Recent news from the C&D recycling and demolition industry.

Ten years after receiving its first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the University of California (UC), Merced in Merced, California, has earned platinum certification for its Classroom and Office Building 2 (COB2).

This marks the campus 17th LEED certification for new construction and its eighth platinum designation.

From day one, we made a deliberate commitment to build to highest sustainable standards, Assistant Director of Sustainability Mark Maxwell says. With each new building, were proud to demonstrate that were keeping that promise.

COB2 opened in fall 2016, providing much-needed classrooms, tutorial space, research labs and academic and administrative offices to support the campus projected growth, the university says.

Some of COB2s sustainable features include diverting 93 percent of its construction waste from landfills; using 51 percent recycled content during building construction; and being 43 percent more water efficient and 46 percent more energy efficient than California code requires.

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Green building - Construction & Demolition Recycling

Milwaukee Business Journal

Milwaukee's Coolest Offices: An office with a view big draw for Catalyst Construction Milwaukee Business Journal An office with a view of the Milwaukee Art Museum and Lake Michigan, along with lots of open spaces and natural light, highlight the new offices of Catalyst Construction LLP in downtown Milwaukee. Check out the attached slideshow to see photos of the ... and more »

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Milwaukee's Coolest Offices: An office with a view big draw for Catalyst Construction - Milwaukee Business Journal

Engineering | News releases | Research | Technology | UW and the community

April 20, 2017

A University of Washington-led research group has taken an important step toward measuring and ultimately reducing the global carbon footprint of building construction and long-term maintenance.

The Carbon Leadership Forum is a collaborative effort among academics and industry professionals based in the UWs College of Built Environments that studies reducing carbon emissions over a buildings entire period of use, or life cycle.

There is growing recognition in the building industry of the need to track carbon emissions across a buildings full life cycle, said Kate Simonen, architect, structural engineer and UW associate professor of architecture, who leads the carbon forum. But she said industry professionals need better information and guidance on how to implement low-carbon method in practice.

More on the Embodied Carbon Benchmark Study:

The forum took a step in this direction in December by publishing the results of its Embodied Carbon Benchmark Study. Embodied carbon is the name for all carbon emissions that occur when extracting, manufacturing and installing building materials. The study employs a process called Life Cycle Assessment LCA for short to measure embodied carbon emissions in buildings. Simonen wrote a book on the subject in 2014.

The benchmark study provides data to building industry professionals so they can include study of embodied carbon into their decision making. It includes the largest known interactive database of building-embodied carbon with information on more than 1,000 buildings. The report also provides a foundation for the next stage of the project, the development of a Life Cycle Assessment Practice Guide, due by the end of 2017.

Manufacturing materials and constructing buildings results in significant energy use and carbon impact, said Simonen. This research helps us answer questions such as: Is this a high (or low) carbon building? Which material choices or building systems lead to lower carbon solutions? How significant are green design choices?

To place construction-related carbon emissions in real-world perspective, Simonen added: Construction alone of a single low embodied carbon office building could save 30 million kilograms, or 33,000 tons, in carbon emissions the emissions equivalent of avoiding driving a car around the Earth 3,000 times.

This benchmarking stage follows the Carbon Leadership Forum work in 2012 to create one of the first sets of product category rules for reporting the environmental footprint of concrete, enabling concrete producers to more accurately report on their products carbon emissions. These standards have been used by the top six concrete producers in the United States to inform their selection of concrete mixes.

In the design phase, our data enables architects and engineers to use carbon, and other environmental impacts, as a performance criteria in addition to common criteria such as cost and strength, when specifying and selecting concrete, Simonen said.

To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate, global carbon emissions must peak by the year 2020 and fossil fuels be eliminated entirely by 2050.

