In this post, we look at one of numerous construction projects the NMCB-4 Seabees are working on with the civilian contractors: they are to pour concrete in the U.S. Navy Support Facility Garcia Diego. Bad-actor construction subcontractors on United Properties’ senior housing projects perpetrate abuse, salary theft, and safety hazards. Two Cornell associate professors in the College of Architecture, Arts, and Planning designed the two-story residence that will be built in Houston and will become the first multistory 3D-printed building. Aureus Earth announced its first transaction, and the purchase was made in cooperation with the University of Washington Foster School of Business.
NMCB-4 Seabees work at NSF Garcia Diego
Original Source: NMCB-4 Seabees Work on Concrete at NSF Diego Garcia
Seabees from NMCB 4 poured concrete at US NSF Diego Garcia with civilian contractors.
The concrete pour was one of numerous construction projects, including a 1,440-square-foot Butler pre-engineered building, chain link fence, gates, and gas cylinder storage racks.
“Today, all of this crew’s hard work starts to pay off,” remarked NMCB-4’s detail officer. “After months of planning, it’s encouraging to watch the team’s efforts pay off.”
This project will improve gas cylinder storage, allowing for stronger infrastructure initiatives.
Stachurski claimed 3rd class petty officers were providing him with specific skills. “As a leader, you must be willing to learn from your sailors if you want them to follow you.”
This placement required the interoperability of dozens of employees across numerous commands, services, and sectors.
This was Anthony Sacco’s first time preparing formwork for a concrete pour. “It honed my building talents.”
Every crew member has to operate effectively, efficiently, and coordinated to ensure mission success.
Sacco stated, “I’ll be able to pass on what I’ve learned, since much of our training is on the job.” “Doing things correctly prevents accidents.”
NMCB-4 is stationed in the Indo-Pacific and U.S. territories to promote a free and open region. NMCB-4 maintains a readiness posture to offer in-theater expeditionary logistics via expeditionary shore infrastructure, forward damage repair, and mobile construction.
United Properties must respect worker rights in its senior home buildings
Original Source: United Properties must respect the rights of workers’ rights on their senior housing projects.
United Properties president and CIO Bill Katter received the President’s Award Thursday from NAIOP Minnesota. The President’s Award “recognizes exceptional commercial real estate sector… and community service.”
Bad-actor construction subcontractors on United Properties’ senior housing projects routinely commit abuse, wage fraud, and safety issues.
While we congratulate Katter for safeguarding workers’ rights on United Properties’ high-profile commercial and mixed-use developments, we ask why the same standards can’t be applied to their residential projects.
The metro area’s building businesses are quickly diverging.
Union signatory contractors offer reasonable wages, worker’s compensation, and safety measures on commercial and mixed-use projects.
In non-union households, worker maltreatment and wage fraud reign. A survey found that 25% of non-union construction workers in Minnesota encounter wage theft or payroll fraud. We often see construction workers owing tens of thousands to exploitative subcontractors at our workers’ center in south Minneapolis.
United Properties’ senior housing projects involve exploitative subcontractors. Amira Bloomington for United Properties (formerly known as The POINTE of Bloomington) was subcontracted by Absolute Drywall and Constante Construction, LLC.
Absolute Drywall was among the companies that failed to pay more than $100,000 in salaries to workers on the Wilf family’s Viking Lakes project this year, adding to the company’s history of wage theft, misclassifying workers, and child labor law breaches.
Constante Construction, LLC misclassified personnel and retaliated against a worker suspected of working with MDL& I. DLI found that Constante Construction’s leader threatened and fired a worker without just cause.
United Properties wants to treble the number of senior living developments they build, which could entail more exploitative subcontractors. CTUL has tried for a year to warn Katter of these potential abuses, but to no avail.
So we acted Thursday. CTUL members, students, and community members demonstrated at Katter’s award ceremony. Demonstrators carried posters saying “Bill Katter: Meet with CTUL construction workers” and “Workers’ rights on all United Projects” and handed out fliers detailing United Properties’ record of collaborating with contractors who abuse workers’ rights.
CTUL member Daniel Sanchez stated an exploitative subcontractor owed him $110,000. “Workers are important. Community building requires workers. He stated, “Humans deserve decency and respect.”
A solution exists. Bill Katter could be the first metro developer to join the BDR program (BDR). United Properties commits to hiring law-abiding subcontractors and guaranteeing worker education, monitoring, and compliance on all job sites.
Exploiting workers is wrong. Katter should speak with construction workers before expanding United Properties’ senior home business model. By doing so, he can earn an award for “excellent service to the community.”
Cornell professors are developing the first U.S. multi storey 3D structure
Original SOurce: Cornell professors are building the first multistory 3D printed structure in the U.S.
