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Ten years after the housing collapse during the Great Recession, a new and different housing crisis has emerged.
Back then, people were losing their homes as home values crashed and homeowners went underwater. Today, home values have rebounded, but people who want to buy a new home are often priced out of the market. There are too few homes and too many potential buyers.
— NPR
NPR takes a closer look at the impact of the housing affordability crisis in midsized, fast-growing cities, like Des Moines, IA, Durham, NC, and Boise, ID—far away from the usual, well documented housing hot spots of the big coastal cities. View full entry
Hundreds of families displaced by Northern California’s fires could face another challenge to rebuilding their homes — a persistent shortage of construction workers.
California lost nearly 20 percent of its construction work force between 2005 and 2016 [...]. And more than 40 percent of construction job postings in the state remain unfilled for at least six weeks, according to the study, the third longest wait in the nation.
— The Mercury News
California's housing crisis will only get exacerbated as several devastating wildfires are ripping through entire regions of the Golden State while construction firms are struggling to hire enough workers to rebuild communities. According to Cal Fire, more than a thousand homes have already been... View full entry
Cut peat blocks were already being used for building houses thousands of years ago. Now, scientists at the University of Tartu have developed a material which could make it possible to print energy-efficient houses out of milled peat and oil shale ash using a 3D printer. — Research in Estonia
"As peat and oil shale ash are not very expensive, house builders would be especially happy about the price of the material. According to Liiv, scientists calculated that the cost for the construction of a house shell printed from this material with a floor surface of 100–150 square meters could... View full entry
Are you particularly adept at managing construction projects? If you have several years of construction experience under your belt and are looking for a leadership position, construction management may be the ideal fit for you. From navigating the complexities of site details to working with... View full entry
Four months ago, ground was broken for the $1-billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Exposition Park. Construction has now gone vertical, with a tower crane soaring above Vermont Avenue.
The 300,000-square-foot facility, which is being built as a legacy project by Star Wars creator George Lucas, replaces two former parking lots with a four-story, 115,000-square-foot structure that will serve as the permanent home for the filmmaker's 10,000-piece collection.
— urbanize.LA
Inspired by the work of inventor Philip Ross and his company MycoWorks, Maurer argues that one of the keys to addressing Cleveland’s housing crisis lies in an unlikely source: mushrooms. Specifically, in using mycelium – the vegetative part of a fungus – and Cleveland’s other “natural” resource, construction waste, in a process called “biocycling”, which essentially recycles old buildings into new ones using plant materials. — The Guardian
“I like to refer to Cleveland as ‘ground zero’ for biocycling,” says Maurer, who believes the city has the perfect conditions and challenges to serve as a prototype for the process. Cleveland architect Christopher Maurer of Redhouse Studio argues how mycotecture (architecture that uses... View full entry
Speculations for the topping out of the 73-story 30 Hudson Yards have been swirling for the last couple months, and now the fateful day has finally arrived. [....] YIMBY received confirmation that the tallest building of the Hudson Yards mega-development has finally reached its pinnacle, with an American flag rising above the building’s parapet. — New York YIMBY
Visualization of the Hudson Yards development with the KPF-designed supertall 30 Hudson Yards tower in the foreground. Image: KPF.Now only 50 Hudson Yards remains to be finished from the phase one batch of Hudson Yards towers. "Phase two will see the construction of several new retail... View full entry
A Menlo Park company called Katerra announced that it had acquired Michael Green Architecture, a 25-person architecture firm in Vancouver, British Columbia. On June 12, the company revealed that it had bought another, larger architecture firm, Atlanta-based Lord Aeck Sargent. This comes five months after Katerra raised $865 million in venture capital from funders led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which has also invested heavily in the co-working startup WeWork. — City Lab
Startup Katerra looks to revolutionize the construction industry through streamlining the entire process with their design-build model. The company has acquired Michael Green Architecture, known for designing tall wood buildings, and Lord Aeck Sargent. With these two firms obtained, Katerra... View full entry
Progress on the second highest tower in the Hudson Yards mega-development has reached a milestone. 35 Hudson Yards has officially topped out at 1,009 feet. Now that it has reached that height, it is the ninth tallest structure in New York City and 19th tallest in the United States. Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group are responsible for the development. Next door, 30 Hudson Yards is tantalizingly close to topping out, but the milestone has not yet officially occurred. — New York YIMBY
Rendering of what the completed 35 Hudson Yards will look like. Image courtesy of Related-Oxford. View full entry
The American Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) has criticised the Trump Administration over the introduction of 25% tariffs on $50bn of Chinese imports.
