At 29.5 metres, the Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George isnt that tall in conventional building terms officially six floors, but topping out at a height of about eight storeys.

As a wooden structure, however, the centre is anything but conventional. It is a towering example of all-wood construction, which, for better or worse, now stands as the provinces poster building and ambassador for promoting the use of innovative techniques and products for constructing tall structures made out of B.C. wood.

Its kind of a perfect showcase, said Guido Wimmers, the newly hired University of Northern B.C. professor who heads a unique wood design program that will be taught out of the building.

It is bragging a little bit in terms of showing off the material. Everything is transparent and you can actually see how it was built.

That means showing off the cross-laminated timbers and panels, made by Pentictons Structurlam Products Ltd., the envelope-pushing designs of visionary architect Michael Green and structural building techniques that will allow wood builders to reach for the sky in terms of height.

Built by the province at a cost of $25 million, WIDC opened last month as a more modest manifestation of grandiose promises of former premier Gordon Campbells dating back to 2009, which once envisioned a $161-million, 10-storey block-long highrise that would be the focal point for educational programs housing 420 students.

Wimmers program, the master of integrated wood design in UNBCs engineering department, will take perhaps 10 students in its first group next year, growing to between 30 and 45 students in courses that will occupy three floors of the WIDC building.

The program, however, will be leading edge and graduates will be in demand in the growing field of sustainable design where wood is prized for its carbon-sequestering properties. And WIDC is still the tallest contemporary all-wood building in North America.

It stands as an example of the possibilities (for using) wood in British Columbia, said Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, and MLA for the Prince George constituency that is WIDCs home.

Yes, its not as big as wed have assumed at the beginning, but the building is substantive, it is visually impressive in our community and the program UNBC is offering is going to make a difference in terms of working with wood in B.C. Bond added.

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Prince George centre opens as towering presence in all-wood construction sector

Roper St. Francis employees sign a whitewashed pile that will be used in the companys new office park, which is scheduled to open in spring 2016. (Photo/Ashley Heffernan)

By Ashley Heffernan aheffernan@scbiznews.com Published Nov. 17, 2014

Leaders from Roper St. Francis held a ceremonial beam signing Thursday for their new, 130,000-square-foot office building in Ladson.

Employees who are expected to move into the building in spring 2016 visited the construction site at 8536 Palmetto Commerce Parkway to put their names on a whitewashed support pile.

The $28 million building will house about 600 Roper employees from various departments, including: health care reimbursement, physician billing, coding, food and nutrition services, pre-admission services, the patient contact center, human resources, finance and payroll, materials and property management, information services and professional development.

The office building will sit on 24 acres of land and will include a fitness center, walking trails, video teleconferencing on each floor, a clinical simulation lab and a cafe offering breakfast and lunch.

This building will have its own culture, David Dunlap, president and CEO of Roper St. Francis said. These 600 people will be coming and working and seeing each other every day, whereas now theyve been scattered about and not really feeling as connected as they could.

The majority of the employees who will make the move are currently working in rented office space on Leeds Avenue, in Citadel Mall and within office buildings at Roper, according to Dunlap.

When they move into the new office building, Dunlap said Roper will use the money it will save on rented office space to pay the 20-year mortgage. The Medical Society of South Carolina is helping to facilitate that. The society is borrowing money from NBSC for Roper St. Francis to build the office park. Roper will repay the society.

That frees our credit up to do things like build the new hospital up in Berkeley, Dunlap said. So we dont have to put that amount on our balance sheet. Its an innovative way of two nonprofits working together.

See more here:
Roper building $28M office park in Ladson

BUILDING PERMITS

PMT2014-00408 1602 Violet Ave.; $458,000; New two-story single-family dwelling (main level 1,463 square feet/second level 1,933 square feet), unfinished basement (1,394 square feet), three-car garage (797 square feet), and screened porch (143 square feet). Roof mounted solar array by separate permit and separate review.

PMT2014-03896 711 Hawthorn Ave.; $451,129.83; Antoinette Piaggio; New two-story single-family residence with four bedrooms, four baths and detached garage through separate permit PMT2014-03897.

