Legal challenge filed over N.J.’s new coastal management regulations

Environmental groups in New Jersey have filed a legal challenge to new state regulations that they say make it easier to build in flood-prone areas.

The groups, including Environment New Jersey, Save Barnegat Bay and local residents, charge that state Department of Environmental Protection's Coastal Zone Management Act rules enacted after Superstorm Sandy allow too many buildings to be built in places that are vulnerable to future storms.

The state DEP said the groups' challenge lacks merit and that the Act's provisions "are both environmentally responsible and conducive to sound and safe coastal development," the Associated Press reported. The DEP said the rules were meant to streamline regulations while implementing environmental safeguards as New Jersey rebuilt after the 2012 storm.

"Hurricane Sandy should have been our wake-up call to realize unchecked development along our coastlines will only become costlier in the future due to sea level rise," Doug O'Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, told the AP. "Instead, DEP's finalized coastal zone rules will only greenlight more development in vulnerable coastal communities.”

Long-span composite floor systems provide unique advantages in the construction of multi-family and hospitality facilities. This introductory course explains what composite deck is, how it works, what typical composite deck profiles look like and provides guidelines for using composite floor systems. This is a nano unit course.

Concrete buildings: Effective solutions for restorations and major repairs

Architectural concrete as we know it today was invented in the 19th century. It reached new heights in the U.S. after World War II when mid-century modernism was in vogue, following in the footsteps of a European aesthetic that expressed structure and permanent surfaces through this exposed material. Concrete was treated as a monolithic miracle, waterproof and structurally and visually versatile.

IMAGE_1_Norshield_high securitywindows_ and_doors

Norshield Products Fortify Critical NYC Infrastructure

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.

Blast Hazard Mitigation: Building Openings for Greater Safety and Security

Microgrids can draw power from a variety of sources. Image: Courtesy of Jacobs Engineering

Microgrid | Jan 16, 2022

Resilience is what makes microgrids attractive as back-up energy controls

Jacobs is working with clients worldwide to ensure mission critical operations can withstand unexpected emergencies.

Total steel project performance

This instructor-led video course discusses actual project scenarios where collaborative steel joist and deck design have reduced total-project costs. In an era when incomplete structural drawings are a growing concern for our industry, the course reveals hidden costs and risks that can be avoided.

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Achieving resiliency through integrated design

Planning for and responding to the effects of adverse shocks and stresses is typically what architects and engineers have always thought of as good standard design practices.