LEED for Retail Now Open for Public Comment

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Washington, D.C., recently openined the public comment period for its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Retail rating system... Read More

Contractors with direct workforces lose out as pay rates plummet

Contractors with directly employed workforces are losing jobs as the recession sees labour rates plummet.... Read More

House building refugees chase BSF work

Firms fleeing the house building slump are swelling the ranks of consortia bidding for a slice of the government’s £45bn Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.... Read More

Pettifer Construction in administration, 120 redundancies

Staff at Pettifer Construction were hearing how many people will be made redundant today after the firm went into administration yesterday.... Read More

Prime Minister meets with house builders at Number 10

Prime Minister Gordon Brown told house builders today that he is ready to look at more initiatives to spark new home starts and pull the industry out of its slump.... Read More

Analyst's verdict on construction's five top players

With the UK construction market having become bi-polar, Joe Brent, an analyst with stockbroker Citi, had produced an 80-page report on how the prospects are changing for five of the major contractors.... Read More

Pettifer update: contractor to be wound down

Administrators for collapsed contractor Pettifer Construction are winding-down the firm after admitting no buyers are interested in taking-on the company as a going concern.... Read More

House building refugees chase BSF work

Firms fleeing the house building slump are swelling the ranks of consortia bidding for a slice of the government’s £45bn Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.... Read More

Giving Thanks for Green Building

It’s somtimes too easy to lose sight of the positive, particularly when news – as it has been around here lately – is so consistently negative. There are still good things happening both in our industry and here in New York City, though, and so on this Thanksgiving I’d like to point out a number of recent green building news items of note that I think we ought to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Close to 30,000 people attended Greenbuild 2008 in Boston. New York’s first LEED-certified art... Read More

Robin Ellis Construction Services in administration

Robin Ellis Construction Services and Robin Ellis Projects have fallen into administration, resulting in 35 redundancies.... Read More

Just 15 zero carbon homes qualify for £15m scheme

A £15m project to build hundreds of zero carbon homes has been labelled an “eco-con” after only 15 properties qualified in the first year.... Read More

Construction to start on £97m Titanic memorial building in January - PHOTO

Construction of a £97m building in Belfast to commemorate the sunken Titanic is expected to start in January 2009.... Read More

Worker killed by dump truck in Gloucestershire named

The man who died on a building site in Gloucestershire on Wednesday has been named as self-employed construction worker Royston Dean.... Read More

Eight construction bosses on their plans to beat the downturn

The construction industry is no stranger to boom and bust, and many senior members of the industry have been here before. James Stagg talks to survivors of previous recessions and asks for their tips for keeping your head above water.... Read More

BXP’s 250 West 55th Street: Wall Street Crisis May Yet Deliver Blow to Green Building

According to Real Estate Weekly (via the Wall Street Journal), Boston Properties’ deal with law firm Proskauer Rose for 500,000 square feet of its LEED Gold hopeful 250 West 55th Street project may be on the rocks. (Just as a side note, I can see the site from my office and excavation and foundation work is moving forward as we speak at full steam). The speculative, SOM-designed green commercial office project had no trouble lining up tenants for close to 80 percent of its 1 million square feet, even... Read More

Man Crushed by Crane at Washington Job Site

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Construction firms in biggest ever Middle East trade mission

A delegation of construction and engineering firms are in Dubai hoping to secure new business as part of the biggest ever trade mission to the region.... Read More

C11: California Elevator Contractors' Exam Study Tool Book CD

By QuickPass. Builders Book. Price: $99.95... Read More

Work Without Visible Evidence at the Project Site

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Seven construction bosses on their plans to beat the downturn

The construction industry is no stranger to boom and bust, and many senior members of the industry have been here before. James Stagg talks to survivors of previous recessions and asks for their tips for keeping your head above water.... Read More

Non-residential Construction Index Falls to Record Low

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Construction Losses Push Illinois Unemployment to 7.3 Percent

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York House Construction in administration

York House Construction, which has been accused of cover pricing in the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) bid-rigging scandal, has gone into administration.... Read More

Contractors with direct workforces lose out as pay rates plummet

Contractors with directly employed workforces are losing jobs as the recession sees labour rates plummet.... Read More

