In today’s news, we will look into the six most convincing arguments as to why working in the construction sector is a satisfying profession. In the meantime, one of Australia’s largest construction companies, Clough, has declared bankruptcy, putting the employment of thousands of people in jeopardy. On the other side, German states have voiced their opposition to Poland’s development of its first nuclear power plant. Additionally, at Lakeside Village, work has begun on a brand-new upscale residential complex that will be located there.
Six Reasons Construction Is a Great Career
Original Source: Six Reasons Why Working In Construction Is A Great Profession
Everything is under construction. We build houses, classrooms, workplaces, streets, hospitals, and theme parks with it.
Human survival depends on this. It’s still a confusing sector.
The decades-long quest for four-year degrees has cost the construction business many people. Thus, skilled professionals are scarce in the US.
Due to rising demand for craftspeople, the firm is in an attractive scenario that benefits newcomers. Demand raises salary, job openings, and advancement opportunities.
So, what are the benefits of a construction career? See how many! However, these six factors may make construction a good career choice.
Success Preparation
Construction apprenticeships are the norm. This means you can start an apprenticeship as soon as you decide to learn a trade.
This “earn as you learn” technique lets you master your trade while getting paid.
Craft jobs may require associate degrees, professional certifications, or certificates. These educational requirements are usually short and can be completed during an apprenticeship. Thus, if you want to work immediately, a construction job is better than a four-year degree.
Due to the low cost of education and quick entry into the workforce, craft workers can start making money without taking on enormous student loan burden. US student loans total $1.5 trillion. Construction can be a good alternative to college due to rising costs.
Unlimitable success
Because seven out of ten US jobs don’t require a four-year degree, college graduates are oversupplied. Choosing an artistic career will open additional doors. Technical degrees, apprenticeships, and trade training certificates boost employment.
A skills deficit and projected retirees will require 1 million craft professionals by 2023. The shortage creates many chances for young artisans.
Multi-Professions
Construction has many subfields. Everyone can pursue an arts and crafts job.
Everyone can work in the craft business, whether they’re creative, numerate, or problem-solvers.
Educational requirements and interest-specific training programs vary per occupation.
Independent Mobility
Since experienced artisans are in high demand nationwide, your employment options are endless. If you’re a free agent or work for a national or multinational construction firm, you have many transportation options. One of the few options to see the nation while being paid is construction.
We’re surrounded by construction. Every continent, state, and large city is affected. If you want to travel, work in the arts. Construction skills can take you anywhere, domestically or internationally.
Construction is also a dynamic industry. You get a changing view when building a house, baseball field, or theme park.
Professional Growth
By 2026, 29% of construction workers will retire. As 41% of the workforce retires by 2031, the situation will worsen. Simply put, about half of the workforce will need to be replaced in a decade.
For novices, this is a lot.
The baby boomer demographic is leaving many skilled trades jobs empty, especially managerial positions like journeyman, superintendent, and project manager.
As long as they can progress their career, skilled professionals can succeed. If they have the skills, motivation, and experience, a skilled worker can become a company executive or CEO. A person’s ambition is the only thing separating them from higher construction sector employment.
High Payscale
Due to increased demand for their services, companies are willing to pay greater rates to attract and keep qualified individuals. This implies construction employees are earning the greatest compensation ever.
Craftspeople are starting to make a decent living early in their professions due to high starting salaries, decreased school loan debt, and the possibility to work as an apprentice.
These benefits make construction a great career choice. Looking at them all together, it appears unlikely that they came from one career route.
Australia: Clough Construction collapses, threatening thousands of jobs
Original Source: Australia: Major construction firm Clough collapses, placing thousands of jobs in jeopardy
Clough, a Perth-based construction and civil engineering company, collapsed unexpectedly. At the start of December, Deloitte took over the company, which owed $66.6 million to trade creditors and $12.2 million to workers.
The company is the latest victim of Australia’s construction industry crisis, which has claimed thousands of jobs over the past year.