PMT2014-04011 2551 Fourth St.; $732,475; Gina Simmering and Joseph Denucci; Morningstar Homes; New two-story single-family dwelling detached dwelling with full basement and detached two-car garage (under separate permit). Lower level to include one bedroom and bath, mechanical room, theater room and rec. room. Main level to include office/guest suite with bath, kitchen, dining , pantry, and mud rooms. Upper level to include master suite and bath, two additional bedrooms, one additional bath and laundry. Scope also includes covered front porch and rear patio.

PMT2014-04013 2551 Fourth St.; $16,848.09; Gina Simmering and Joseph Denucci; Morningstar Homes; New detached two-car garage for new single-family dwelling under separate permit (PMT2014-04011).

PMT2014-04243 561 University Ave.; $265,000; Tina Collen; New detached accessory structure, including a parking space, studio and wine storage. Total of 1,947 square feet, including finished basement. Also contains cantilevered covered deck.

PMT2014-04681 2260 Stony Hill Road; $145,000; Francesca Painter; Modafferi Construction Inc.; Addition of 72 square feet for relocated kitchen, remodel of an additional 384 square feet to include creation of a half bath and new staircase, install replacement gas fireplace and 203-square-foot deck addition. Conversion of a half height unconditioned storage area to full height.(137 square feet).

PMT2014-04816 3736 Wonderland Hill Ave.; $17,000; Tom Goss; Sloan Construction Company LLC; Construction of new steel and wood-framed trellis which will be designed to support a PV system (under separate permit). Total of 215SF

PMT2014-04832 2015 Mariposa Ave.; $47,000; Thomas Rutkowski; Storm Form LLC; Addition of a one story (42 square feet) addition to existing kitchen and remodel (350 square feet) of bathroom and kitchen and part of home office. Scope of work also includes new (50 square feet) deck.

PMT2014-04835 3005 Heidelberg Drive; $120,000; Bridget Kelly and Matthew Schwartz; Custom Design Woodworking; Interior remodel to existing single-family dwelling. Total of 494 square feet Scope of work includes new windows (reference: structural engineer's letter), master suite remodel, enlarging master bath, renovate secondary bath, and demo of some non-load bearing walls. Includes associated MEPs.

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Boulder building permits: Nov. 17, 2014

Slowly but surely, U.S. office construction is on the rise.

For much of the six years since the economy tumbled in 2008, office developers havent been very busy. Save for the occasional city with a booming industry led by Houston and Silicon Valley new office construction has been sparse.

But thats been changing, particularly over the past year-and-a-half, numbers from the Census Bureau released last week show.

Office developers in September were spending at a pace that was up about 18% compared with September 2013, the Census said. The pace in September, if annualized, would result in $37 billion worth of office building construction for the year, the Census said.

That made office one of the fastest growing categories for construction spending multifamily grew more than 20% and is at about the level of construction seen in 2005.

Of course thats still well below the nearly $60 billion of office construction underway the last two times the market peaked in 2008 and 2000, but well above the $21 billion of office construction seen in 2011, one of the lowest levels in a generation.

Reasons vary, but generally the uptick is attributed to growing confidence by developers, investors and lenders, thanks to gradually growing occupancy rates and values, as well as loosening lending standards.

Of course, theres still more room for rents and occupancies to grow. U.S. office vacancy rates averaged at 16.8% in the third quarter, only a nudge down from a post-bust high of 17.6% that was reached in 2010, according to Reis Inc.

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As Offices Gradually Fill Up, Cranes Start to Appear

When Dave Branson, the executive director of the Building and Construction Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin, stopped by the office on a recent morning, he handed me a card.

On it was a list of skilled trades followed by a set of figures that showed the hourly pay and fringe benefits for each of them.

Examples:

Boilermakers earn $32.05 an hour with fringes averaging another $28.04 for a total of $60.09 per hour.

Total hourly pay and fringes for bricklayers: $51.74; cement finishers, $50.05; drywall finishers, $43.65; electricians, $54.63; ironworkers, $53.23; laborers, $40.09; painters, $43.35; plumbers, $55.24; sheet metal workers, $58.95.

You get the picture.

There are decent-paying jobs to be had, but in an age when many believe a college degree is the only avenue to success and others are leery that they don't have the qualifications to work in a trade, the construction industry is having trouble finding enough applicants.