HMRC has collected just 8% of CIS fines

The Revenue has only collected £5.5m of the £180m in tax fines dished out to contractors under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).... Read More

C11: California Elevator Contractors' Exam Study Tool CD Only

By QuickPass. Builders Book. Price: $99.95... Read More

Construction Wrap-Up Insurance Survival Guide

Despite the potential pitfalls for contractors, there is a growing trend toward wrap-ups on construction projects. Contractors are typically at the mercy of wrap-up administrators and are routinely held hostage by confusing wrap-up documents, additional paperwork and unexpected expenses. Duke Mills, author of “Contractor Survival Guide for Wrap-Ups,” joins the Construction Business Podcast to address the issues of wrap-up Insurance Programs and aid contractors in their understanding of wrap-ups so they may successfully pass through this process. Mills’ 37-page, easy-to-read guide, cites real company experiences, offers concise definitions and... Read More

300,000 construction jobs in danger, RICS warns

At least 300,000 jobs could be lost over the next few years unless the government brings forward projects.... Read More

Windows & doors to be $40 billion market by 2012

Demand for windows and doors in the United States will continue to grow over the next several years, but at a much slower pace than from 2002 to 20...... Read More

ML: 132 North Main Street: Modern Green Controversy in East Hampton

An interesting battle is brewing on Long Island over the place of modern green architecture on Main Street. Over 500 people have signed a petition to protest what would be an extremely modern, green, and LEED-certified office building in East Hampton. The two-story, rectangular structure would include office space for its co-developers- architect Paul Masi and his firm, Bates Masi Architects, and attorney Jonathan Tarbet. The front of the 4673-square-foot building- designed by Mr. Masi- features large glass windows with the rest of the façade on the sides clad... Read More

William Pedersen Designs Green Dog House Inspired by One Jackson Square

You may recall One Jackson Square , a 36-unit, 11-story condominium project under construction in the West Village that will seek an unspecified level of LEED certification from USGBC. The project, co-developed by Hines and RFR, was designed by KPF principal William Pedersen and sits on an irregularly-shaped 10,697 square foot floor plate on the stretch of Greenwich Avenue between West 13th and 14th Streets. Recently, Mr. Pederson participated in a charity auction for the Animal Medical Center by designing a dog house inspired by his architecture at One... Read More

Seven construction bosses on their plans to beat the downturn

The construction industry is no stranger to boom and bust, and many senior members of the industry have been here before. James Stagg talks to survivors of previous recessions and asks for their tips for keeping your head above water.... Read More

Notice Provisions in Construction Contracts

A reader has asked whether a contractor must provide notice to preserve a claim when the contractor discovers that the plans and specifications are defective. The short answer is "yes." Virtually all construction contracts require that the contractor provide written notice of a claim. The notice provisions may differ from contract to contract, and in the instance of governmental contracts may be set by the applicable regulations, e.g., Federal Acquisition Regulations, Code of Maryland Regulations. Careful attention should be paid to the applicable notice provisions. The United States District... Read More

Bargains to be had on construction equipment

If you're in the market for construction equipment, it seems like now's a good time to buy. The Los Angeles Times reports on how the construction s...... Read More

The Ugly, the Bad, & the Good: Thoughts on Greenbuild 2008

As I rode on Amtrak back to New York from Boston, I was struck by just how much fun I had over the past few days at Greenbuild. I met so many of you in person, and I can’t express in words just how much of a thrill it was to finally put a face on the virtual relationships that I’ve built since I started gbNYC. If I only take one thing away from Greenbuild, it’s probably just how powerful a tool blogging and social media will continue to... Read More

Lean & 5 S's #40

Newsletter #40 November 2008 read more... Read More

Project Manager's Job Description

Given the many different types of contractors, type of work, regional differences, thus the need for flexible job responsibilities in construction, we could never write a definite job description for project managers. Outlined below is a summary of general responsibilities of the project manager in managing the client, project, subcontractors and vendors. It is important for the project manager to understand his or her role and how these duties and responsibilities relate to other personnel on the project. These duties outlined below may be typically assigned to the project... Read More

30+ Book Reviews of McGraw Hill's new book, Managing a Construction Firm on Just 24 Hours a Day

Book reviews.pdf... Read More

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