Houston is creating the country’s first multistory 3D-printed structure. The two-story, single-family home was designed by two assistant professors at Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP). Leslie Lok and Sasa Zivkovic believe it sets a precedent for future 3D printed multifamily and mixed-use structures.
The 4,000-square-foot home will include three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a two-car garage. Its 40-foot-tall chimney will make it one of the tallest 3D-printed structures in the U.S.
The Lok and Zivkovic initiative explores 3D printing in architecture. The professors, co-principals of HANNAH Design Office, have previously used 3D-printed concrete and up-cycled wood for a cabin in New York and an installation at Cornell that combined alternative building materials with digital modeling.
Lok and Zivkovic combined 3D-printed concrete structural parts with spray-foam-insulated timber framing for their Houston home. The team believes the combo can show how to optimize hybrid systems with minimal waste.
“Our hybrid construction technique offers an efficient, reproducible, and materially responsive building system,” stated Lok. “The project illustrates the design potential of mass-customized architectural components to fulfill homeowner preferences and facilitate building system integration.”
The 3D printed elements in the home are locally obtained using cement with a reduced carbon footprint, and its construction will impact Cornell’s College of Engineering research into eco-friendly building materials, including methane-storing concrete.
“Besides printing technology, integrating printing with building design and materials and expediting the construction process are vital,” Zivkovic said. This project shows how 3D printing can produce well-designed, high-performance architecture.
PERI 3D Construction is building the residence with a 60-foot printer gantry.
An IAAC team in Catalonia 3D printed a zero-waste house prototype last week. Montana just became the first U.S. state to authorize 3D-printed alternatives to concrete walls, which may help future 3D-printed projects.
Explore our news coverage or our 2021 feature on the design and construction of a 3D printed home in Arizona to discover more about 3D printing in architecture.
Aureus Earth and the University of Washington execute a mass timber carbon offset transaction
Original Source: Aureus Earth and the University of Washington Execute Ground-Breaking Carbon Offset Transaction for a Mass Timber Building
Aureus Earth, the premier provider of carbon offsetting incentive programs for the construction industry, announced its first transaction today. The purchase was done in cooperation with the UW Foster School of Business, using Founders Hall as a proof of concept.
Aureus Earth encourages developers to use carbon-storing and low-carbon materials, turning buildings into carbon sinks and decarbonizing the construction industry. The company has created a carbon offset protocol for sustainably obtained mass timber that assesses biogenic carbon and issues carbon offsets based on carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Carbon offsets from mass timber construction can be sold.
Due to paperwork and permitting, mass timber offsets may be easily monitored for carbon leakage. Aureus Earth guarantees offsets for 100 years with an assurance fund that prevents early emissions release, making them transparent, long-lasting, and high-quality. Aureus Earth unites building owners with firms with net-zero or climate-positive carbon emissions targets. Carbon insetting is when building owners use carbon offsets to reduce their own carbon emissions.
Dr. Wil Srubar, co-founder of Aureus Earth, said decarbonizing the built environment is key to mitigating climate change. “Mass timber can make new buildings carbon sinks. By offsetting the biogenic carbon stored in a mass timber building, we assist developers offset the cost, expediting the construction industry’s shift to a low-carbon economy.
The University of Washington’s commitment to environmental stewardship includes how it maintains facilities and resources. LMN Architects designed Founders Hall, a six-story mass timber building for the business school. The 96,000-square-foot building will store 1,000 tons of CO2 for decades, keeping carbon out of the atmosphere during the building’s lifetime and perhaps beyond.
Frank Hodge, Janet and Orin Smith Dean of the Foster School of Business, is pleased Founders Hall reduces carbon dioxide. Our relationship with Aureus Earth provides a foundation for other UW capital projects—and campuses throughout the country—to adopt environmentally friendly building materials. It shows our commitment to climate leadership through innovation.
The carbon offsets were acquired by construction sector stakeholders and presented to the University of Washington. The project received $150,000.
Moss Adams advised the pilot’s Aureus Earth transaction process. Moss Adams provides ESG target setting, assurance, and reporting.
Aureus Earth is working on more than 15 major wood projects in the U.S. Aureus Earth’s successful pilot will help grow its programs and expedite carbon-positive building techniques.
Summary of today’s construction news
Overall, we have discussed the NMCB-4 Seabees that worked with the civilian contractors to pour concrete at the US Navy Support Facility Garcia Diego.
We applaud Katter for protecting workers’ rights on United Properties’ commercial and mixed-use initiatives, but we wonder why can’t the same rules be extended to their residential projects, where subcontractors continue to commit abuse, salary theft, and safety problems.
The country’s first multistory 3D-printed structure is now being created in Houston, and it was designed by two assistant professors from Cornell College of AAP.
Aureus Earth, a carbon offsetting incentive program provider for the construction industry, announced its first transaction today. Founders Hall was used as a proof of concept in collaboration with the University of Washington Foster School of Business.
