In today’s news, we will look into the most recent research from the U.S. Green Building Council, Colorado is the seventh best state in terms of building techniques that mitigate the effects of climate change. Meanwhile, December saw a decline in home building as a result of a slowing housing market. On the other hand, the United States Bank Stadium was rated as a top 10 eyesore. One of the most remarkable things that Kevin Warren has achieved is the construction of U.S. Bank Stadium, which is home to the Minnesota Vikings. Additionally, the United States will resume building the border wall in San Diego’s park. The Biden administration’s offer on Thursday to lower parts of a southwest border wall was widely panned by advocates as a symbolic move with no real impact. Furthermore, on the site of the former Hall House, construction has begun on an apartment complex that will cost $115 million. Above all, according to a report, ZF intends to build a plant in Germany with an initial investment of $3 billion to produce semiconductors for electric vehicles.
Colorado Building Construction 7th Greenest in U.S
Original Source: Building Construction in Colorado 7th Greenest in U.S.
The newest U.S. Green Building Council study puts Colorado seventh in climate change-related building practices.
In 2022, Colorado certified 12.5 million square feet of LEED buildings, according to council mountain regional director Charlie Woodruff. The Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act from the last Congress will allow the state to expand.
“But also creating economic opportunity for underserved populations,” Woodruff added. “And rural places, channeling some of those resources to areas maybe don’t have as much green infrastructure or high-performance LEED certified buildings.”
Buildings cause 40% of climate pollution. The world’s most popular green building program, LEED, defines best practices for healthy, high-performing green buildings. It addresses how structures affect obtaining and transporting raw materials, operating energy efficiency, greenhouse-gas emissions, local water resources, and worker health.
Developers’ primary concern about LEED is cost.
Woodruff responded that green buildings lower operational and maintenance expenses, improving building owners’ and tenants’ profits. The building’s lifespan typically recovers any increased upfront expenses within five to fifteen years.
“What’s your standard?” Woodruff asked. “Are you looking at the cheapest feasible building for day one, or are you looking at the most valued and highest performing — financially — building over a life of 20 or 30 years?”
Hazardous compounds, which disturb the endocrine system and cause lost production and sick days, are not allowed in LEED buildings. Embodied energy from mining, refining, and transporting concrete, bricks, and steel is high.
To overcome large-scale climatic disturbances, Woodruff advised adapting existing buildings.
“Most structures are existing,” Woodruff said. “No matter how efficient our new buildings are, we must handle the existing building sector. We can make the most progress there.”
December US homebuilding dropped
Original Source: New home construction in the US fell in December
As the housing market slowed, December home building decreased.
The Census Bureau said Thursday that December housing starts fell 1.4% from November and 21.8% from a year earlier.
Builders are confident about 2023 after mortgage rates fell slightly in December.
Rising mortgage rates drove many homebuyers away in May and July last year, lowering housing starts. Starts rose in August but have fallen since.
In December, building permits declined 1.6% from the revised November pace and 29.9% from a year earlier.
“The combination of modestly reduced mortgage rates plus discounts and promotions on for-sale prices may drive more buyers to the market, especially after the usually slow holiday season — and as spring purchasing season approaches,” said Kelly Mangold of RCLCO Real Estate Consulting. “Inflation is also beginning to drop, and the job market remains quite strong—so it will be interesting to observe how the housing market continues to react in early 2023.”
Homebuilder optimism climbed for the first time in a year in a Wednesday survey. Jerry Konter, NAHB chairman, said the data implies the market may be recovering from the high cost of building, supply chain disruptions, and buyer affordability issues.
“The uptick in builder mood suggests that cycle lows for permits and starts are likely imminent, and home building could resume later in 2023,” he said.
Top 10 eyesores include U.S. Bank Stadium
Original Source: U.S. Bank Stadium ranked as a ‘top 10 eyesore’
The Minnesota Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium is one of Kevin Warren’s most impressive accomplishments.
Warren’s design of one of the NFL’s best stadiums drew the Bears’ attention. For such and other reasons, they hired him as CEO/President.
