The market has been robust for several years and continues to be so today. However, many firms worry that economic and political uncertainties are starting to cloud the future of the buildings market.

Clients are no longer requesting, but demanding, a broader array of services as fewer owners have the capacity to manage construction programs from the earliest stages of planning to the operation of the completed facilities.

States increasingly are authorizing the use of alternative delivery to help cash-strapped agencies build more efficiently.

While the plunge in prices for oil, gas and metals has hurt the international market, the domestic market remains strong.

The domestic market is up, but engineers and architects are watching developments abroad and the presidential election for hints about 2017

On Sept. 9, 2010, a 30-in.-dia, Pacific Gas & Electric-owned natural-gas pipeline exploded (above), killing eight people in a residential neighborhood of San Bruno, Calif.

Neel-Schaffer (No. 187) is the lead designer on the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s $570-million Port of Gulfport Restoration project (above), which will accommodate larger ships that will be coming through the expanded Panama Canal.

Rumors of the death of the multi-unit residential market are greatly exaggerated.