Features

RSS

Though green-building experts and construction lawyers laud the good intentions of the U.S. Green Building Council about its popular Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green-building rating system, many have serious concerns about at least one new requirement in the latest version of LEED, which went into effect on July 1. The requirement, a “precondition” of certification for all buildings under LEED Version 3, says owners must commit to sharing building energy and water-usage data for at least five years after a new building is occupied or an existing building is certified. Another change sending shudders down the spine of

In South Florida, Memorial Health System is moving forward with a new children’s hospital, while in Central Florida, the long-discussed Nemours Children’s Hospital project is finally getting started. Image: Memorial Health Systems. A rendering of the new Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital facility, now under construction in Hollywood, Fla. Photo: Skanska USA Building. Skanska USA Building holds a $220-million construction contract for the Nemours Children’s Hospital project in Orlando, which is targeting a 2012 completion. Related Links: Healthy Additions Despite the national recession, and the Sunshine State’s own dismal downturn—including, of all things, population—two health systems have found there’s no time

Health-care providers have been making significant investments in their Florida facilities over the past several years. From medical office buildings to children’s hospitals, new patient towers, completely new hospitals and, more recently, research facilities, numerous communities have received significant additions to their health-care network. Photo: Moss & Associates. The University of Miami Biomedical Research Facility was built by Moss & Associates of Fort Lauderdale, and designed by Karlsberger & Associates. Photo: Robins & Morton An aerial view of the Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Fla. Robins & Morton of Birmingham, Ala., was the contractor for the $173-million

Concessionaire I-595 Express has begun working on the largest project in the history of the Florida Dept. of Transportation, the $1.796-billion Interstate-595 Corridor Improvement Project in Broward County. Photo: FDOT From left: James Wolfe, district secretary for the Florida Dept. of Transportation, and Joe Borello, project manager with FDOT. Photo: RS&H Early work on the project. The entire project is scheduled for completion in 2014. “This is such an important corridor in Florida, because I-595 connects the port, the airport, Florida’s Turnpike, I-95, I-75 and the Sawgrass Expressway,” says Joe Borello, FDOT project manager. “It has a huge economic impact

Raleigh-Durham Roadbuilders, a joint venture between Archer Western Contractors and Granite Construction, won the largest contract in this massive project. Image: The LPA Group Inc. This conceptual rendering shows some of the aesthetic features that will be incorporated into bridges along the project corridor. Construction has begun on the Triangle Parkway of the North Carolina’s Triangle Expressway, an 18.8-mi toll road that will create a regional loop around Raleigh. “The Triangle Expressway represents a new paradigm for financing transportation infrastructure in North Carolina,” David Joyner, executive director of the North Carolina Turnpike Authority, says in an e-mail. He adds that

Almost nowhere did the condominium market go boom quite like it did in South Florida, and Miami in particular. Thousands of units were under construction at any one time for a period of years, with glitzy events often held to celebrate the latest and greatest luxury condo to be announced or actually started. Photo courtesy the Rilea Group of Miami, the project developer. An aerial view of the 1450 Brickell project in downtown Miami. Coastal Construction Group is the general contractor. Photo courtesy Enclos Corp. Workers with Enclos Corp. attach a unit of the building's curtain-wall system, which project team

Three years after breaking ground, Charlotte, N.C., office towers built by Bank of America and Wachovia, which is owned by Wells Fargo & Co., remain on time despite turmoil in the banking industry. Photo courtesy Bank of America Balfour Beatty Construction is building the new 1 Bank of America Center. Related Links: Miami Offices Grab Limelight “Charlotte is excited with both of the developments,” says Tracy Finch Dodson, director of economic development for Charlotte Center City Partners, a private nonprofit group whose mission is the economic, cultural and residential development of the urban core. “We see it as an enormous

Private construction starts have all but evaporated, but public work continues to offer hope to contractors working along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Slide Show Photo: Aero Photo Kraft Construction is building a $35-million police station for the city of Sarasota. From the Everglades to the Panhandle, construction activity along Florida’s Gulf Coast is suffering a major recession-induced headache, with little private investment available to keep contractors working. “It’s slow,” says John Cammack, Skanska USA Building area general manager for Florida in Tampa. “It’s going to be a bleak year. If you ask anybody in the business, revenues are down and are

Nationwide research is firming up the case for “intelligent” compaction, or IC, a construction method three decades in the making that could save billions of dollars a year in potholed roads, cracked bridges, broken dams and blown-out tires. But as it represents a huge cultural shift in project delivery, the industry is struggling to find a standard way to roll it out. (Photo: Courtesy of Iowa State University.) Researchers test a �smart roller.� (Photo: Iowa State University.) Three rollers face off in a field trial. Such tests across the U.S. are under way, focusing on evaluating the benefits of �intelligent