Major office towers could be coming to an area already plagued by overlong construction and heavy traffic near Union Station.

The project, which is in preliminary zoning review stages by Hines Interests Limited Partnership, could bring at least one 48-storey office tower to the hub of Toronto commuting at 45 Bay St. and the block to the north across from Union Station.

Renderings of the plans, which have since been removed from the Hines website along with a page dedicated to the project, show a three-tower development across Bay from the Air Canada Centre, where a parking lot now stands. The tallest tower, which appears to be higher than the TD Canada Trust Tower, soars up from the current GO bus terminal and is linked to a 48-storey tower at the Bay Street lot by a retail podium above the Union Station train tracks. A third smaller tower is built up from the roof of the Dominion Public Building at Yonge Street.

Zoning review applications were filed on Aug. 8 for 45 Bay and 141 Bay, but have yet to be reviewed by city staff.

Hines spokesperson Allison Kimmell would not elaborate on the plans when contacted by the Star. We havent made a public announcement about this yet, so at this time were not commenting on it, she said. She would not explain why the project page was removed from the company website, a move noted by forum users at UrbanToronto.ca. It is not clear whether Hines is the only development manager involved with the massive three-tower design.

In 2012, lot owners Ivanhoe Cambridge confirmed to the Star that a 50-storey office tower was planned for the space, but would not elaborate. The company now confirms that Metrolinx and Ivanhoe Cambridge are working together for a new development of mixed-use office space that integrates transportation and a bus terminal, said vice-president of communications Michele Meier.

Anne Marie Aikins with Metrolinx also confirmed this, but noted retail is not part of 45 Bay. She did not say whether that means retail is not a part of the adjacent developments, which the plans reviewed by the Star suggest.

Aikins couldnt say when the project will begin construction as it is still in the very early stages, but assures that it wont start while Union Station is in its current chaotic state.

We would certainly assure that this would be as painless as possible. Before our shovels even run in the ground, Union Station will be finished, she said. Things are moving. I know right now it looks like mayhem.

While no proposal has been submitted to the Toronto planning department for the project, the publicly available zoning review applications outline some of the plans. One application, which proposes structures for a park above the railway, suggests rooftop green space is planned for the retail area connecting the two main towers above the train tracks.

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Big office towers planned across from Union Station

Cork city quays: set for construction of nine-storey building bringing 300 jobs. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

Construction will begin within weeks on a 50 million nine- storey office block on Albert Quay in Cork city after objectors withdrew their appeals against the development.

Up to 300 jobs will be created during construction of the 18,600sq m (200,000sq ft), high-tech, riverside building on Albert Quay. It is expected to take 15 months to complete.

The project is one of the largest private-sector developments in the city in five years, and one of the largest office block developments in the city centre in decades.

One Albert Quay is being developed by John Cleary Developments (JCD) and Bam Construction.

The planning application had been granted planning permission by Cork City Council.

This decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanla by Elysian Management Ltd and developer Owen OCallaghan. The appeal would have delayed a final decision on the project until the winter.

However, both of these appeals have now been withdrawn allowing the project to go ahead.

BAM Contractors and JCD have already successfully worked together on the largest office development to be built in Ireland during the the recession: City Gate Park in Mahon.

The complex is now home to companies such as EMC, Dell, RDJ solicitors and FireEye.

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Work to start on 50m Cork office block

By Dow Jones Business News, August 12, 2014, 05:04:00 PM EDT

By Matt Hudgins

PEARLAND, Texas--The medical-office sector is undergoing a broad transformation with the rise of master leases.

In those deals, a large company or organization leases several floors or an entire building, then typically sublets the space to smaller users. Until recently, the sector had relied on myriad small leases backed only by the guarantees of individual physicians and small practices.

Just this summer, construction kicked off on a proposed medical office building south of Houston after hospital operator Memorial Hermann Health System agreed to lease more than one-third of the building. HCP Inc., a developer, is building the project on Memorial Hermann's campus here, where the hospital system already has a master lease for an existing 80,000-square-foot office building.

Marshall Heins, Memorial Hermann's head of facilities, declined to disclose the terms of the lease or the rent it will pay for the new space. In general, he says, rents are climbing rapidly and property values are eclipsing those of conventional office spaces.

"Medical-office lease rates continue to rise across the country," he said. "This is probably the hottest sector right now."

The deal is an example of a side effect of health-care reform some might not have expected. Across the nation, the value of medical office space is skyrocketing as the size and credit quality of tenants increase.

