Photo: Arup Group A 115-m-tall looping latticework of tubular steel has been chosen to be the landmark for London’s 2012 Olympic Park. Standing 22 m taller than the Statue of Liberty, the “ArcelorMittal Orbit” will provide a high-level viewing platform between the main stadium and the Aquatics Centre. Funded substantially by steelmaker ArcelorMittal, the $29-million structure is the creation of London-based artist Anish Kapoor, who worked with Cecil Balmond, director of the Advanced Geometry Unit at Arup Group, London.

Getting energy-efficient design into school construction can be tough, but the Gen7 modular-classroom building from American Modular Systems, Manteca, Calif., fits many of the latest energy-efficiency advances into one package, bringing the cutting edge of green technologies to modular school construction. Photo: American Modular Systems Gen7 modular classrooms are showcases of sustainable technologies. Introduced at the Green California Schools Summit 2009 in Pasadena, Calif., in December, Gen7 is being touted as a “grid-neutral” modular-classroom solution for California school districts. “Gen7 is a loaded model, with every possible option,” says Tony Sarich, vice president of operations for AMS. “It’s not the

Contractors on the centerpiece of San Francisco’s $4.6-billion improvement to the Hetch Hetchy Water System were given notice to proceed on April 1. The five-mile subterranean Bay Division Water Delivery Tunnel planned for under the San Francisco Bay will replace two 1920s and 1930s era pipelines with one 9-ft-dia welded steel pipeline bored as deep as 100 ft under the bay’s floor. The new tunnel will be more secure in an earthquake and a tunnel-boring machine will minimize environmental damage. A joint venture of Michels Corp., Brownsville, Wis., Jay Dee Contractors, Inc., Livonia, Mich., and Frank Coluccio Construction Co., Seattle,

The Obama Administration’s decision to open up offshore oil and gas development in the Middle and Southern Atlantic states, new areas of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic Ocean is winning praise from oil and gas industry officials. They say the development could provide thousands of new jobs for contractors in those regions. On March 31, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said land in those offshore regions could be leased for oil and gas development beginning in 2012 if there is interest from industry and if development can be done in an environmentally responsible manner. Development off California’s coast

The government is widening a whistle-blower probe into the safety of northern Nevada’s 8.5-mile-long Interstate 580 extension between Reno and Carson City, following the discovery of a hairline crack in one of its bridges. Photo: Nevada DOT Authorities are probing a hairline crack on the record-setting cathedral-arch bridge in Nevada. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on March 24 directed U.S. Dept. of Transportation Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel to expand his investigation of the project’s final leg to include the 1,722-ft-long, 295-ft-tall Galena Creek Bridge. It will be North America’s longest cathedral-arch bridge when completed in fall 2011. Dickinson,

With the fourth and last 10,000-tonne concrete element sunk, the U.K.’s new, 1.5-km-long River Tyne Tunnel crossed a major milestone late last month, but a missed dredging window, imposed to protect salmon migration, will cost a delay of two months. Photo: New Tyne Tunnel. Four sunken tube elements were built in dry dock by the contractor. Photo: New Tyne Tunnel. All four sunken tube segments have been floated into place on the Tyne River. Related Links: Tyne Tunnel Sunk Work now focuses on the final connections between the four 400-m-long concrete elements of the sunken tube tunnel (STT) near Newcastle.

Municipalities and ports in northern Germany and across Denmark have started competing to host construction sites for the planned 19-km fixed crossing across the strait, Fehmarn Belt, between the two countries. Construction lasting six years is forecast to cost up to $7.3 billion. About three years before sitework is scheduled to start, the Copenhagen-based state company managing the project, Femern A/S, has published requirements for production and construction sites. Final site choices will be made by the companies that will handle three large contracts for the project. Though a bridge is the expected form of crossing, Femern A/S is still

Colombia’s state-controlled power-generation company Isagen announced this week it had finalized financing for a $1.74-billion, 820-MW hydroelectric plant under construction on the Sogamoso River in the Dept. of Santander. Isagen officials said they collected $813 million in loans from local banks to finance the project. In December 2009, a consortium led by the Italian firm Impregilo and including Colombian companies Conalvias and Tecnica Vial netted the $500-million, first-phase contract involving construction of a 190 meter-high, 300-m-long, concrete-faced, gravel-filled dam and underground power station. The plant is slated to go on line in 2014. Impregilo is already doing preliminary work for

Three, 9-meter-dia wind turbines are due to be installed this month atop London’s new, 148-m-tall Strata SE1 building in the Elephant & Castle district. As well as providing visual interest for the city’s tallest residential building, the turbines are forecast to provide 8% of the electricity consumed by its 408 apartments. The Strata project is the “first time any building in the world has integrated wind turbines into the envelope … of the building,” says Justin Black, development director of the project’s main contractor and owner, Brookfield Europe Ltd., London. Topped out late last month in China, the 310-m-tall Pearl