TheEmbodied Carbon Benchmark Studyis the first stage of the ongoing project called LCA for Low Carbon Construction, and was funded by the Charles Pankow Foundation, Skanska USA and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

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For more information, contact Simonen at 206-685-7282 or ksimonen@uw.edu

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Toward greener construction: UW professor leads group setting benchmarks for carbon across life of buildings - UW Today

Exterior of the T3 building in Minneapolis.

Hines is widely known for building glass and steel skyscrapers across the globe. So, it would seem that the developer is going a bit against the grain in its latest endeavor with a boutique office property in Minneapolis made largely of wood.

The new 225,000-square-foot (21,000 sq m) T3 office building is being touted as the largest mass timber building in the United States to be constructed in recent history. The project, which was completed at the end of November, is located in the trendy North Loop neighborhood directly adjacent to Minneapoliss central business district (CBD). The use of wood componentsmainly glulam (glue-laminated timber) and nail-laminated timberis apparent throughout the building in its ceiling, floors, columns, and beams.

The big idea behind the building on the architectural side was to take the structural base material and have it as the finished product as well, says Bob Pfefferle, director of Hines Minneapolis. The building also emphasized sustainability throughout and has achieved Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) status.

One of the factors driving the renewed interest in timber construction is the sustainable component and the use of a renewable resource as a core building material. For example, the 180,000 cubic feet (5,100 cubic m) of wood used to build T3 can be grown in North American forests in less than 15 minutes, notes Stephen J. Cavanaugh, design leader and principal at DLR Group in Chicago. The project was designed by Vancouver-based Michael Green Architecture (MGA) in conjunction with DLR Group as the architect of record.

While everyone is familiar with wood, using it on this scale is new and different, says Cavanaugh. The other key thing that T3 shows is that timber also can be economically viable for large-scale construction, he adds.

An unfinished floor in the T3 building.

Timber, Transit, and Tech

Timber is clearly the star of the show in the new building. It is a new approach to office, says Sam Maguire, a vice president at JLL in Minneapolis. It takes many of the same characteristics that people love about the historic warehouse district and the North Loop neighborhood and modernizes them with efficiencies and amenities that companies want to attract and retain workers in todays market, he adds. JLL is working with Hines as the leasing agent at the property.

Another goal for the project was to create a building that is ahead of its time in terms of technology, Maguire adds. For example, the building incorporated a cellphone booster system that enhances signal and connectivity throughout the building, whether people are parking their car below grade, in an elevator cab, or on the rooftop deck. That boost technology extends the battery life of devices and allows people to work on the fly wherever they are within the building, he says.

Transit is another key component of the project. The building is located about one block from Target Field Station, which is a major transit hub for light-rail transit, commuter rail, and metro buses. The building also has direct access to the Minneapolis skyway, an indoor walkway system that connects many of the buildings in the Minneapolis CBD, as well as having direct access to the Cedar Lake Trail bike and walking path.

It was that access to transit that first got Hines interested in the T3 site back in 2006. At that time, the North Loop was just started to gain traction as a new up-and-coming urban neighborhood adjacent to the CBD with condo and apartment development, chef-driven restaurants, and plans for the addition of the new bike trail. Talk of building a new Major League Baseball stadium in the area for the Minnesota Twins had been ongoing for about a decade. However, what really piqued Hiness interest was a plan to expand light rail and commuter lines to the neighborhood.

Target Field opened in 2010 and Target Field Station opened in 2014. Currently, the transit station has light-rail connections to Mall of America, the MinneapolisSaint Paul International Airport, and Saint Paul, with additional expansion lines that will be added to Eden Prairie in the south metro area. Were very excited about that and just benefiting from being near the center of the wheel-and-spoke public transit hub that is emerging, Maguire says.

A furnished office space.

Demand for Creative Space

Hines took some cues from the multifamily sector to create a live/work/play lifestyle for building occupants. T3 features ground-floor retail space as well as social and collaborative space, indoor bike parking, locker rooms, and a fitness center for building tenants. The upper floors are devoted to office, and the building also features a rooftop deck and underground parking with about 65 stalls.