In the past, many medical offices were leased by individual doctors and small practices rather than by large, well- funded institutions. In an exodus that began in 2009 and accelerated under the Affordable Care Act, many physicians are abandoning the independent-practice model to join large systems that are better able to create efficiencies and control costs.

For example, the Affordable Care Act requires health-care providers to maintain digital medical records by 2015 or lose progressively larger percentages of Medicare reimbursements each year. At Memorial Hermann, doctors to whom the company leases space will have access to Memorial Hermann's digital-medical-records infrastructure, as well as optional services in areas such as reception, billing and office management. Those doctors, in turn, are expected to steer patients to the system's hospitals.

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Medical-Office Sector Leans on the 'Master' Lease

The Council granted outline planning permission in March 2012 for the mixed-use redevelopment of a nine acre site to be known as Ruskin Square, next to East Croydon station. The outline plans include the construction of five residential buildings and six office buildings, a 200 seat theatre and a new public square. Detailed plans for the first phase construction of a 22-storey residential building on the site were approved in March 2013.

The latest approval will permit the construction of a 22,000 square metre, glass and metal clad office building in the central eastern part of the Ruskin Square site. The proposals include 1,000sq m of ground floor retail space, facing onto Lansdowne Road and the forthcoming Ruskin Square, and nearly 17,000sqm of offices on the upper floors of the building.

The building will be located immediately to the south of the residential building approved in March 2013 and the recently opened Network Rail footbridge over the railway from East Croydon station.

The plans were approved, subject to conditions, on 5 August.

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Croydon approves ten-storey office building at Ruskin Square development site

Extending buildings upwards usually means simply adding new levels on top of the existing ones. A building in London, however, is being extended by having another one on stilts sat on top of it. Heliport Heights will feature office spaces, new apartments and a refurbished existing building.

Gizmag has featured a number of constructions that use stilts, such as Shipley Architects' "Like a Houseboat" property and Casa Flotanta that "floats" above a Costa Rican hillside. According to project architects All Design, however, Heliport Heights will be the first time that an additional 15 levels are added to an existing four-story building using stilts in London.

The use of stilts in this way will mean that the tenants of the existing building can remain in situ while the work is carried out. The building will not only be notable for its use of stilts as part of the construction, however. A striking look will be created using a variety of aesthetic features.

The extended building will feature a curved and tapered tower at the top with multi-colored balconies and porthole-like windows. The stilts themselves are purple in the existing designs and the tower will be clad in weathered steel that will give it a reddish-brown rusty appearance. All Design hopes that the design elements will give the final building an elegant look and that the building will provide an iconic addition "to an area that has little visual amenity apart from the river."

Once completed, Heliport Heights will contain 14 apartments, each with two balconies and river views. The building will also feature two floors of offices, a penthouse, and garage parking for 15 vehicles. The ground floor will house a small gallery, whilst a stainless steel pod suspended from the overhang of the newly-added building will house a conference space that will be available to hire.

Finally, and in case you were wondering, Heliport Heights will not feature its own heliport. The building is so called due to its proximity to a neighboring heliport.

Source: All Design

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Heliport Heights will use purple stilts to sit on top of an existing building

Recipe Herb-Spiced Thai Salad

The Seattle Times - Monday 11th August, 2014

This Thai salad is a perfect one-dish summer dinner with a delicate blend of herbs and spices. Thai food is spicy. The heat can vary. This is a mild version, but you can add as much heat as you ...

Channel News Asia - Monday 11th August, 2014

At least three workers died and 17 others were injured when a six-storey building under construction collapsed just outside Bangkok, police said Monday, as rescuers searched for an unknown number of ...

Fox News - Monday 11th August, 2014

A trapped worker calls for help from the rubble of a collapsed building in Pathumthani province, central Thailand, Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. A six-story building under construction on the outskirts of ...

The Nation - Monday 11th August, 2014

The Medical Council of Thailand and the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists will hold a meeting of 240 obstetricians from 45 clinics and hospitals, who have received license to ...

The Nation - Monday 11th August, 2014

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Building under construction collapses outside Bangkok killing 3 trapping at least 7 others

A 231,000-square-foot warehouse for Cott Beverage Corp. in Joplin helped drive up business construction permits this summer.

That July permit, for $7.6 million, is for a new warehouse at 3502 E. Enterprise Ave.

Overall, business continues to grow, said Todd Burgess, plant manager for the companys Joplin operations. He praised the plants 130 employees for their hard work, which he said keeps costs down and allows the operation to grow.

Cott Beverage is a multinational drink manufacturer that specializes in carbonated soft drinks, shelf-stable juice and juice products, sparkling water, energy products, teas and even alcoholic beverages. The company acquired Cliffstar several years ago.

