PROUDLY SERVING THE NEW YORK METROPOLITAN AREA SINCE 1980 Delphi Plumbing & Heating ALWAYS EVOLVING The HIDI Group LEADING THE WAY IN BUILDING AUTOMATION Accu-Temp Systems CONSTRUCTIONINFOCUS.COM JUL Y 2 02 2YOUR TALENT WILL SHAPE YOUR TALENT WILL SHAPEEDITOR’S CORNER 3 The last couple of years spent making our homes and yards do double or triple duty have led many of us to rethink how we use space. When our bedrooms must transform into offices, dining rooms into classrooms, basements into gyms, and balconies into lush retreats, it opens our minds to the greater possibilities of space, and how it can be used and shared. The idea of the flexible, multi-purpose room can be applied on a larger scale to entire buildings and neighbourhoods and, as Karen Hawthorne writes in this issue, “The lines between retail, office, and residential are fading and more options are opening up as a result.” It’s an idea that lends itself to greater density and the efficiencies of time, infrastructure, and energy that come with it: think ground floor retail or cultural space with offices above, parking below, apartments on the upper floors, and a common rooftop patio. These are not new ideas at all, but they are ones that many North American cities have eschewed for some time. Density and zoning can be divisive topics, and urban planning is a con- stantly evolving discipline that must take into account myriad concerns and limitations. In Close Quarters – Building for Better Density, Karen takes a deeper dive into the subject. Jaime McKee Editor Suite 300, 7071 Bayers Rd. | Halifax, NS | B3L 2C2 | Canada P: 1-647-479-2163 | E: EDITOR Jaime McKee DEPUTY EDITOR Tim Hocken COPY EDITORS Thora Smith | Allister Havercroft CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Robert Hoshowsky | Claire Suttles | Allison Dempsey Margaret Eaton | Karen Hawthorne | Jen Hocken Nate Hendley | William Young CONTENT TEAM MANAGER James Corbett SENIOR CONTENT MANAGER Brad Mike CONTENT MANAGERS Wendy Hood-Morris | Erin McWhinney Louis Susara | Erika Arenas | Scott Forbes SALES & MARKETING MANAGER Luke Simms SALES TEAM Pamela Taylor | Morgan Culpepper OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Julia MacQueen GRAPHIC DESIGN MANAGER Severina Gachparova GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Laura Pratt | Ashley Dowling Ebic Tristary | Yoana Ilcheva REGIONAL DIRECTOR Adam Cameron CONTROLLER Jen Hamilton PUBLISHER Jeff Hocken “The idea of the flexible, multi-purpose room can be applied on a larger scale to entire buildings and neighbourhoods…”INSIDE JULY FOCUS ON: CANADIAN HOME BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION (CHBA) DEVELOPMENT CONSTRUCTION SERVICES 4 Building for Better Density The pandemic has redefined how we think about many things. One of the biggest is our living spaces and local neighbourhoods. Over the past two years, the rooms in our homes have doubled as offices, gyms, and even classrooms. And between lockdowns and social distancing, it felt like our world shrunk to the blocks that we can walk around in our own neighbourhoods. EQUIPMENT & SERVICES MEP (MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL, AND PLUMBING) 5 CONSTRUCTION IN FOCUS FRSA’S 100TH ANNUAL CONVENTION AND THE FLORIDA ROOFING & SHEET METAL EXPO 19 – 22 July, Daytona Beach, FL The Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors’ Association (FRSA)’s 100th Annual Convention will consist of four days of education, family fun, sports, and networking, along with three days of the largest regional roofing expo, the Florida Roofing & Sheet Metal Expo. Over 230 exhibit- ing companies will be displaying their latest products and services, making this show a vital experience for roofing or sheet metal contractors. For more information MODULAR AND OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION SUMMIT 27 – 29 July, Edmonton, AB The MOC Summit is a globally recognized conference creating an active platform for idea exchange between leaders and practitioners in modular and offsite construction. The MOC Summit brings together academics, engineers, and industry stakeholders, and offers information sessions and presentations showcasing leading-edge research and best practices in the area of modular and offsite construction while address- ing the challenges of industrialized building construction. For more information AIA MICHIGAN AND AGC OF MICHIGAN’S 79TH ANNUAL MID SUMMER CONFERENCE 4 – 7 August, Mackinac Island, MI At the 79th Mid Summer Conference, on historic Mackinac Island, architects, designers and contractors gather to immerse themselves in learning, celebration, socializing, and reflection. This is the 19th year AIAMI and the AGC of Michigan have partnered on this event. Enjoy a rich educational program combined with a wealth of networking opportunities set against the backdrop of the historic Grand Hotel. For more information SAVING PLACES® CONFERENCE: PERSPECTIVES IN PRESERVATION 5 – 6 August, San Luis, CO and online The Saving Places® Conference provides critical training, networking, and educational opportunities to support the preservation community locally and nationwide. This year’s overarching theme seeks to bring to light voices that have been lost, sidelined, or overlooked within the preservation community and beyond, and to highlight different interpretations of preservation, from cultural to landscape to physical building preservation. Colorado Preservation, Inc. (CPI) aims to broaden the discussion as it looks to the future of this important movement. For more information TRANSFORMING CONSTRUCTION WITH REALITY CAPTURE TECHNOLOGIES 23 – 25 August, Fredericton, NB Join the University of New Brunswick Off-site Construction Research Centre (OCRC) for its first specialty conference in partnership with the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE). Enjoy presentations of peer-reviewed papers and relevant case studies and engage in discussions about new and emerging technologies in the built environment. Topics to include: Integration of reality capture with modern