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Former New York City Council member Eric Ulrich has been appointed as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) by Mayor Eric Adams. Ulrich will serve alongside Kazimir Vilenchik, the new First Deputy Commissioner, and replaces Gus Sirakis, who has been serving as the DOB’s Acting... View full entry
Florida’s state legislature has failed to pass a bill which would have strengthened requirements to inspect and repair the state’s aging condo stock. The new legislation was drafted in response to the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in June 2021, which killed 98 people... View full entry
A 48-unit condominium building in Waukesha, Wis., that was in imminent threat of collapse due to a rusted structural frame and columns has had its residents evacuated. The City of Waukesha, on Dec. 2, deemed that the Horizon West Condominium building at 315 N. West Ave. is unsafe for occupancy. — Engineering News-Record
65 residents were ordered to immediately evacuate the building, which was originally constructed in 1966. McGuire Contractors, Inc. was called in to temporarily stabilize the structure with new steel bracing, however, the building is still not safe to be in. The company’s president, Steve... View full entry
New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) commissioner Melanie E. La Rocca has announced the results of the department’s citywide “zero tolerance” construction safety enforcement campaign. Since its launch on June 1, 2021, DOB inspectors have conducted safety sweeps at approximately... View full entry
The New York City Department of Buildings has shut down 322 construction sites across the city due to hazardous conditions in June 2021. The DOB issued full and partial stop-work orders to the affected sites, citing more than 1,129 violations for safety and non-compliance issues. In... View full entry
Earlier this week, U.S. autonomous drone manufacturer, Skydio, launched Skydio 3D Scan, an adaptive scanning software that allows its drones to generate incredibly detailed 3D models of real-world settings with a very high degree of autonomy. 3D Scan is equipped with advanced artificial... View full entry
Demand for routine bridge inspections is expected to rise four times its current level to reach a market valuation of $6.3 billion by the end of 2029, according to research firm Fact.MR. A push for infrastructure modernization in the Asia-Pacific region the largest share of the market at 35%. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, the need for more bridge inspections will be driven by a combination of aging infrastructure, exposure to damaging environmental conditions, and an increase in traffic volume, all of which speed up the deterioration of bridges. This is expected to raise... View full entry
The surprise inspections are New York’s most aggressive effort to tighten oversight of construction sites after a surge in worker injuries as the city undergoes its biggest building boom in more than half a century...
...In the first nine months of this year — as dozens of surprise inspections were carried out daily — construction injuries fell by 26 percent to 437 from 590 in the same period the year before, according to city-data.
— The New York Times
The surprise inspections have been carried out by a team of 38 experts in areas such as renovations, high-rise construction, scaffolding, and demolitions, reports The New York Times. The team is due to eventually grow to 53. Since September 2018, the team has completed 20,166 surprise... View full entry
Municipal laws in New York City are hampering the city's real estate developers and building owners as they look to embrace the use of drones to perform periodic building and facade inspections on their properties, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. In New York City... View full entry
The mammoth, unfinished mansion on Strada Vecchia Road in Bel-Air has long been at the center of controversy, investigations and legal battles.
Its developer, Mohamed Hadid, pleaded no contest to criminal charges after prosecutors accused him of building a house far bigger than allowed. [...]
And investigators have looked into possible wrongdoing by a city building inspector scrutinizing the house.
— Los Angeles Times
Looks like the legal drama over the gargantuan on-again/off-again under-construction Bel Air megamansion by celebrity developer Mohamed Hadid is entering a new act: Russell Linch, the contested project's former construction manager, has come forward this week and accused a Los Angeles Department... View full entry
Salesforce Tower, San Francisco’s tallest building, can be seen for miles around the Bay Area.
But to inspect the building’s exterior for potential damage, owner Boston Properties needed to get close. So it enlisted a drone.
At 1,070 feet, the tower is a major example of the growing use of drones for building and construction inspections.
— San Francisco Chronicle
The SF Chronicle writes about the increasing deployment of flying high-tech equipment to cut down on the inspection time (and cost) on very large buildings, such as Salesforce Tower: "The small aircraft, which now have high definition cameras, are cheaper, faster and safer than traditional human... View full entry
A growing number of building facade inspectors, increasingly women, are rappelling into New York City’s glass and terra-cotta canyons. — The New York Times
Stefanos Chen introduces us to New York City's growing community of "industrial rope access" facade inspectors. "The city requires that of the approximately 1 million buildings in New York City, those taller than six stories — more than 14,500 structures — have their facades inspected every... View full entry
The public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster has sacked its expert architectural witness after it emerged he was not a registered architect.
John Priestley, who was appointed on Wednesday to produce a report into the architectural design of the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, was sacked on Friday. [...]
According to the inquiry, before he was instructed, Priestley told officials he was a UK registered and chartered architect.
— The Guardian
The insulation that burned out of control on Grenfell Tower had never passed the required safety test and should never have been on the building, a BBC investigation has discovered. Panorama understands the manufacturer, Celotex, used extra fire retardant in the product that qualified for the safety certificate.
A more flammable version was then sold for public use, the programme believes. Celotex said it is co-operating with the police investigation and inquiry.
— bbc.com
Last June the Grenfell Tower fire in London killed 72 people prompting ongoing investigations. It has been found that the RS5000 insulation used in the building's refurbishment gives off toxic fumes containing cyanide when burned. Almost all who perished in the fire were killed by smoke. The... View full entry
Nearly two months after a brand-new South Florida bridge collapsed onto a busy roadway — killing six people — the Florida Department of Transportation is still refusing to release documents that could shed light on the tragic accident.
Now, the Miami Herald is taking the state to court. On Wednesday, the Herald filed suit against FDOT in Tallahassee's Leon County Circuit Court to compel the release of emails, meeting minutes and other records relating to the bridge's design and construction.
— miamiherald.com
Just days before the FIU bridge collapsed, cracks had been observed on the structure. A meeting was held by the university and the FDOT the morning of the collapse on whether these cracks were a safety risk. The Miami Herald requested records from that meeting and other documents, which have been... View full entry