In 2013, Murray & Roberts bought Western Australian energy, resources, and infrastructure contractor Clough. Clough had 12 firms that employed 1,250 people in Australia, Papua New Guinea, the UK, and the US before it collapsed.
A failed transaction with Italian construction business Webuild ended the company’s existence. In November, Webuild agreed to buy the financially troubled company for $350 million and offer a $30 million loan to keep it afloat until the sale was completed, with the goal of making Clough its principal operational business in Australia.
Clough and Webuild collaborated on important infrastructure projects like the Snowy 2.0 renewable energy plan and a crucial piece of the Queensland Inland Rail project through Future Generation. Webuild will pay $17.6 million to Deloitte to take full control of the two federal government-funded projects by December 21.
Webuild may also add other Clough projects to the agreement, but this is unlikely. The administrators sought “interim funding for Clough’s major projects by value,” according to Deloitte restructuring partner Jason Tracy.
These include EnergyAustralia’s $300 million Tallawarra B gas power plant in NSW’s Illawarra area and the $2.3 billion EnergyConnect electricity interconnector between South Australia and NSW. Tallawarra B, a Clough-GE joint venture, will begin generating power in the summer of 2023-24 to offset AGL’s Liddell coal-fired power plant’s April 2020 closure.
Clough’s four biggest secured creditors, HSBC Bank Australia, Liberty Specialty Markets, Assetinsure, and AA1, have first call on administration money, thus trade creditors and employees may not be paid.
Last year, Clough lost $375.3 million and had a $304 million working capital deficit. COVID-19 affected it like other constructors. Infection-related supply chain issues and labor constraints raised building material prices and pushed deadlines.
The “let it rip” policy of all governments—Labor and Liberal-National—caused the epidemic. At the start of the epidemic, construction unions joined companies to lobby federal and state governments to spare the building sector from lockdowns to maintain firm income.
Construction companies’ cash flow suffers when delays and missed deadlines delay progress payments. Clough signed fixed-term contracts to win bids and avoid passing on cost hikes to clients.
The “Traveler” petrochemical plant in Texas and the Waitsia Stage 2 gas project in Western Australia have huge cost overruns (WA). Future Generation unsuccessfully requested roughly $1 billion from Snowy Hydro for Snowy 2.0 project expenditures.
The Clough bankruptcy affects the federal Labor government’s budget estimates as big projects cost more. It also risks delaying several key “clean energy” transition initiatives.
Delays in replacing coal-fired power facilities with renewable energy sources could cause widespread power shortages and higher electricity prices.
After Clough’s death, federal Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Chris Bowen said he had urgent briefings. Bowen did not propose a solution to the collapse’s wider effects or the building industry’s crisis.
Construction unions remain mute on the major catastrophe. They have said nothing but are promoting the idea that major builders can raise costs to save jobs. “Take better care of their own bottom line and make sure they’re keeping proper profit margins,” a WA Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union Facebook official advised large construction firms.
Another significant building entity’s failure shows capitalism’s irrationality. Despite a dire need for social infrastructure, workers lose their jobs and skills.
The ongoing construction crisis shows the working class’s urgent need to fight for workers’ governments to execute socialist policies, including public ownership and democratic workers’ control of construction and other important sectors. Only then can the economy be reorganized to satisfy societal needs rather than capitalist profit.
German states reject Poland’s first nuclear power facility
Original Source: German states oppose construction of Poland’s first nuclear power plant
Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Berlin, which border Poland, have publicly opposed the Polish government’s intentions to build the country’s first nuclear power station.
“Together, the federal states speak out against the construction and operation of Poland’s first nuclear power plant and [are] in favor of abandoning the project,” Brandenburg’s consumer protection ministry stated earlier this week.
“In view of the tragic nuclear accidents in Chernobyl and Fukushima, plans for the further use of nuclear energy should be abandoned in the interest of the population and ecology of all Baltic Sea countries,” it continues.
The statement says Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania’s environment ministry has informed Poland’s general director for environmental protection in Warsaw of its worries.