However, one survey labeled U.S. Bank Stadium the “ugliest building in the world.” It’s one of the 10 “worst eyesores in the U.S.”
One Buildworld post counted unfavorable Tweets about a building’s design using “Hugging Face” user faces.
The Vikings’ stadium ranked ninth in the U.S., with 15% of Tweets criticizing its design. U.S. Bank Stadium ranked 12th globally. Boston City Hall, J. Edgar Hoover Building, and Verizon Building in New York are all on the list.
This study’s technique seems stupid. Indeed. The story ranks buildings by “ugliness” based on public Tweets criticizing their designs.
It shouldn’t predict Warren and the Bears’ stadium design.
The analysis overlooks how efficiently U.S. Bank Stadium was built, finishing under budget and in three years.
US to rebuild border wall in San Diego park
Original Source: US will resume border wall construction at San Diego park
Advocates dismissed Thursday’s Biden administration concession to lower sections of a southwest border wall as a meaningless gesture.
Friendship Park, inaugurated by Pat Nixon in 1971 as a symbol of U.S.-Mexico relations, was halted in August due to opposition. Over the last 15 years, U.S. tourists to the coastal park between San Diego and Tijuana lost access.
The Rev. John Fanestil of Friends of Friendship Park claimed U.S. Customs and Border Protection lowered a double wall about 60 feet (18.3 meters), about the length of a tractor-trailer, after public comment. From 30 feet, it will drop to 18 feet (5.5 meters) (9.1 meters).
The redesigned design was unanswered by CBP. It claimed in a Tuesday press release that it “developed an approach that addresses the border security objectives of the area while also recognizing community feedback.” Construction should commence early this year and take six months.
CBP notified Fanestil that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas approved the adjustments.
Chris Magnus, who was fired as CBP commissioner in November after less than a year, stopped work on the Trump-era contract to understand community concerns.
The decision came a week after Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador complimented President Joe Biden for erecting “not even one meter of border wall,” which was untrue. Biden built minor projects in Yuma, Arizona, San Diego, and the Rio Grande Valley while Trump built hundreds of miles.
Fanestil said the San Diego project has 0.3 miles of 18-foot double-layer wall. Its height and densely spaced steel bollards will make it harder to see through.
“The plan to ‘dip’ the primary border wall to 18 feet for a tiny length near the center of Friendship Park is a token and inadequate gesture,” Friends of Friendship Park remarked.
CBP will continue to open the outside gate on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for up to 25 persons to talk to Mexicans through a steel mesh barrier.
$115M mixed-income apartment project begins at old Hall House site
Original Source: Construction starts at old Hall House site for $115M mixed-income apartment project
Uptown, a 353-unit mixed-income apartment skyscraper with over 100 affordable units is under construction.
Trella Uptown will be finished by December on the site of the historic Barringer Hotel, subsequently Hall House.
Studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments will fill the 7-story, 330,000-square-foot skyscraper. It will have a co-working cafe, dog park, pool, fitness center, pickleball courts, and rooftop grills. 426 N. Tryon St. houses it.
Inlivian, Charlotte’s nonprofit housing authority, and Urban Atlantic, a mixed-use housing developer in Bethesda, Maryland, are collaborating on the $115 million project.
Other organizations invested in the project.
Charlotte and Mecklenburg County are contributing $3.2 million and $6 million, respectively. Horizon Development Properties, Inlivian’s nonprofit development company, is lending approximately $8 million for construction.
“(The project) gets us one step closer to realizing our audacious ambition to deliver community-focused, luxurious, mixed-income housing in one of Charlotte’s leading employment, educational, and cultural centers,” said Fulton Meachem Jr., president and CEO of Inlivian.
A Huge Housing Investment
Aetna, a CVS Health company, contributed $16 million to build 106 affordable homes.
35 will be for residents earning 80% of the regional median income, $75,350 for a family of four or $52,750 for a single person. Another 37 apartments will cost 50% AMI—$47,100 for a family of four and $33,000 for a single person. More units will seek 30% AMI or below.
Aetna’s first Charlotte investment. The corporation has invested millions more in North Carolina and nationwide.