Hines broke ground on the project as a fully speculative project. We knew going into it that there was a good likelihood that we may not get any of it leased prior, and if we wait for it to get pre-leased we may never break ground or we lose potential to be first in, says Pfefferle.

That lead has helped speed lease-up, including a reported deal with Amazon to lease the top two floors. The building has two small retail spaces left to lease on the ground floor and less than 15,000 square feet (1,400 sq m) of office space available. Everybody liked the idea, but once people could touch it and feel it and walk through the building to see what it was all about, that is when leasing took off, Pfefferle says.

And modern timber construction appears to have a growing following in both the public and private sectors. For example, construction was completed in January on the 87,500-square-foot (8,100 sq m) Design Building at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The $52 million project was built as a demonstration project for wood structures. Timber construction also is gaining momentum in Europe; and in Australia, Lendlease kicked off a new 160,000-square-foot (14,900 sq m) timber office project in Brisbane.

Hines also is moving forward with additional timber office buildings. At present, the developer has five new timber office projects in various stages of development in the United States, including projects that have been announced in Chicago and Atlanta. So, the idea is very much in play in other markets, notes Pfefferle.

Link:
Hines' T3 Office Is Another Step Forward for Timber Construction - Urban Land

WeWork made its name renting shared office spaces to startups and other small companies in trendy buildings with fruit water and ping-pong tables. But in a bid to lure larger and more mature clients, WeWork is testing a new business proposition: offices for companies that, when it comes to the workplace, dont actually want to share.

In recent months, WeWork has begun providing design, construction, and management services to enterprise clients who want a workplace with the companys signature amenities and flair, but would rather pay WeWork to customize their space than lease one of its shared offices.

What were seeing is that large companies want to be small, Dave Fano, WeWorks chief product officer, told press at a breakfast in downtown Manhattan this morning. What they really want is that space as a service, he added, riffing on software as a service (SaaS), a popular bit of jargon in the tech industry to describe software thats licensed on a subscription basis rather than owned. Community managers, fruit water, coffeethey get the full experience.

WeWork decided to test an enterprise option after noticing that several companies had booked entire floors in its existing locations, effectively carving out their own offices. WeWork currently has 30 floors among its more than 135 locations that are rented out by single clients, or members. It has five buildings with only one or two occupants. One of them, an unnamed company in Chicago, reduced its leased space to two floors from three with WeWorks assistance. Real estate site The Real Deal also reported this afternoon that IBM has inked a deal for all eight floors occupied by WeWork in a building near Manhattans Union Square, and is set to move 600 employees to the space.

WeWork has always been deeply involved in the design and management of its office buildings. The offices have a purposeful Silicon Valley vibe, with glass walls, wood-paneled floors, and industrial accents. Theyre designed to create a sense of community, a popular WeWork talking point, but also to be maximally efficient. Weve thought obsessively about the right dimensions for a conference room, Fano joked. The company recently received a $300 million investment from Japans SoftBank and is valued at more than $17 billion.

That valuation is largely tied to WeWorks ability to brand itself as more than just another property management firm. As the company takes on a more obvious design and development role, its wary of being labeled a glorified facilities manager. Were not ever just going to do design and construction services, thats not for us, Fano said. What we really want to do is reinvigorate the culture.

He added that WeWork isnt focused on making a profit on development work it does for corporate clients. We dont want to make money on that, he said. We dont want to lose money on that, but were really just letting them leverage our design and construction.

A lot of the details still need to be hashed out. For now, WeWork is thinking about custom builds and on-site services for companies with 50,000 to 60,000 square feet and at least 1,000 employees. It would also aim to sign these clients to three- to five-year contracts. Thats a much greater commitment than WeWork asks from its typical member, who can rent a desk or office month-to-month. A rotating hot desk starts at $220 a month and a private office at $400 a month. WeWork leases and refurbishes its properties, but doesnt actually own them.