Poland plans to build the power plant in Lubiatowo-Kopalino, near the Baltic Sea and 250 kilometers from Germany. The initiative requires input, and comments are due by Tuesday.
Poland chose the US to develop the 2033 facility in October. After that, a collection of corporate and state-owned enterprises chose South Korea to establish a second nuclear power facility.
After the Fukushima accident, Germany has been phasing out nuclear power for a decade. In February, Germany’s Greens environment minister Steffi Lemke expressed worry over Poland’s plans in Warsaw.
She said nuclear power is “neither good nor safe” in Berlin. We will use European legal mechanisms if Poland builds reactors.
However, Germany has delayed its nuclear phaseout due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s energy problem.
75% of Poles now support nuclear power.
Luxury residential skyscraper in Lakeside Village begins construction
Original Source: Construction begins on luxury apartment tower in Lakeside Village
3111 Sunset Boulevard, a luxury residential tower in Lakeside Village, a 40-acre resort development on Lake Grapevine in Flower Mound, has been financed by Realty Capital Residential.
Realty Capital announced that 3111 Sunset, a 16-story premium residential skyscraper, will overlook Lake Grapevine. The project includes tower condos, penthouses, townhomes, 6,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and a five-level parking garage. Guest suites and 1,485-square-foot units are offered. Building features include a sixth-floor landscaped pool deck with lake views, a full-service bar, a 14th-floor private dining room, 24-hour attended lobby, concierge, valet parking, billiards room, golf simulator, and 50-foot lap pool and spa.
Alex Brown, Realty Capital Residential’s president, said, “After working on and marketing Lakeside Tower, we learnt a lot about the amenities and building characteristics residents desire.” “Despite the building’s many amenities, residents say Lakeside’s walkability and stunning views of Lake Grapevine make it a great place to live. Dining on your balcony at sunset on the lake and strolling to restaurants and shops gives a lifestyle that is unmatched in the metroplex.”
US general contractor Archer Western is building 3111 Sunset. Realty Capital said Chicago-based Creek Lane Capital and Realty Capital Residential supplied equity for the project, while Barings, a $338+ billion worldwide investment manager, funded construction.
By early 2025, 3111 Sunset will be finished.
Lakeside Village, the final phase of the 160-acre Lakeside mixed-use project, features lakefront restaurants, hotels, shops, Class AA offices, a private social club, trails, amphitheater, custom Mediterranean Villa homes, and high-rise residential options, including the 15-story Lakeside Tower condominiums.
Brown said 3111 Sunset is a great place for empty nesters and retirees in Southlake, Colleyville, Flower Mound, and other nearby areas. “Many folks desire to downsize and live a low-maintenance lifestyle,” she said. They want an outstanding home with exceptional services.”
The Peter P. Stewart family of Dallas, Texas has held the site since 1973 and chose Realty Capital as Lakeside’s master developer in 2011. Lakeside’s initiatives have cost about $1 billion. Lakeside Village’s $1.5 billion projects will continue.
Brown added, “We’re eager to build Lakeside Village’s second residential tower.” “Lakeside Village is certainly a legacy project and we are thrilled to be a member of the extensive team executing the Stewart family’s vision.”
Summary of today’s construction news
Overall, we discussed the company that is in an appealing situation that is to the advantage of newcomers as the demand for craftspeople continues to rise. The greater the demand, the higher the income, the number of employment positions, and the prospects for growth. Therefore, there are six aspects that may make a job in construction an appealing option.
Unpredictably, the construction and civil engineering company Clough, based in Perth, went out of business. Deloitte seized control of the business at the beginning of December, when it had an outstanding debt of $66.6 million to its business creditors and $12.2 million to its employees.
Also, public opposition has been voiced against the plans of the Polish government to construct the nation’s first nuclear power station by the German states of Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Berlin, all of which border Poland.
On top of that, Realty Capital Residential has provided funding for the construction of 3111 Sunset Boulevard, a high-end residential tower that will be part of Lakeside Village, a 40-acre resort community that will be built on Lake Grapevine in Flower Mound.
