Northwest City Scoop: Construction Starts in Portland
Total construction spending on track for a slight decline in the coming year
Weakness in institutional activity will offset growth in the residential and non-building sectors.
City Grill
Andrew Lasse
Principal, Senior Mechanical Engineer
Interface Engineering Inc.
Portland continues to ride a wave of growth, with more tower cranes on the skyline than most cities across the U.S. The office, hotel and mixed-use sector as well as the higher education and K-12 markets remain strong, Lasse says.
The mass influx of new residents in Portland, Ore., over the last five years is finally showing signs of slowing down, so multifamily construction appears to be peaking, he adds.
Across the board, however, finding the skilled workforce to construct projects across all markets continues to be a huge challenge.
“Sustainable design remains a priority for most owners and developers,” says Lasse.
“With rising labor and material costs, design teams are pushing the envelope to provide integrated designs” that optimize developers’ projects in the current market, he adds.
Delivering the highest level of engineering services to streamline construction, reduce first costs and capitalize on reducing energy costs has never been a greater priority, Lasse says.
