As researchers and developers of new materials for construction applications, when we saw the headline of your recent editorial "Housing has a Relentless Quest for No Maintenance," (ENR 2/2 p. 48) we were expecting to see an opinion on how far development of new and improved materials for construction has come. Instead, we saw a rather surprising complaintthat new materials are too durable and that those who spend their time fixing bad, old materials will be out of work.
Isnt it time that the construction industry embraced "sustainable engineering" and new materials and better trained its work force to work in a changing world? New materials are the engines that drive technology and improve our quality of life. The construction industry needs to be out in front of these trends by developing training courses for workers, publishing design guides and specifications and promoting the development of hybrid materials that exploit the best in all materials (including woodwhose power, one can assume from your editorial, has been "usurped.")