Thanks to his movable feat on high, Uni-Systems' Mark Silvera is a behind-the-scenes linchpin of City Creek, Salt Lake City's 23-acre urban redevelopment. SILVERAMost eye-catching in the mini-village is a 470-ft-long bi-parting skylight that, from below, "disappears" from sight.
Photo by Bruce Damonte In plant, workers connected most two-sided assemblies using wrong bolts. Related Links: Reshaping of Barclays Center Made Possible by Collaboration, Digital Tools Arena Subcontractor's 'Untimely' Default Delays Enclosure Concern for public safety at Brooklyn's Barclays Center—after the discovery that mostly under-strength bolts were used in the facade's prefabricated facade assemblies—was allayed soon after the error's discovery last August, says the curtain wall inspector. Even so, this week, the arena's curtain-wall fabricator is finishing up a fix that replaced 1,768 of the 23,351 bolts."There is a tremendous amount of redundancy," says Israel Berger, CEO of the New
Nadine M. Post for ENR One New York Plaza was in the flood zone in Lower Manhattan. Nadine M. Post for ENR Related Links: Brookfield Office Properties While New York City's 100-person Building Resiliency Task Force—convened in the wake of Superstorm Sandy—begins reviewing codes to recommend ways to make low-lying buildings more flood-resistant, building owners are reassessing their own storm protocols. At least one, Brookfield Office Properties, already has begun rebuilding the three flooded basements of its 50-story One New York Plaza.The office tower sits near the southern tip of Manhattan. On Oct. 29, a 3-ft-high storm surge flooded three
Related Links: U.S. Green Building Council International Code Council Though sustainability, modular construction and team collaboration dominated the news in the buildings sector in 2012, green building seems to be the topic most talked about. Every few weeks, it seems, green-building promoters issue guidance, model codes and digital tools to advance sustainable design and construction. Some say that green-regulation compliance is burying project teams in paperwork. Even worse, in a buyer’s market, owners keep dreaming up ways to put their design and construction teams at risk if the buildings do not meet energy targets. Though there has been some progress
ASHRAE and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering have released for public review a proposed standard for the design, construction and operation of green health-care facilities. ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 189.3P: Standard for the Design, Construction and Operation of Sustainable, High-Performance Health-Care Facilities is open for public comment through Jan. 21. The draft standard contains procedures, methods and documentation requirements for the design, construction and operation of sustainable health-care buildings. It would apply to patient-care and related support areas within health-care facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes and licensed outpatient facilities, according to ASHRAE.Among other things, the standard covers site sustainability, water-use efficiency,
Related Links: Green Building Information Gateway Energy Star Sustainability leaders are praising a new search engine for green-building data, calling it a crucial tool for making informed design decisions and crafting government policy. The Green Building Information Gateway (gbig.org) aggregates and assesses design and performance data for thousands of buildings worldwide, collected under the popular green-building rating system called LEED. The site is free to users."GBIG organizes and enhances transparency of building-sustainability efforts," says Barry Hooper, green-building program coordinator, San Francisco Dept. of the Environment. "As a transparency tool, GBIG supports effective decisions and competition among real estate owners, enhances
Courtesy of the Living Building Challenge Reporting of building product contents and their impact on health is gaining traction. Related Links: U.S. Green Building Council Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute Thanks to a $3-million grant from Google Inc., the U.S. Green Building Council plans to build a body of scientific evidence around the content of green building products and materials. USGBC says the research will make it easier to have discussions with interested parties, including opponents of the expanded eco-friendly product credits in the proposed update of
Related Links: Forest City Ratner Cos. Skanska USA After nearly a year of negotiations with the union locals and two months of prototyping in the factory, the developer of the $4.9-billion Atlantic Yards sports village in Brooklyn, N.Y., has given the green light for what is planned as the world's tallest modular building, the 322-ft B2 residential tower.The project is also the catalyst for the formation of a modular division within the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, which represents local unions. In a major departure from the norm, the trade council's new division will allow crews
Photo by AP Wideworld Workers deliver new equipment for flooded building systems in lower Manhattan. Downtown New York City went dark during Superstorm Sandy because of a utility substation failure. Related Links: Urban Green Council While debate intensifies over long-term solutions to deal with storm surges in coastal New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the real estate sector is brainstorming for near-term solutions that would make the individual building the last line of defense."It's time to consider stricter requirements for flood-proofing boilers, generators and electrical equipment or [to require] water systems that use sensor-based technology that can work during a
Photo by AP Wideworld Many houses in this Queens, N.Y., neighborhood on the Atlantic Ocean shoreline are built up four feet off the ground. That height didn't protect them from the 8-ft storm surge or the winds. Photo Courtesy of USACE In New Jersey shore communities, structural damage assessments are under way, but few details about the condition of the houses were available at ENR press time. Related Links: Post-Sandy Mobilization Shifts into High Gear Prices for Windstorm Coverage May Not Be Changed New York Ponders Plan For Next Storm With NYC Tower Crane Secure, Plan Shifts To Recovery NJ