In Milwaukee a few years back, both employers and unions began searching for ways to connect the unemployed and especially young minorities with these jobs. At first the employers group, the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, and the building trades organization, Big Step, set out on their own. They eventually merged their efforts and now with help from Dane County and several city agencies are well into an initiative to connect job seekers with construction work here.

"Labor and management have a shared stake in finding and training workers for these jobs," Mark Kessenich, the WRTP's vice president, said on a visit to the office.

As Cap Times reporter Steve Elbow reported earlier this year, the county, the trades and community groups like the Urban League and the Nehemiah Corp. are hoping that the program will help fill construction jobs and also help put minority job seekers to work.

Originally posted here:
Plain Talk: $40 an hour and up construction jobs worth a look

12770 El Camino Real -- Rendering courtesy of Kilroy Realty Corp.

Kilroy Realty Corp. of Los Angeles has begun construction on a new $45 million office building, which officials said is the first speculative construction in eight years in San Diegos Del Mar Heights submarket.

The 74,895-square-foot Class A building is set for completion in the fourth quarter of 2015, on a four-acre site at 12770 El Camino Real at Townsgate Drive. It will be the third building at The Heights at Del Mar, a 219,000-square-foot office campus that Kilroy acquired in 2013.

Officials said the new three-story building, designed by the architecture firm Gensler, is being developed to LEED Gold sustainability standards. It will include floor-to-ceiling glass, a top-floor balcony and indoor/outdoor workspaces.

The campus currently includes a fitness center, golf simulator and outdoor amphitheater. Brokerage company Cassidy Turley has been hired to handle leasing at the new building.

Kilroy Realty Corp. (NYSE: KRC) is a 65-year-old company that oversees a 13.5 million-square-foot portfolio of commercial properties, primarily on the West Coast. The real estate investment trust is among the largest holders of office properties in San Diego County.

San Diego officials are currently considering Kilroys plans for One Paseo, a $650 million mixed-use development planned for a site at Del Mar Heights Road and El Camino Real, adjacent to The Heights at Del Mar.

Original post:
Kilroy Begins Work on $45 Million Del Mar Heights Office Project

Richardson, TX (PRWEB) November 12, 2014

Adolfson & Peterson recently completed a new Medical Office Building at the Southlake campus of Forest Park Medical Center.

The new medical office building includes a 4-story, 88,159-square-foot structure, with a grand entrance atrium, elevator core, and shell space for future clinic tenants. The new medical office building was designed by GSR Andrade to maximize the aesthetic balance of the campus by utilizing a stone veneer which matches the existing hospitals exterior finish.

A two-story enclosed connector joins the new MOB with the existing Forest Park Medical Center Southlake hospital, completed by Adolfson & Peterson (A&P) in April 2013.

A&Ps team of construction professionals overcame numerous challenges to bring this project in on schedule and within budget. Namely, the team encountered multiple weather delays which prevented work on the site. Still, the project team was able to manage the schedule in order to bring the project in on the original timeline.

The new MOB building is the latest in a long line of projects which A&P has partnered with LandPlan and Neal Richards Group to build.

In all, A&P has built nearly one million square feet of hospitals and medical office space under the Forest Park Medical Center brand throughout Texas.

About Adolfson & Peterson Construction Adolfson & Peterson Construction is a U.S.-based, privately held firm that is consistently ranked among the top 50 construction management companies in the nation. Founded in 1946, the company has built longstanding commitments to the regions in which it operates and is known nationally for its innovative and collaborative approaches within the building industry. A&P serves the education, multifamily, healthcare, energy, commercial, municipal, and senior living market segments from its offices in the Atlantic, Gulf States, Midwest, Mountain States, Pacific Northwest, Southwest, and West Coast regions. For more information, visit http://www.a-p.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

About LandPlan Development LandPlan Development Corp. develops affluent residential communities; state-of-the-art hospital and medical office campuses; and first-class office, retail, and commercial buildings. LandPlan also positions its available land holdings for future development.

About Neal Richards Group Neal Richards Group (NRG) is a privately held, Dallas based, real estate services firm specializing in development, brokerage, and project management consulting for a diverse mix of end-users.

The rest is here:
Adolfson & Peterson Completes Medical Office Building in Southlake, TX

In its efforts to become more accessible to the public, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened its first satellite office in the country ahead of its permanent building transfer in 2016.

