Police were called to the Hawkeswood Metal recycling plant at 8.45am today after a large concrete wall containing metal collapsed.
Paramedics tried to free the men, including one who had suffered a heart attack, however West Midlands Police pronounced all five victims dead at the scene.
A sixth man was taken to hospital with serious leg injuries.
The victims have yet to be identified.
— globalconstructionreview.com
Police investigation is underway, but next to nothing is known at the moment as to why the wall at a Birmingham recycling centre collapsed. Responding to the tragedy, Brian Rye of the construction union UCATT commented: “Information on how and why this accident occurred is currently very... View full entry
Wrapping up our special editorial theme for June 2016, Privacy, Archinect writers Julia Ingalls and Nicholas Korody join us on the podcast this week to discuss two of their recent features—Julia's piece on banking security with input from a reformed robber, and Nicholas' interview with... View full entry
To most people, zoning and land-use regulations might conjure up little more than images of late-night City Council meetings full of gadflies and minutiae. But these laws go a long way toward determining some fundamental aspects of life: what American neighborhoods look like, who gets to live where and what schools their children attend.
And when zoning laws get out of hand, economists say, the damage to the American economy and society can be profound.
— the New York Times
"Studies have shown that laws aimed at things like “maintaining neighborhood character” or limiting how many unrelated people can live together in the same house contribute to racial segregation and deeper class disparities. They also exacerbate inequality by restricting the... View full entry
This post is brought to you by Yulio. AN INTRODUCTION TO VIRTUAL REALITY Though Virtual Reality (VR) is yet to truly break into the mainstream consumer market, it’s an industry growing at breakneck speed.With Deloitte Global predicting a $1bn year for the VR industry this year, and Digi Capital... View full entry
What we’ve done is change the software of the city...We’ve changed how it behaves. We’ve changed how it responds to people who want to try things, do things, and run their own experiments...We don’t build anything, we don’t buy anything, we don’t own anything.” Renew’s annual budget barely cracks six figures — New Republic
Late last year, Greg Lindsay profiled Marcus Westbury and the work of Renew Newcastle. Does this "soft", and non-capital intensive model, suggest a way to avoid concerns over gentrification, privatized downtowns of privately owned public space, and trendy "pop-ups"? Can the lessons apply beyond... View full entry
Less depressing than construction, not nearly as happy-making as arts, design, entertainment, sports and media: according to the CDC, architects are the fifth most likely to commit suicide in comparison with members of other professions, especially if you're a male architect (data for female... View full entry
First, it was an office, and now, it's an entire 3D printed house. Well, mostly 3D printed: while the "primary vertical structure, roof, and large portions of the facade will be freeform 3D printed, the glass enclosure and interior finishes will be conventional construction" for the future... View full entry
Building walls around a city is an idea that is as old as cities themselves. In the Middle Ages, walls were built to keep out invading armies. Now they are built to keep out Mother Nature. [...]
As far as walls go, the Big U is designed to be a nice one ("a wall with benefits," as one urban designer puts it). It was one of the winning proposals in Rebuild by Design, a $930 million competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development...
— Rolling Stone
The article describes New York as having more at stake when it comes to sea-level rise than any other city in the world. A bunch of islands in a coastal estuary, New York is uniquely at risk. And, as the largest financial hub in the world with some of the most expensive real estate in the country... View full entry
David Scheer penned his first essay for Archinect, a review of a new federal courthouse in Salt Lake City, designed by Thomas Phifer & Partners. His conclusion? "As a piece of construction, it is beautifully detailed and executed—a virtuosic performance of modern building technology. It... View full entry
We're taking a break from One-to-One this week to set off fireworks and contemplate the potential future of a Trump Presidential Center. In the meantime, we present some of our favorite episodes related to this big ol' hot mess of a nation.We've got it all:"Traditional" architecture, not... View full entry
Who will replace the voices of architects like Jeff Sheppard, Gary Desmond and Brian Klipp? Before us, it was George Hoover, Cab Childress and Peter Dominick. They were all incredibly passionate about architecture — Colorado Real Estate Journal
A survey of current industry conditions in Denver. As a result of; M&A activity, a generational transition and changing firm culture, there is a concern for the next generation of engaged civic leadership. View full entry
Post-Brexit, the British government has turned into a real hot mess. The pound dropped to its lowest value against the dollar in 30 years ($1.31), and after Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation, Parliament is in turmoil and has yet to name a reliably likely successor. All this... View full entry
When its spheres and three surrounding towers are completed, [Amazon] will have 10 million square feet of office space in Seattle, more than 15 percent of the city's inventory, on a campus that occupies more than 10 square blocks. That will provide space for Amazon to more than double in size, to 50,000 Seattle workers in the next decade...The spheres, designed by architecture firm NBBJ, are Amazon's boldest statement yet in the first project it's building from the ground up. — Bloomberg
More on Archinect:NBBJ's biosphere design for Amazon Seattle HQ becomes even more organicNBBJ designs biospheres for Amazon's Seattle headquartersThis drone video takes you on a fascinating flight through the guts of Seattle's Bertha tunneling machine View full entry
On May 7, 2016, Joshua Brown, 40, of Williston, Florida was heading down the highway in his Tesla Model S, using the car’s autopilot mode, when he fatally collided with a tractor trailer. The truck took a left-turn in front of his vehicle, and according to a news release issued by Tesla... View full entry
According to a report from Reuters, construction spending fell in American for the second month in a row, following a steep 2% drop in April. April's drop was the largest since January 2011. The US Commerce Department states that May construction spending dropped 0.8%. The drop indicates that... View full entry
