Author: Constructech Editors

https://youtu.be/2w67n5R3EuM There has never been a better time to go into AEC (architecture, engineering, or construction). Not only has the need for infrastructure—such as water treatment facilities, roads, bridges, buildings, and power generation—never been greater, but the technology being applied to design, build, and operate infrastructure has also become more mature, easier to use, and more fun. However, there is a serious shortage of professionals with the required skills that need to be filled. We need to attract and train younger workers. Infrastructure employers of all kinds—whether they employ designers, engineers, construction providers, or owner-operators—need to clearly convey what appeals…

Peggy Smedley sits down for a candid conversation with Annika Ensrud, vice president, sales and marketing, Hilti North America, and Javed Singha, cofounder and president, Fieldwire, about the role of documentation and digitization at the construction jobsite. They all discuss the evolution of what has happened, challenges the industry faces today, and what construction companies can anticipate in the future. Peggy Smedley: Times have changed since 2008. So, talk to me about the real need now for digitization. Can you explain how you foreshadowed what the industry wasn’t even imagining yet? Javed Singha: I think you’re spot on. And there’s…

Few would argue that, of the common construction materials, concrete is a hard substance. Perhaps not as hard as steel, but still pretty hard. And, as commonly created, a source of considerable GHG (greenhouse gas), especially CO2. Luckily, the industry is seeking ways to mitigate the damaging elements and improve the positive elements. As you might recall we had a discussion about this a week ago, both on The Peggy Smedley Show and here in the news. But here today, we are going to add even more context about a very growing segment to help the industry address its environmental…

California is noted for many things, not all of them positive. Among the negative aspects of living in the state is the chance of wildfires, floods, earthquakes, and landslides. Worse, a combination of two or even three of those natural disasters has grown in potential. According to the AGU (American Geophysical Union), Southern California can now expect to see post-wildfire landslides occurring almost every year, with major events expected roughly every ten years. Californians are now facing a double whammy of increased wildfire and landslide risk caused by climate change-induced shifts in the state’s wet and dry seasons, according to…

If anything, 2022 was challenging for business in ways rarely seen. Costs up, inflation up, employment up and down, revenue for many up and down, and the inventory of skilled workers, down. At the end of 2022, the AGC (Associated General Contractors of America) and Sage cosponsored a survey that found construction contractors were less optimistic about many private-sector segments in 2023 than they were in 2022, but their expectations for the public sector market remained relatively bullish. The net reading—the percentage of respondents to the survey who expected the available dollar value of projects to expand compared to the…

Warming sunlight has been used to heat buildings since buildings were built. During the 1970s energy crunch, architects were seeking ways to increase natural heating from the sun by adding windows and skylights, orienting buildings to collect as much sunlight as possible, and generally thinking nature for benefits. But there was a corollary to heating by sunlight: how do you cool the same area in the hotter climates and days? One approach was to use shades, blinds, and curtains to block the sun and regulate the heating value. More recently, technology has come into play. Glass bricks have long been…

https://youtu.be/Jxku97QmFtw When you compare any of the engineering and construction labor statistics from Deloitte, the Associated Builders and Contractors, or AEC Advisors to the workforce requirements of current and future infrastructure needs, the numbers do not add up. There are more projects than people to get the work done, leaving many AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) firms to turn down projects because of the global shortage of professionals. Unfortunately, as an industry, we are partly to blame for the predicament that we are in. For the last 30 to 40 years, college was touted as the path to financial and…

The climate change discussion has centered on GHG (greenhouse gases), and particularly CO2 (carbon dioxide). Construction, apparently, is a major source of CO2 and various methods for minimizing or even eliminating the gas have been proposed. Structural materials like steel or cement come at a high cost both in dollars and carbon dioxide emissions; building construction and use accounts for an estimated 40% of emissions. On The Peggy Smedley Show on Tuesday, she will feature Tapio Vehmas, CEO, Carbonaide, to address a how a pilot production line can produce carbon-negative concrete using industrial side streams and carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage…

Technologies can work together provide more benefits than the sum of their parts. In the “old days” when mainframes were the platform employed by major companies, the software was, for the most part, proprietary and limited to what the hardware company provided or allowed on their system. By the 1980s, minicomputers were becoming the norm and relatively open operating systems, such as Unix and Linux, the default. A new tech segment opened up, the systems integrator. Find the hooks that allow software from various “prime providers” to interoperate was the rallying cry—and the lack of standards had many IT (information…

Nights are getting shorter, as winter passes the torch to spring and summer. But the workday is still a controlling aspect of a jobsite’s security; when workers leave, the site “goes dark” and becomes vulnerable for theft and intrusion. Most developers, owners, and contractors require a major site to be secured 24/7 and at night that includes lighting as well as monitoring onsite or remote. But lights require energy—electricity specifically—and in the early days of construction, not every area will have power available. The usual response is to bring in portable generators that run all night on gasoline, diesel, or…