation would continue “whether we are conducting work at the site or not.”

Hamburger did reportedly declare the building safe for use, however, stating that the placement of 18 steel piles in the bedrock of the structure would help significantly increase its stability.

The 58-story Handel Architects-designed tower became a headache for the property managers shortly after opening in 2009 to considerable fanfare. Repairs had to be halted back in August after it was discovered to be sinking at an accelerated rate just weeks after the $100 million rescue scheme had begun. The sinking process has thus far reaped a lot of unwelcome consequences, although some inventive onlook...