WeWork believes theres a market for space as a service among companies that aspire to be more startup-like, even if they dont want to share their workplace. Companies are looking to be asset-light and commitment-free, so that they can be nimble, Fano said. Space is the full environment. Its experience as a service, culture as a service. And we see all of those as a subset of the space.

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Shared office evangelist WeWork is now designing private offices - Quartz

Construction trucks lined up Wednesday for an intricately timed dance of delivering tons of cement for Pleasant Groves Grove Tower office building.

Despite weather delays, the crews were there Wednesday afternoon to pour the footings and foundation for the 192,000 square foot office space set to go vertical just near the northbound Interstate 15 freeway onramp and Pleasant Grove Boulevard. The building will be six stories tall, and will be able to house about 1,200 employees.

It is the largest multi-tenanted office building between Provo and Sandy, said Daniel Thomas, regional partner for St. John Properties. St. John is the development company behind the 65-acre Valley Grove development project that will eventually house almost 25 other buildings in addition to the Grove Tower.

The project brings an estimated $250 million investment into Pleasant Grove and will include one million more square feet of various types of office and retail space.

We are thrilled with the investment St. John Properties is making in the gateway of our city. The Grove Tower represents the breadth, depth, and quality of their company as much as the development they are building, said Pleasant Grove Mayor Mike Daniels. The project firmly establishes Pleasant Grove as the business center of the valley.

Thomas agreed that the site is a prime spot for this development, as it sits in the heart of Utah County, with unparalleled access. Instructure, an education company, has expanded into Utah County, and is already signed on to take the top two floors of the Grove Tower. Thomas cant share specifics on other tenants, but hes been excited about others who are coming in as well.

Were finding financial users, medical users and real estate. Pleasant Grove is a great location for a diverse group of businesses, Thomas said. Were serving more than just the tech community.

The project started with two low-slung buildings that Thomas calls the show row, fronting the corner of one of the busiest intersections in Pleasant Grove. Thomas said that office space allows users to have highly visible signage and direct access to their offices from the highly traveled Pleasant Grove Boulevard and North County Boulevard.

Though it will have less signage opportunities, the Grove Tower will have unobstructed 360-degree views of the valley from its floor-to-ceiling windows.

You put windows 100 feet in the air and the view will be incredible, Thomas said.

As with many of the buildings in the Valley Grove project, the Grove Tower is LEED designed, though it adds more than a million dollars to the construction costs. Thomas said there may not be a lot of economic benefit initially to a more energy efficient building, but it will lower the operating costs for tenants to the tune of almost 20 percent. St. John engineers estimate the Valley Grove project as a whole will consume 39 percent less energy, 12 percent less water and 35 percent less greenhouse gas emissions.

Were looking at the building and economic impact over 40 years. We hope were helping to solve some of the smog and air quality problem, Thomas said. We are building a legacy project in the heart of the county. This is a project that will stand for decades, and will be a critical part of the community and fabric of Pleasant Grove.

The footings and foundation for the Grove Tower started Wednesday, with steel erection planned for May. Thomas said he expects the first tenants to move into the Grove Tower in January.

Karissa Neely reports on Business & North County events, and can be reached at (801) 344-2537 or kneely@heraldextra.com. Follow her on Twitter: @DHKarissaNeely

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Pleasant Grove's Valley Grove project heads vertical - Daily Herald

Terracon moving up the street in Corporate Ridge to a new $21 ... Kansas City Star Some time early next year Terracon will pack up its belongings at its corporate headquarters in Olathe and move up the street into a new $21 million building for ... and more »

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Terracon moving up the street in Corporate Ridge to a new $21 ... - Kansas City Star

Due to the continuing construction on the Center 101 mixed use development project, drivers in Downtown Arlington can expect more detours and road closures along Mesquite Street and Abram Street in coming weeks.

