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The restoration of the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, which was badly damaged by fire on 15 April, has entered a new and delicate phase. This involves removing a vast and heavy scaffolding structure at roof level that became fused by the intense heat. It had been erected before the fire in order to carry out restoration work on the 19th-century roof spire, whose dramatic collapse was seen on screens around the world. — The Art Newspaper
For The Art Newspaper, architect Francesco Bandarin gives a detailed account of the crucial next step in the efforts to restore the fire-damaged cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. "The removal of the scaffolding requires three levels of steel beams to be positioned around its exterior to form... View full entry
While finding the right employee hires is a key concern for any business, less attention has been paid, until recently, to streamlined training and workforce development initiatives. Yet, with the growing sophistication and proliferation of online training services and mobile apps that can assist... View full entry
New wearable technology could help prevent struck-by and caught-between injuries and incidents, found a study from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas released last month by the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR). The study outfitted workers with waist belts with vibrating motors to detect possible nearby hazards. — Construction Dive
The study explored a system that notified workers through vibrations where nearby machinery and vehicles were in operations. The experiment even went so far as to cover the eyes of the participants, resulting in 95% accuracy in completing tasks. The research moves forward attempts to... View full entry
A year after breaking ground at 5790 W. Jefferson Boulevard, the arrival of a tower crane signals that construction is ramping up at the Eric Owen Moss-designed Wrapper development.
The project, located just west of Metro's La Cienega/Jefferson Station, is being developed by Samitaur Constructs - the local real estate investment firm behind a slew of abstract office complexes in Culver City's Hayden Tract.
— Urbanize LA
The exoskeleton wrapping the 17-story tower like giant rubber bands enables the interior spaces to be column-free, some even with double-height ceilings, reports Urbanize LA. Image: Eric Owen Moss/Zimmerman Visual, via wrappertower.com Image: Eric Owen Moss/Zimmerman Visual, via wrappertower.com... View full entry
There’s no question Austin is a boomtown.
A record-breaking 8.1 million square feet of office buildings is under construction in the capital city, according to CoStar Group Inc., as developers and investors try to capitalize on rising prices and continued demand for space. Austin ranks No. 2 in the country for office construction, behind Nashville — although the Texas capital has the momentum to overtake the Tennessee capital in the coming months.
— Austin Business Journal
The list of new Downtown Austin towers — under construction or proposed — contains the Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects-designed Block 185 for Google, the 36-story Indeed Tower, the Quincy by Ziegler Cooper Architects, the 66-story 6 x Guadelupe as well as a new University of Texas... View full entry
A jury has awarded the Washington State Department of Transportation $57.2 million in damages, after a two-month trial over delays in the downtown Seattle Highway 99 tunnel project.
The verdict, reached Friday against the tunnel contractors in Thurston County Superior Court in Olympia, represents the entire amount the state requested at trial.
— Seattle Times
Remember Bertha, once the world's largest tunnel-boring machine which, very inconveniently, broke down in 2013 after hitting a pipe while digging the Seattle Tunnel, delaying the megaproject for more than two years? A jury just sided with the Washington State Department of Transportation that the... View full entry
Although concrete is common building material that's readily available and easy to use, the environmental impact it generates is a costly one, specifically with regards to how it is manufactured. Estimates indicate that every pound of cement produces one pound of CO2 emissions, for example, a fact... View full entry
Construction and design behemoth Skanska USA has opted to create a full line of "Personal Protective Equipment" (PPE) designed to meet the particular needs of a rising cohort of women in the construction workforce. The equipment is being developed for these workers in order to "ensure their safety... View full entry
Construction software company HoloBuilder Inc. has announced a partnership with Boston Dynamics, maker of mobile robots, to develop SpotWalk, which the firm claims is a first-of-its-kind robotic document capture app for construction sites.
...the robot [can] walk around job sites autonomously and capture 360-degree images that record construction progress, thus creating digital, recordable data of the project over time.
— Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, Hensel Phelps tested the new technology on a recent project and found its application to be efficient and time-saving. A spokesperson for the contractor said that the robot "removes a time-consuming step while providing accurate construction photos with a high... View full entry
How can we make stronger building materials? An experiment conducted by Rice University's Brown School of Engineering explores this limit by manipulating materials like plastic, metal, and concrete to match the strength of diamonds. 3D printed blocks made at Rice University. Image... View full entry
According to a recent press release, Apple has broken ground on its new $1 billion, 3-million-square-foot campus. The campus will initially house 5,000 employees, with the capacity to grow to 15,000, and is expected to open in 2022. Apple's growth in Austin is part of the company's nation... View full entry
Authorities in southern California have said two residents were convicted of more than 200 felony counts each after falsifying documents and conducting fraudulent construction projects on hundreds of homes.
...47-year-old Wilfrido Rodriguez of Downey and 45-year-old Ruben Gutierrez of Huntington Beach were convicted Wednesday after a civil engineering firm called into question the structural integrity of hundreds of homes.
— The San Diego Union-Tribune
According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Authorities say Palos Verdes Engineering Company contacted police suspecting two former employees were responsible for projects across 56 cities in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties." Driver's license photos of Ruben... View full entry
The budget committee of Germany’s lower house of parliament yesterday approved additional funding for Berlin’s planned Museum of the 20th Century, designed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, after estimates for the construction costs spiralled to €364m from €200m. — The Art Newspaper
According to The Art Newspaper, the new Herzog & de Meuron-designed museum in Berlin's central Kulturforum arts district is needed because "the Neue Nationalgalerie can only display about a quarter of Berlin’s vast stores of 20th-century art at any given time." Current situation at the planned... View full entry
A Vinci-led consortium [...] completed civil engineering works on the high-spec building that will house the world’s largest fusion machine, called a “tokamak”, which scientists hope will start replicating the sun’s energy by the middle of the next decade. [...]
The 73-metre-high, 120-metre-wide structure required highly specific concretes. Teams developed about 10 formulations to shield staff and the environment from fusion-generated radiation.
— Global Construction Review
Building a tokamak machine to exploit fusion energy similar to our sun is no simple engineering feat: the building will house reactions that happen at extremely high temperatures, around 150 million degrees Celsius, fusing hydrogen nuclei when they reach the plasma state, thus releasing... View full entry
An underground car park that was under construction in southwest China collapsed, killing eight people and injuring two others, official media said Tuesday.
State broadcaster CCTV said the 10 people were trapped in the rubble when the collapse occurred Monday afternoon in Guizhou province's Guiyang city.
— ABC News
Three workers were able to escape the scene. The 10 trapped workers were rescued early on Tuesday local time, reports ABC. View full entry
