Middleman Construction Company has built the San Antonio?s first commercial building to earn the highest recognition for energy efficiency and sustainability – LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The project is the Eagle Veterinary Hospital in Olmos Park, Texas.
Through various measures, the energy savings at the building are close to 50% compared with a conventional building. Features include tubular daylight systems for lighting; solar panels generating more than 30% of the electricity for the building; three 3,100-gallon cisterns to collect rain and condensate water for non-potable use inside and outside the building; a majority of the building components were manufactured from recycled materials. BD+C
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Architecture Billings Index flat in May, according to AIA
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| Aug 11, 2010
Architecture Billings Index drops to lowest level since June
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| Aug 11, 2010
RTKL names Lance Josal president and CEO
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| Aug 11, 2010
Balfour Beatty agrees to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 million
Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, investment and services group, has agreed to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 million. Balfour Beatty executives believe the merger will be a major step forward in accomplishing a number of Balfour Beatty’s objectives, including establishing a global professional services business of scale, creating a leading position in U.S. civil infrastructure, particularly in the transportation sector, and enhancing its global reach.
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Construction unemployment rises to 17.1% as another 64,000 construction workers are laid off in September
The national unemployment rate for the construction industry rose to 17.1 percent as another 64,000 construction workers lost their jobs in September, according to an analysis of new employment data released today. With 80 percent of layoffs occurring in nonresidential construction, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said the decline in nonresidential construction has eclipsed housing’s problems.
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Billings at U.S. architecture firms exceeds $40 billion annually
In the three-year period leading up to the current recession, gross billings at U.S. architecture firms increased nearly $16 billion from 2005 and totaled $44.3 billion in 2008. This equates to 54 percent growth over the three-year period with annual growth of about 16 percent. These findings are from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Business of Architecture: AIA Survey Report on Firm Characteristics.