Chinese goods affected include types of construction and agricultural equipment. [...]
Since Trump’s trade announcement on Friday, China has said it will impose a similar 25% tariff, also worth $50bn.
— globalconstructionreview.com
"We’re extremely disappointed with the Trump administration’s decision to move forward with these harmful tariffs," said Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) President Dennis Slater in a statement last Friday. "This move jeopardizes many of the 1.3 million good-paying manufacturing... View full entry
In the wake of the Singapore summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, South Korean builders are planning for a flood of infrastructure projects in the northern half of the peninsula.
The Construction Association of Korea plans to hold a forum for construction companies, research institutes and public entities on 25 June to discuss possible projects and funding arrangements.
— Global Construction Review
While Koreans on both sides of the Military Demarcation Line appear increasingly hopeful in the wake of recent friendly diplomatic exchanges, it's the deep-pocketed South Korean industrial conglomerates that have started to map out the north's opportunities for development. Shares in Hyundai... View full entry
Concrete placement work for Dubai Creek Tower's pile cap has been completed two months ahead of schedule.
A 20m-thick, multi-layered pile cap has been developed for the $1bn (AED3.67bn) Dubai Creek Tower, which is part of the 6km2 Dubai Creek Harbour master development.
The pile covers and transfers the load to the foundation barrettes.
— constructionweekonline.com
Image: Emaar Properties.Up to 16,000 tons of steel reinforcement, reportedly twice the weight of the Eiffel Tower, have been buried in the sandy Dubai ground to support (what has been promised to become) the world's tallest tower at a yet to be disclosed height: the Dubai Creek Tower designed by... View full entry
Much is at stake for US and European companies enjoying revived trade with Iran following US President Donald Trump’s decision this week to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and impose fresh sanctions.
Hardest hit will be oil and gas firms, plane makers like Airbus and Boeing, and car makers.
But European engineering and construction firms, recruited in the last two years to help Iran develop its transport infrastructure, could lose out as well.
— globalconstructionreview.com
US President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and impose new sanctions will drastically impact European engineering and construction firms and could restrict the availability of international finance for big schemes. After the nuclear deal was signed, Iran launched... View full entry
California just sent the clearest signal yet that rooftop power is moving beyond a niche market and becoming the norm.
On Wednesday, the Golden State became the first in the U.S. to require solar panels on almost all new homes. Most new units built after Jan. 1, 2020, will be required to include solar systems [...]. While that’s a boost for the solar industry, critics warned that it will also drive up the cost of buying a house by almost $10,000.
— Bloomberg
Rooftop solar panels are finally becoming an integral part of most new California homes beginning in 2020, however skeptics say that the move will further worsen the state's housing crisis. View full entry
The scope of the project included the replacement of the entire plaster ceiling, metal lath, and fasteners. The ceiling replacement began on December 1, 2017 and took approximately three months to complete. The project team included EverGreene Architectural Arts, Silman Structural Engineers, Glass House staff and Ashley Wilson AIA, ASID, Graham Gund Architect of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. — The Glass House
To see the new ceiling in person, make plans to visit this summer as The Glass House re-opens May 2018. Ceiling replacement complete. Photo by Michael Biondo View full entry
