The U.S. Green Building Council recently announced that the 12,000th commercial project has earned LEED certification. Since its launch in 2000, the LEED green-building program has been transforming the way built environments are designed, constructed, operated and maintained. “Twelve years after the first 12 projects earned LEED certification, the green-building community has reached a significant milestone,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO & founding chair, USGBC. “The momentum for green buildings is rippling around the globe, enhancing the built environment for generations to come.”The 12,000th project is the LEED-Gold Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. Paid for by the Recovery Act and rebuilt
he construction industry lost 7,000 jobs between February and March, following a similar decline of 6,000 the month before but extended a pattern of modest year-over-year job increases, according to a recent analysis of new federal employment data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said that lack of long-term federal highway and transit funding threatens to hold down future job gains. “Both the small monthly change and the March-to-March gain of 55,000 jobs, or 1%, is consistent with the uneven, tentative recovery that contractors have been reporting nationwide,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist.He noted that
Nevada state engineer Jason King cleared the Southern Nevada Water Authority to draw 83,988 acre-ft of water annually from four valleys in rural White Pine and Lincoln counties in northeast Nevada, advancing toward the adoption of a proposed groundwater pipeline network that is designed to slake Las Vegas' growing thirst. Image Courtesy of SWNA SWNA's proposal calls for a 300-mile buried pipeline to supply Las Vegas with water. "This is another step in a permitting process that will help provide a greater degree of certainty for our long-term water supply," says John Entsminger, SNWA's senior deputy general manager, in a
A new retail property under way near Phoenix acquired an anchor tenant. Phoenix Premium Outlets, which broke ground two weeks ago in Chandler, Ariz., will be home to a Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH store and approximately 90 other high-end retail shops. Image courtesy Architects Orange The 90-store Phoenix Premium Outlets will feature nine primarily tilt-up concrete structures housing approximately 360,000 sq ft of leasable space. Phoenix-based contractor Kitchell is building the 360,000-sq-ft project for Simon Property Group, an Indianapolis-based real estate developer with 57 similar outlet malls in the U.S. and 70 worldwide. Located on 50 acres of land
A new office tower is in the works at Hayden Ferry Lakeside in Tempe, Ariz. Phoenix-based Ryan Cos. US Inc. will develop and build the 10-story office tower located at Mill Avenue and Rio Salado Parkway. Related Links: Read this October 2006 article from the ENR Southwest archives on a previous office tower built at Hayden Ferry Lakeside Sunbelt Holdings, Scottsdale, Ariz., acquired the plot of land at Hayden Ferry Lakeside as part of a larger portfolio from original developer SunCor in 2010. The new tower will be the third office tower at the development along the shores of man-made
The Colorado Dept. of Transportation and its contractor, SEMA Construction, began work March 26 on a new interchange west of Parachute on I-70 at approximately Milepost 72. The new interchange will offer on- and off-ramps in both east and west directions and will utilize an existing overpass on U.S. 6. The new interchange will offer efficient, full-service traffic movements in the rapidly growing area. The interchange project involves construction of on- and off-ramps, two roundabouts on the north and south sides of the existing overpass on U.S. 6, and an asphalt overlay on U.S. 6. Several safety improvements will also
The Aurora Prairie Waters Peter D. Binney Water Purification Facility is one of the most significant construction projects and successful construction partnerships of 2011, the Associated General Contractors of America announced during its annual conference in Hawaii in mid-March. Photo courtesy of Aurora Water The treatment facility uses both natural and state-of-the art water purification techniques to treat the citys existing water rights from the South Platte River. As a result, the project’s contractor, Denver-based Western Summit Constructors Inc., was one of eight firms to receive the association’s Alliant Build America Merit Award and one of three teams to receive
The RTD FasTracks West Corridor project team recently installed the final segment of track on the West Rail Line. Crews working just west of the Union Boulevard Tunnel completed the task of fully tying in the track for the whole rail line from Denver Union Station to the Jefferson County Government Center. Photo courtesy of RTD The initial test was executed to confirm clearances between the train car and surrounding infrastructure of the rail line. The West Rail Line encompasses more than 116,000 lin. ft of track. Using effective and cost efficient construction methods and state-of-the-art equipment, the 45-member crew successfully
Led by the commercial sector, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) has remained in positive territory four months in a row. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine- to 12-month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects reported the February ABI score was 51.0, following a mark of 50.9 in January. This score reflects a slight increase in demand for design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings).The new projects inquiry index was 63.4, up from 61.2 the previous month and at its highest reading
A recent study by the Federal Highway Administration determined that on average, design-build projects were completed 14% faster than the traditional design-bid-build projects. Design-build, however, exposes contractors to risks they don’t have under traditional delivery methods. Since under design-build, the contractor is responsible for design, it is also responsible for damages and costs arising out of inaccurate or flawed design documents. Although a majority of the risk can be transferred contractually to the design professional subconsultant, the contractor still retains additional exposure.To maximize the benefits of design-build, it is essential that each party’s responsibilities and obligations be clearly defined under
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