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Work on the giant Battersea Power Station redevelopment site will not restart until the end of April at the earliest.
Construction was paused last week on the scheme where Mace and Sir Robert McAlpine are main contractors on phase two and three.
But an update from Battersea Power Station Development Company boss Simon Murphy has clarified the client’s position.
— Construction Enquirer
As COVID-19 health precautions are being tightened in the UK, London's in-progress Battersea Power Station megadevelopment also just extended its temporary site closure through the end of April. The delay impacts construction progress on the $11 billion project master-planned by Rafael... View full entry
The constant cacophony that has trumpeted Philadelphia’s remarkable construction boom has quieted. Towering cranes are still, jackhammers are silent, and construction vehicles have stopped their beeping back-up warnings.
And thousands of people in construction-related jobs are out of work.
— Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Michaelle Bond reports on how Pennsylvania’s strict construction shutdown is impacting building professionals, in-process projects, and, by extension, the state’s regional economy. Unlike other states, including New Jersey and California, where certain types... View full entry
Bay Area health officials issued a sweeping new order on Tuesday banning a range of commercial and residential construction that had previously been exempt from stay-at-home mandates. The move could swell the record number of Californians seeking unemployment by putting some construction workers out of jobs. — San Francisco Chronicle
After issuing a shelter-in-place order for six counties in the San Francisco Bay Area on March 16, health officials now increased the measure by also restricting construction activity on market-rate housing projects which was exempt until now. Related on Archinect: Not all construction projects... View full entry
Across the country, some state mandates have shut down all nonessential business and request that employees work remotely wherever possible, and shelter-in-place orders have kept people from leaving their homes aside from vital errands.
At the same time, even in some of the cities and states with the most stringent shutdowns, construction continues.
— Construction Dive
A number of US States have ordered all non-essential construction projects to halt in an effort to flatten the curve among workers. But of course, "essential" is a fluent term and interpretations vary from state to state. Construction Dive took a look at a few ongoing megaprojects and how they... View full entry
The United States Army Corps of Engineers this week issued Southwest Valley Constructors a contract modification worth $524 million for design-build services on a barrier wall replacement project in Tucson, Arizona, at the border between the U.S. and Mexico. The change brings Southwest's contract amount for the project to almost $1.2 billion when combined with the May 2019 initial contract's award of $646 million for the same project. — Construction Dive
While construction of all non-essential projects in several US states has been ordered to stop to contain the spread of COVID-19, planning of fortification elements along the US-Mexican border near Tucson, Arizona is going ahead with full steam, as Construction Dive reports. View full entry
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today that construction projects across the state must stop work in order to comply with efforts to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Carving out exceptions for hospital construction, transit infrastructure projects, utility repairs... View full entry
Thanks to clarifications from California Governor Gavin Newsom, construction work has been classified as one of the state’s “essential” services and will be allowed to proceed, with certain health and social distancing precautions, amid the increasing social and economic shutdown resulting... View full entry
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s announcement earlier this week halting all but essential construction work in the city has left contractors in other areas of the country wondering if their jurisdictions will also order a temporary stop to their projects.
[...] other areas are under orders that ban nonessential services, causing some construction leaders to wonder whether their work is considered essential or not.
— Construction Dive
With the growing coronavirus pandemic calling for frequently adjusted federal, state, and local orders, a fair amount of uncertainty has gripped the US construction industry. While Boston has completely shut down all nonessential construction activity for at least the next two weeks, contractors... View full entry
The Berlin government said on Tuesday it would create a new hospital to cope with a likely huge increase in coronavirus cases.
The facility, which will house up to 1,000 patients, will be set up in the Berlin Messe trade fair exhibition grounds in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district of the German capital.
The hospital will be built with the help of the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr.
— DW
As the coronavirus outbreak rapidly expands also in Germany, officials in Berlin hope to prevent potential bottlenecks in the capital's hospital system with a new medical facility specifically for COVID-19 patients. The country now has more than 10,000 confirmed cases — the third highest in... View full entry
Build UK and the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) have said the UK construction industry is set to become ‘dramatically and severely affected’ from Coronavirus. In a joint statement released today, the two organizations warned the situation had ‘accelerated’ over the weekend.
They warned that construction sites across the country will have to close if the UK government chooses to put the country into ‘lockdown’ and takes measures to restrict the movement of UK citizens.
— The Scaffolding Magazine
According to The Scaffolding Magazine, Build UK said, the impact on construction’s supply chain, consisting of multiple layers of businesses, many of them small businesses with a significant amount of self-employed workers will be "catastrophic and unavoidable." Build UK and the CECA... View full entry
Construction tech developer Built Robotics’ fully autonomous construction equipment is now available to contractors and heavy machine operators. A software upgrade to excavating equipment will allow the machinery to operate autonomously or be piloted remotely, making it the first of its kind to be offered commercially in the U.S. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, Built Robotics' software enables its equipment to perform tasks fully autonomously. Digging trenches, excavating foundations, and grading building pads can all be managed remotely via a web-based platform. View full entry
New York City will require all new and existing buildings to meet stricter energy efficiency requirements under a new energy code approved by the city council and passed by Mayor Bill de Blasio last week. The 2020 NYC Energy Conservation Code is part of the city’s implementation of its Green New Deal. — Smart Cities Dive
According to Construction Dive, the new code will require builders to improve the building thermal envelope with modified walls and windows to limit heat loss in addition to air leakage mitigation. Heating and cooling systems will also have stricter requirements. View full entry
Five months after holding a ceremonial groundbreaking, the first signs of vertical construction are now visible at the new home of OCMA at Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Center for the Arts. [...]
The approximately $73-million project expands OCMA's square footage by approximately 50 percent when compared to the museum's former home.
— Urbanize Los Angeles
Designed by Morphosis Architects, the Orange County Museum of Art's new home at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, Calif. appears to be making progress, according to a new construction photo published by Urbanized LA. The new 52,000-square-foot building will nearly double OCMA's... View full entry
The last of the 18 piers that will support the new Genoa bridge in Italy has been completed less than eight months after construction of the first foundations began. [...]
Ten of the sections of the deck that will rest on the piers have been installed so far; the current deck length of 550m is more than half of its eventual 1,067m length.
— Construction Index
43 people were killed and 14 more injured on August 14, 2018 when the nearly mile-long Morandi highway bridge in Genoa partially collapsed. Architect Renzo Piano, a Genoa native, was commissioned to design the 1,067-meter replacement bridge, and construction work started in June 2019. The... View full entry
Last week the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced its investment of $74 million "for 63 projects to research, develop, and test energy-efficient and flexible building technologies, systems, and construction practices to improve the energy performance of our Nation's buildings and electric... View full entry
