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The Margaret McDermott Bridge was supposed to be open to pedestrians and bicyclists by now, but the arches over the Trinity River remain closed partially over concerns about broken cables.
The issue centers around problems with the cables -- and their resistance to heavy winds -- that connect the arch to the base of the Dallas bridge, which was designed by famed architect Santiago Calatrava and his firm.
— Dallas News
The $113-million (partially) Calatrava-designed Margaret McDermott Bridge carrying Interstate 30 is part of Dallas' ambitious Trinity River Project. "City officials are hoping to open the bridge to pedestrians and cyclists in March," Dallas News writes. Meanwhile the finger-pointing between... View full entry
Construction spending for nonresidential buildings is projected to increase 4 percent this year and continue at that pace of growth through 2019. While the commercial construction sectors will generate much of the expected gains this year, by 2019 the industrial and institutional sectors will dominate the projected construction growth. [...]
However, in the face of a supportive economy, construction spending on nonresidential buildings disappointed last year.
— AIA
The American Institute of Architects has published its latest Consensus Construction Forecast, and it's looking quite rosy. Despite labor shortages and rising material costs that continue to have an impact on the construction industry, the report — supported by the last few editions of the... View full entry
A major British construction company is going into liquidation after failing to secure a financial lifeline. Carillion (CIOIF), which employs 43,000 people around the world, said in a statement Monday that rescue talks with stakeholders including the British government had collapsed.
"We have been unable to secure the funding to support our business plan, and it is therefore with the deepest regret that we have arrived at this decision," Carillion Chairman Philip Green said in the statement.
— money.cnn.com
With thousands of workers in the UK and Canada, the construction company also builds high speed rail infrastructure, is involved in power distribution projects, and performs road maintenance, hospital management and other government services. Carillion has hundreds of contracts with the UK... View full entry
Harvard University recently celebrated the topping out ceremony of its new John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Designed by Behnisch Architekten's Boston office, the 497,000-square-foot, six-story complex at Harvard’s Allston campus will house teaching and research... View full entry
When it comes to large-scale residential buildings, a complex set of economic, urban, and regulatory systems sometimes seem to have left little room for architectural exploration. Architects often struggle to find a point of entry for inserting their creative perspective in a way that would... View full entry
We can build homes to sit above flood waters so people can ride out the Harveys of the future, but it won’t be easy or cheap. [...]
More than a million people live in the 100- and 500-year flood zones across the Houston area, and hundreds of thousands more do in other U.S. cities, including Miami and New York. Harris County’s move conforms with the advice of building engineers, climate experts, and the insurance industry.
— Citylab
Construction at the site of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox National Shrine at Ground Zero in New York City has been halted by the main construction company because the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has defaulted on payments, according to a letter sent by the company to its subcontractors working at the site. — Pappas Post
Image: Greek Orthodox Church in AmericaThe Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America acknowledged the payment issues and responded in a statement: "In light of recent financial difficulties at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and in order to make certain that all operations and funds are... View full entry
An 800-foot-tall centerpiece is coming to Detroit's resurgent downtown as the city continues to build momentum about three years after exiting the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. — Chicago Tribune
Detroit continues its steep climb back to normalcy and growth. As one of America's hardest-hit areas by the Great Recession, Detroit unemployment was running nearly three times as high as the national average in 2009 at a staggering 28 percent — and the city was bleeding population, losing... View full entry
That didn’t take long: Just about a year after celebrating the groundbreaking of the TWA Hotel, the developer behind the project, MCR, has announced that it’s topped out. The hotel will complement—and connect to—Eero Saarinen’s iconic 1962 TWA Flight Center. The whole shebang is on track to open in early 2019 as the TWA Hotel. — Curbed NY
Following their research into the Droneport—a project that explores the potential of an ‘infrastructural leap’ using cutting edge technology to surmount the challenges of the future—Foster + Partners is now working with Be Tomorrow UK, the UK arm of a leading autonomous drone software... View full entry
The construction sector is going to look very different in a decade or two – and so is its workforce. Are we going to be ready for it? Or will we fall behind? — Mace Group
What will the future of construction sites be? What will they look like and who will be wearing the hard hats. Does technology need a hard hat? With the industry shifting with 3D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence and increased productivity, how then will the construction industry at... View full entry
Construction is underway for the upcoming Bora Residential Tower, which is set to be the tallest building of its kind in Mexico City. Client Nemesis Capital commissioned Zaha Hadid Architects to design the tower back in 2015. Located in the growing Santa Fe business district near the 28-hectare La... View full entry
No other major metropolitan area in the U.S. has grown faster than Houston over the last decade, with a significant portion of new construction occurring in areas that the federal government considers prone to flooding.
But much of that new real estate in those zones did just fine, a Times analysis has found.
— Los Angeles Times
The City of Houston, notorious for its relative lack of zoning codes, did in fact take future flooding into account and mandated that new homes were to be built at least 12 inches above flood levels predicted by the federal government. "The 1985 regulation and others that followed," the LA Times... View full entry
The prototypes for Donald Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico have been completed, and the six participating companies, whose names have been publicly released, are beginning to face some serious pushback. Since the bidding process began, companies vying for the construction contract... View full entry
Work has ground to a halt at the New York Wheel, a massive attraction that developers say will help turn the St. George Ferry Terminal into a bustling tourist destination. The latest projections put the wheel’s price tag at $590 million, more than twice initial estimates. The developers concede there have been setbacks, but they say they are still on firm financial footing and expect the project to succeed. — Crain's New York Business
Building an audience from scratch for a new, expensive attraction on Staten Island's North Shore where visitors are also willing to spend $35 per ride to recover the half-billion-plus-dollar investment will be a steep challenge, Crain's reports: "To break even, the wheel likely needs to attract... View full entry