On Tuesday, the SEC has opened its first satellite office located in Ali Mall, Cubao,

The satellite office will function as an outpost where the public can file their registration statements, submit corporate updates, and pay charges, among other services that the regulatory agency does in its main building.

So instead of going to the main SEC building, which is currently located in Ortigas, the public can just go to the nearest satellite office to do their corporate dealings.

SEC Chairperson Teresita Herbosa said in an interview during the grand opening of the first SEC satellite office held in Cubao that the daily transactions in the agencys main office will definitely soften.

Herbosa said the next branch of the satellite office will be located in SM Manila although the she has not identified any particular date for its opening.

The Company Registration and Monitoring Department, headed by SEC Director Ferdinand Sales, has been tasked to lead the progress of this specific project.

Sales said in a separate interview that the SEC is now in talks with the SM Group and Robinsons Malls for the possible establishment of the next satellite offices in their malls.

Once that this has already been disseminated to the transacting public, we believe that the transactions in the main office will be de-congested because the location of this specific satellite office alone is very accessible, Sales told reporters.

A few months ago, it was reported that the SEC has decided to push through with its plan to put up satellite offices across Metro Manila with an initial target to build its first six branches within the year.

Read this article:
SEC opens its first ever satellite office

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The prospect of new commercial construction looks pretty dim in the Albuquerque metro areas office and industrial real estate markets, which continue to sputter along in step with the stagnant local economy, according a panel of local experts at a NAIOP luncheon on Monday.

For that to change, Debbie Harms of NAI Maestas & Ward said, Something is going to have to happen.

Harms was one of three speakers at the annual analysis of office and industrial property by the New Mexico chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors. Their update sounded a lot like the one the society gave last year at the commercial real estate development associations November luncheon.

After three straight quarters of improvement, the local industrial market is showing increased stability with fewer tenants downsizing and closing, said panel moderator Dan Newman of CBRE.

The theme in the industrial market, where the biggest parts of the building inventory are warehouses and distribution centers, is that finding modern space larger than 10,000 square feet is becoming harder, said panelist Erick Johnson of Johnson Commercial.

The average asking lease rate for a warehouse is $5.88 a square feet, roughly where its been for four straight years. The average asking rate is too low to cover the cost of building a new warehouse, Johnson said. The rate will have to increase 25 percent to 30 percent before new construction is justified, he said.

At a 22 percent vacancy rate, Albuquerques office market is clearly in the doldrums, Harms said. In a typical pre-recession year, about 700,000 square feet of office space would be leased annually, she said. That threshold has been reached only twice in the past six years.

There is activity in the office market, but Harms described it as companies that are already here trading spaces. As with the industrial market, demand for office space is focused on well-maintained buildings with modern amenities at good locations, she said.

The societys market update is an annual event at NAIOP. Membership in the society is based largely on experience and performance, rather than completion of an education curriculum. There are only 21 members in New Mexico.

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ABQ outlook dim for new office, industrial construction

Paffhausen office building, 1801 Stephens Ave., revision to increase building size, Wayne Paffhausen & Sons Inc., $533,155.20.

Human Resource Council, 1833 S. Higgins Ave., accessibility upgrade, Jeff Wilson Construction, $17,800.

Staples Suite 300, 2230 N. Reserve St., modify storefront, Sierra Contracting, $350,000.

Tesla Motors Charging Station, 5280 Grant Creek Road, Lowe North Construction Inc., $78,271.

Northwestern Energy, 1801 Russell St., upgrade lobby, Dick Anderson Construction Inc., $121,458.

Sapphire Physical Therapy, 1705 Bow St., new sign, QRS Signs LLC, $2,500.

Missoula Insectarium, 218 E. Front St., new tenant improvements, Carl Construction Inc., $41,500.

Imagine Nation Brewing, 1151 W. Broadway, change of use, inside and out, $22,000.

Salvation Army Community Center, 1520 S. Second St. W., new community center, Quality Construction Company, $744,824.87.

St. Patrick Hospital, 500 W. Broadway, remodel first floor lab, Bouten Construction Co., $7,000.

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City of Missoula building permits issued in October 2014