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Contractors working in Qatar will need to update their employment contracts, and can expect tougher competition in attracting labour, thanks to a new law that guarantees a minimum wage and makes it easier to change employers, a law firm says.
Coming into effect 9 October this year, Law No. 17 sets the minimum wage at QAR 1,000 per month ($275), plus QAR 500 per month ($137) for accommodation and QAR 300 per month ($82) for food.
— Global Construction Review
Moreover, the new law also removes the requirement for foreign workers to obtain a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from their employer to work for someone else., GCR reports. This will naturally heighten the competition for skilled labor since employees will be free to switch employers if... View full entry
"Recommended Practices for Remote Virtual Inspections (RVI)," is the first standardized program that offers advice on how to conduct these types of off-premises inspections. While the guidance is aimed at inspection professionals, contractors should also take note as some of the same procedural steps the ICC outlines in the new document could be adopted for in-house use if project managers or other supervisors need to check progress on a job from the office or another remote location. — Construction Dive
The RVI program released by the International Code Council (ICC) includes some of the following tips for a successful remote inspection as reported by Construction Dive: Ensuring all electronic devices to be used during the inspection are fully charged and that whoever is using the device at... View full entry
As many Americans have taken to working, learning, and sheltering at home in the months since the coronavirus pandemic took hold, existing residential spaces have had to play double and triple duty, functionally speaking. Amid these shifts in use, Americans have begun to undertake home... View full entry
The Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California has launched a new master’s program in Advanced Design and Construction Technology (ADCT). The program, according to a school website, will explore an "integrative approach to design, engineering and... View full entry
Built in less than two years to replace the collapsed Morandi bridge, the new span is already a point of pride for Italy. But residents fear it will not be enough to revive their aging port city. — The New York Times
Documentary about the new Genoa Bridge (in Italian). Video via Webuild S.p.A. on YouTube. The Genoa bridge project and its tragic origin on Archinect: Renzo Piano bridge in Genoa designed to “last 1,000 years” is nearly finishedConstruction of Renzo Piano-designed Genoa Bridge reaches... View full entry
Japanese contractor Obayashi has started to build a dam almost entirely with robots, addressing the industry's labor shortage and aging workforce.
The site of the trial project is a concrete dam in Mie Prefecture, on the southeast coast of Japan's main island. The 84-meter-high structure is slated for completion in March 2023.
— Nikkei Asian Review
According to Nikkei, Obayashi has developed automated equipment to stack concrete layers to form the 334-meter-wide dam with virtually every process for constructing the dam involving some form of automation. Those process include the initial work of establishing the foundation... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has published its latest AIA Consensus Construction Forecast Panel, a metric that collects the perspectives of "leading economic forecasters" to help project potential near-term demand for construction services. AIA's latest report signals that the... View full entry
A new report from Turner Construction Company highlights an unexpected trend that has taken shape in recent months: lower construction costs for non-residential projects. According to Turner's quarterly Building Cost Index, construction costs decreased during the second quarter of 2020 by 1.01%... View full entry
Whether you are a tower crane otaku, adrenaline junky, or simply keeping up to date with David Adjaye's first NYC tower: construction crews at the 130 William site in Manhattan posted a video and some photos of the recent crane dismantling. The journey of the tower crane dismantle at... View full entry
Industries getting the largest share of net PPP dollars were health and social assistance, professional, scientific and technical services, construction and manufacturing. — CNBC
CNBC breaks down newly published data from the federal government highlighting the distribution of Paycheck Protection Program loans extended to American businesses in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously on Archinect:"Architecture Firm Owners Share Their PPP Woes" According to... View full entry
The earliest stages of construction are unfolding for what is sure to become a prominent landmark on Toronto's King Street West. As demolition of some parts of the existing buildings on the site continues, the arrival of shoring rigs is marking the start of construction for Westbank Corp and Allied Properties REIT's KING Toronto, a 16-storey mountain range-shaped luxury condominium complex from acclaimed Danish architects Bjarke Ingels Group and Toronto based Diamond Schmitt Architects. — Urban Toronto
Following months of extensive demolition work, the site has been mostly cleared for what is shaping up to become a major urban redevelopment on Toronto's King Street West, reports Urban Toronto. North elevation from King Street W. All renderings via the project's website.West entrance into the... View full entry
Recognized for their distinct approach within architecture and landscape design, Snøhetta has published a new book highlighting their efforts to "recognize a potential to further challenge existing industry standards by developing new Lean key principles in the complex merge of design... View full entry
Recent data collected by Procore and the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) indicates that construction activity is slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels. Procore, the construction management software company that's been using worker hours to measure construction activity during the... View full entry
Six months since we last checked in, the curving steel skeleton of the Eric Owen Moss-designed Wrapper office tower is starting to take shape next to Metro's La Cienega/Jefferson Station in Baldwin Hills. — Urbanize LA
Designed by Eric Owen Moss Architects, the 17-story (W)RAPPER office tower in Los Angeles generated a stir of reactions among Archinect readers when construction started going vertical in December 2019. The free-form steel exoskeleton, which appears to be wrapping the structure and enables... View full entry
A second supplemental Quarterly Market Forecast (QMF) from PSMJ Resources conducted to gauge the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Architecture Engineering and Construction industry offers somewhat positive news for the month of May. After posting a steep, 27% decline in proposal... View full entry