technologies (3D printing, augmented/virtual/mixed reality, UAVs, etc.); Laser scanning to building information modelling (BIM) generation; Quality inspec- tion, condition assessment, safety monitoring and productivity improvement; Use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning; and more. For more information INDUSTRY EVENTS 6 Are you planning an event relating to North America’s growing Construction Industry? To get your event listed in Construction in Focus, please contact us at least six to eight weeks before the event takes place at or call 1-647-479-2163INDUSTRY NEWS GOVERNOR GENERAL’S ARCHITECTURE AWARD WINNERS Celebrating the best in visionary Canadian design, the Governor General’s Medals in Architecture recognize the finest new construction work the country has to offer. Recently, the recipients of the 2022 Governor General’s architecture awards were named by The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA). The dozen projects selected are as diverse as the architectural firms behind them. Representing a range of building sizes and styles, they encompass everything from a forest pavilion to a stormwater facility, with award-winning projects located in five Canadian provinces, and two others in the United States, in New York and New Jersey. The recipients of this year’s Governor General’s Medals in Architecture are: • 60_80 Atlantic Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, BDP Quadrangle • Forest Pavilion, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Public City Architecture • Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Formline Architecture • Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building & Louis A. Simpson International Building, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, KPMB Architects • Les Rochers, Bassin, Quebec, la Shed Architecture • Point William Cottage, Muskoka Lakes, Ontario, Shim- Sutcliffe Architects • Reception Pavilion of the Quebec National Assembly, Quebec, Provencher_Roy & GLCRM Architects • Cherry Street Stormwater Facility, Toronto, Ontario, gh3* and R.V. Anderson Associates Limited • The Brearley School, New York, KPMB Architects • The Idea Exchange Old Post Office, Galt, Ontario, RDH Architects (RDHA) • Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford, Ontario, Hariri Pontarini Architects • Village at the End of the World, Kingsburg, Nova Scotia, MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Established by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in collaboration with the Canada Council for the Arts, the awards were created “in order to raise general public awareness of the cultural importance of architecture in our society and continue a tradition initiated by the Massey Medals in 1950.” More information on the awards, including prize amount, quali- fications, and deadlines, can be found at 7INDUSTRY NEWS LUXURY HOME BUILDERS DOWNGRADED Following a downturn in the new housing market and a jump in mortgage rates, several of America’s biggest luxury home builders were recently downgraded by multinational financial services company Wells Fargo. With 30-year fixed mortgage rates recently soaring to an average of 5.78 percent, up from 3.11 percent late last year, analysts downgraded M.D.C. Holdings and Meritage Homes to underweight from equal weight and downgraded Toll Brothers to equal weight from overweight. According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales have declined for six months in a row. The rapid rise in interest rates has cooled what was a hot construction market just last year. The average price for a Toll Brothers home is $844,400, going up to $1,376,800 in the Pacific region. ZÜRICH AIRPORT EXPANSION Plans are underway for a unique expansion to Switzerland’s Zürich that will primarily use locally sourced timber for floors and ceilings. The well-known architects and engineers taking on the project include HOK, the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), and Buro Happold. This team and others won out over nine other competitors for the expansion project, known as Dock A. Originally built in the 1950s, the existing airport will see the con- struction of a new, seven-floor building along with departure gates, retail space, offices, lounge areas, and an expansion to the existing immigration hall. With an emphasis on maximizing natural light, the terminal will feature a large skylight which will also function as a navigational aid. The plan will also realize a new air traffic control tower at the heart of the building. As a nod to Switzerland’s traditional pitched roof architecture and design, the terminal’s main load-bearing structure will comprise V-shaped wood columns. 8INDUSTRY NEWS EUROPE’S SECOND-LONGEST SUSPENSION BRIDGE UNDERWAY Worldwide, construction projects keep getting taller, larger, and longer, and bridges are no exception. In what has been described as a “complex, water-based operation,” massive steel deck sections were recently put in place on the 6,480 foot-long (1,975 m) Brăila Bridge in Romania. Located near the port city of Brăila in eastern Romania, the bridge’s highway contract was awarded to the Webuild Consortium in mid-May, and is worth more than one billion euros. Part of the Sibiu-Pitesti Highway Project Lot 3, the works include over 23 miles (37.4 km) of Carpathian Mountain highways, 48 viaducts, and a 1 mile long (1.7 km) twin tunnel. According to Webuild, Lot 3 of the Sibiu-Pitesti Highway is the most complex, since it crosses the Carpathian Mountains between Cornetu and Tigveni. About five miles (8 km) from the city, the Brăila Bridge will, when complete, allow 7,000 vehicles to move across the Danube—Europe’s second-longest river—every day in a mere two minutes, instead of the existing 45 minute ferry. Every one of the 86 prefabricated sections of the bridge weighs a whopping 260 tonnes and is 82 feet (25 m) in width, 104 feet (32 m) in length, and over 10 feet (3.2 m) in depth. According to Webuild, the contract for the bridge, highway, tunnel and viaducts will create over 40,000 jobs. 9Next >