“We know that providing access to secure, clean and affordable housing is one of the most fundamental and basic drivers of overall health and well being,” Aetna North Carolina president Jim Bostian told The Charlotte Observer.
Bostian said studies show that ZIP codes affect health, including access to healthcare and food.
Uptown apartments replace historic hotel
The new building will have Art Deco architecture like its predecessor.
The 1940 Barringer Hotel, now Hall House, has 12 stories. According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, that structure included Art Deco elements despite its late construction.
Since 2011, the structure has been on the National Register of Historic Places but not a municipal landmark.
Two years ago, a group urged hotel preservation.
The Observer reported that Inlivian officials and its architecture firm said the building’s older features, such as low ceilings and small windows, would have required significant work to modernize units to compete with other uptown apartments.
They said it would have taken far more public money than the $6 million they requested and received from county commissioners.
Report: ZF plans $3B German plant to develop EV chips
Original Source: ZF plans $3B German plant to make chips for EVs, report says
Bloomberg said that ZF will develop the factory with Wolfspeed, a U.S. chipmaker that can increase EV range by 15% compared to silicon chips.
According to sources, ZF Friedrichshafen and Wolfspeed want to develop a $3 billion wafer facility in Germany’s Saarland to create semiconductors for electric vehicles and other applications, benefiting an area dependent on combustion-engine components.
The persons, who declined to be named, claimed the project’s approval depends on subsidies worth 25% of the investment.
ZF and its U.S. chipmaking partner in Ensdorf in Saarbrücken will own a minority stake in the factory.
Nearby, 9,000 ZF workers produce transmissions.
The former coal-fired power station will become the world’s largest silicon carbide semiconductor manufacturing for EVs and solar converters.
People said the decision will create hundreds of jobs, easing concerns for Saarland state’s 40,000 auto sector workers, many of whom build combustion engine parts.
The people stated ZF and Wolfspeed want a subsidy decision within two months.
By 2030, the partners will produce semiconductors.
ZF and Wolfspeed declined comment.
Handelsblatt provided project specifics.
The Saarland wafer fab will aid the EU’s 2030 target of generating 20% of the world’s chips.
High energy prices and hefty U.S. subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act have made it harder for Germany to attract multinational chipmakers.
Intel delayed building of its 17-billion-euro ($18.4 billion) Magdeburg semiconductor facility.
To offset increasing costs, the corporation is seeking government subsidies.
Wolfspeed chips can increase EV range by 15% and charge faster than silicon chips.
The people said ZF and Wolfspeed will establish a German R&D center with ZF as the majority owner in addition to the manufacturing.
The group will study power converters for electric ships and wind turbines using the chips.
Last year, Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe said the company was considering developing semiconductor manufacturing in Germany, depending on subsidies.
ZF ranks third on Automotive News Europe’s top 100 global suppliers, selling $33.4 billion to automakers in 2020.
Summary of today’s construction news
Overall, we discussed the Coloradans are proud of their seventh ranking in the greenest building industry. Human-made structures cause 40% of climate pollution. LEED is the global standard for green building certification. Building design affects raw material acquisition, transportation, energy efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions, water availability, and worker safety.
Meanwhile, the cooling housing market lowered home development in December. The Census Bureau reported Thursday that December housing starts fell 1.4% from November and 21.8% from December 2017.
On the other hand, since Warren designed a top NFL stadium, the Bears wanted him. These and other factors made him CEO/President, but one survey called U.S. Bank Stadium the “ugliest building in the world,” the Top 10 “worst eyesores in the U.S.” include this.
Additionally, in August, Pat Nixon’s Friendship Park, meant to symbolize US-Mexico ties, was halted. Over the past 15 years, U.S. visitors to the San Diego-Tijuana seaside park have declined. Currently, Uptown is creating a 353-unit, mixed-income apartment tower with over 100 affordable units. Trella Uptown will open for the holidays at the historic Barringer Hotel (later Hall House).
On top of all that, ZF Friedrichshafen and Wolfspeed also seek to build a $3 billion water plant in Germany’s Saarland to make semiconductors for electric vehicles and other uses to benefit a combustion-engine-dependent region.
