Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
The latest economic data issued by the American Institute of Architects confirm the fifteenth consecutive month of growing demand in design services as reported by architecture firms across the U.S. The Architecture Billings Index for April moderated slightly to a score of 56.5 from a near-record... View full entry
Total construction starts rebounded in April according to a new Dodge Construction Network study, rising 3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $945.8 billion. Nonresidential building starts rose 6% and residential starts increased by 4%, while nonbuilding starts decreased by 4%. Compared to... View full entry
The Dodge Momentum Index continues to rise, with a 6% increase in April, taking it to 164.8, up from the revised March reading of 155. Commercial planning rose 9%, while institutional planning moved 2% higher. This gain in April has moved the Dodge Momentum Index just 5% short of the all-time high... View full entry
Former New York City Council member Eric Ulrich has been appointed as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) by Mayor Eric Adams. Ulrich will serve alongside Kazimir Vilenchik, the new First Deputy Commissioner, and replaces Gus Sirakis, who has been serving as the DOB’s Acting... View full entry
In a new Dodge Construction Network report, total construction starts fell 12% in March to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of $903.8 billion following a strong February. The decline, in which nonresidential building starts fell 29%, is in part due to the start of three large manufacturing... View full entry
The Biden administration on April 19 restored key regulations in the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires review of federal projects to assess their likely impacts on climate change and nearby communities. The changes to the NEPA rules will go into effect in late May, and could mean proposed infrastructure like highways, pipelines and railways take more time to get approved. — Construction Dive
This move reverses changes made by the Trump administration, which loosened the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 2020 in order to accelerate projects by shortening the time used to gather environmental information and community input. According to Construction Dive, construction... View full entry
Rugged Robotics, a Houston-based developer of construction technology, raised $9.4 million in Series A funding. Similar to Dusty Robotics, Rugged offers a robot to automate construction layout. Rugged’s Mark I marks architectural and engineering designs directly onto concrete floors so workers know where to build. The robot is available for commercial use, which the company delivers via layout as a service (a derivative of Robots as a Service). — The Robot Report
The funding round was led by BOLD Capital Partners and Brick & Mortar Ventures, along with Riot Ventures, Morpheus, Embark, Consigli Construction Company, and Suffolk Technologies. This latest capitalization round brings the company’s full funding to around $12 million. Rugged Robotics... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects released new economic data this morning, indicating a significant increase in the demand for design services in March. The latest Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score rose to 58.0, up sharply from a score of 51.3 in February. The March scores for both... View full entry
The residential housing market continued its remarkable ascension in March, according to a market report published this week by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The report indicates some more positive news for the industry in the face of several... View full entry
The number of cranes in North America's major cities increased 4.74% from Q3 2021 to Q1 2022, recovering from the identical decrease from the previous Rider Levett Bucknall crane index report. — Construction Dive
Rider Levett Bucknall’s (RLB) index measured five cities with an increase in the number of cranes, six that yielded little change, and three that saw significant decreases, dropping by more than 20%. In total, North American cities added 22 cranes in the first quarter of 2022, in which more than... View full entry
The Dodge Momentum Index moved up another 4% in March to 166.9 from the revised February reading of 160.3. Last month, commercial planning rose 7%, while institutional planning fell by less than one percent. Commercial planning in March was just slightly lower than the all-time high set in... View full entry
Over one month since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the impacts of the war on Europe’s construction sector are beginning to emerge. Since the military offensive began, a steady increase in European sanctions against Russia has curtailed material supplies across the continent... View full entry
According to a new Dodge Construction Network report, total construction starts rose 9% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.013 trillion. Nonresidential building starts carried the activity, jumping 32% due to the start of three large manufacturing facilities. However... View full entry
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced plans to set aside $200 million for the new Focused Attraction of Shovel-Ready Tracts New York (FAST NY) grant program, which aims to attract and expand key growth industries to New York State. The money has been made available through Hochul’s... View full entry
The once-thriving construction industry in Ukraine has ground to a near halt as the nation shifts into battling an invasion by Russia. Before the incursion, which began Feb. 24, construction sites across the country were booming in many different sectors, according to Morgan Williams, president of the 200-member U.S.-Ukraine Business Council in Washington, D.C. — Construction Dive
Russia’s invasion has stymied Ukraine’s construction industry, which was surging under the country’s “Big Construction” program. The initiative was spearheaded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and aimed to rebuild and renovate infrastructure across the country. Construction... View full entry