The new warehouse, with 24 loading docks, is scheduled for completion Oct. 25, Burgess said.

Its going to enable us to service our customers that much better and pursue new and additional business, he said.

The warehouse is to be built and leased to Cott by Insight Real Estate. Insight earlier this year was granted a real estate tax abatement of 100 percent for six years by local officials, with the abatement reducing by 20 percent a year until the company comes on the tax rolls.

That warehouse permit is the largest one in the past two months, according to building permits filed with the city of Joplin.

In June, 150 permits were issued for construction in all forms in Joplin, including commercial, and totaled $7.3 million. In July, 100 permits were issued for construction in all forms and totaled $16.2 million.

A $4 million permit was issued for construction of the new Commerce Bank Center, 1802 E. 20th St.

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Joplin construction nears $1.1 billion since tornado

SAN JOSE -- A Fremont-based construction company, its owner and a project manager were indicted Monday on involuntary manslaughter charges in the cave-in death of a construction worker at a Milpitas building site in 2012, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

Raul Zapata Mercado, 38, was killed on Jan. 28, 2012, after he was buried alive when a 12-foot wall of dirt collapsed on top of him while he was working on a hillside home on Calaveras Ridge Drive in Milpitas. Zapata was working for Fremont-based general contractor U.S. Sino Investment Inc., at the time.

Three days earlier, a Milpitas building inspector had issued a "stop work" notice to the project manager at the site when he became concerned that cave-ins, just like the one that killed Zapata, could happen after several days of torrential rain; the project had no permit for excavation deeper than 5 feet.

Still, no one stopped working at the site.

"This case is about what happens when construction companies cut corners on safety," District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a news release. "Workplace safety is not an option. What happened to Raul Zapata Mercado was not an accident, it was a crime."

According to Keyvan Irannejad, Milpitas' chief building official, a company can only resume work at a construction site after the city is satisfied that all safety concerns have been addressed and remedied by the company.

"They completely ignored the stop work order," Irannejad said. "We actually had an inspector stop by there a second time randomly and he still saw people working, so he issued a second order. ... The city has the final say when people can go back to work."

Zapata's relatives were not immediately available for comment.

Dan Luo, 36, the project manager who was in charge at the site when Zapata was killed, was arraigned on Monday. A $1 million arrest warrant has also been issued for the company's owner and CEO, former Fremont resident Richard Liu, 52, who officials believe may be in China.

Investigation at a Milpitas luxury home site where a construction worker was killed when a wall of dirt collapsed on him. (Courtesy ABC7 News)

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Milpitas: Company officials charged with involuntary manslaughter in worker's cave-in death

Recipe Herb-Spiced Thai Salad

The Seattle Times - Monday 11th August, 2014

This Thai salad is a perfect one-dish summer dinner with a delicate blend of herbs and spices. Thai food is spicy. The heat can vary. This is a mild version, but you can add as much heat as you ...

Channel News Asia - Monday 11th August, 2014

At least three workers died and 17 others were injured when a six-storey building under construction collapsed just outside Bangkok, police said Monday, as rescuers searched for an unknown number of ...

Fox News - Monday 11th August, 2014

A trapped worker calls for help from the rubble of a collapsed building in Pathumthani province, central Thailand, Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. A six-story building under construction on the outskirts of ...

The Nation - Monday 11th August, 2014

The Medical Council of Thailand and the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists will hold a meeting of 240 obstetricians from 45 clinics and hospitals, who have received license to ...

The Nation - Monday 11th August, 2014

Original post:
Human Rights commissioners to meet Wednesday on NLA membership

Recipe Herb-Spiced Thai Salad

The Seattle Times - Monday 11th August, 2014

This Thai salad is a perfect one-dish summer dinner with a delicate blend of herbs and spices. Thai food is spicy. The heat can vary. This is a mild version, but you can add as much heat as you ...

Channel News Asia - Monday 11th August, 2014

At least three workers died and 17 others were injured when a six-storey building under construction collapsed just outside Bangkok, police said Monday, as rescuers searched for an unknown number of ...

Fox News - Monday 11th August, 2014

A trapped worker calls for help from the rubble of a collapsed building in Pathumthani province, central Thailand, Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. A six-story building under construction on the outskirts of ...

The Nation - Monday 11th August, 2014

The Medical Council of Thailand and the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists will hold a meeting of 240 obstetricians from 45 clinics and hospitals, who have received license to ...

The Nation - Monday 11th August, 2014

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Thailand building collapse kills 1 traps 10