Both streets around City Hall and the City's Municipal Office Building will be closed beginning April 20. The closures will impact employees that work downtown, as well as citizens coming to the Municipal Office Building to serve on jury duty, appear in court and pay fines.

The City of Arlington will install Digital Message Signs in downtown to remind drivers about the upcoming closures.

Mesquite Street, from Border to Front streets, will be closed from 5 a.m. to 5 p..m. Thursday, April 20. The section that will be closed will run northbound to just north of the train tracks. Drivers can take West Street, Cooper Street or Collins Street as alternatie routes through downtown.

All lanes of Abram Street between Center and Mesquite streets will be closed from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the same days.

In addition, from April 24 through May 22, Abram from Oak Street to Elm Street, Center from Front Street to South Street, and Mesquite from UTA Boulevard/Border Street to Front Street will all be completely closed.

Drivers can take Division Street to the north or UTA Boulevard/East Border Street to the south to get around the Abram Street area construction.

To learn more about road construction projects in Arlington, please visit the Citys Street Tracker webpage.

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Abram, Mesquite streets to be closed this week for construction - Arlington Voice

Pleasant Grove, UT (PRWEB) April 19, 2017

St. John Properties has commenced construction on its newest office building. The 190,000 square foot Grove Tower is next to I-15 and Pleasant Grove Boulevard (Exit 275). Grove Tower follows on the companys recent completion of two other adjacent single story office buildings within their 60-acre master planned development known as Valley Grove.

"We are thrilled with the investment St. John Properties is making in the gateway of our city, states Mayor Mike Daniels of Pleasant Grove City. The Grove Tower represents the breadth, depth, and quality of their company as much as the development they are building. We are very excited about the economic development impact of St. John Properties investment in our city, adds PG City Councilwoman Dianna Andersen.

Interested persons may watch the buildings construction cam HERE. We are so pleased to be a part of Pleasant Groves rapid growth on Utahs Silicon Slopes, states Daniel Thomas, managing partner for St. John Properties Utah. In the heart of Utah County, Grove Tower offers businesses unmatched connectivity and access to the whole valley, giving employees more time for work and play and not in traffic.

The six-story Grove Tower class-A office space promises breathtaking 360-degree views of Mt. Timpanogos and Utah Lake. Grove Tower is LEED designed to address the air pollution that plagues our valleys, reduce water consumption and lower maintenance costs for tenants.

The Need The state added 42,100 jobs between November 2015 and November 2016, according to the Utah Department of Workforce Services. Utah Valleys tech heavy silicon slopes are pulling the epicenter of population growth south of the state's capitol city as new jobs and new homes dot the Utah County landscape according to the University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. This is driving increased demand for office space in Utah Valley.

Grove Tower anchor tenant Instructure is expanding to Utah Valley. We are excited to expand our engineering and customer success teams in Utah County and look forward to drawing upon the incredible talent base the market provides," said Jeff Weber, SVP of People and Places for Instructure. St. John projects Grove Tower completion in December with tenant occupancy in January 2018.

About St. John Properties Established in 1971 by Edward St. John, St. John Properties has evolved from a developer of commercial buildings into a long-term real estate investment company. Now expanding in Utah, St. John Properties is attracted by the States economic strength, pro-business climate, quality of life, and projected growth. St. Johns new Valley Grove development in Pleasant Grove marks the companys commitment to Utahs quality of life with its 40th LEED certified commercial office building.

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St. John Properties Begins Construction on 190,000 sq.ft. Grove Tower - PR Web (press release)

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Construction has officially begun on Fifth + Broadway, one of the largest single mixed-use developments in the history of Nashville and the state of Tennessee. The transformative downtown project, which will replace the 6.2-acre Nashville Convention Center (rendered obsolete with the opening of the Music City Center in 2013), will deliver 235,000 SF of strategically important retail and entertainment (including the National Museum for African American Music), 385,000 SF of Class-A office at 501 Commerce, over 350 residential units, and more than 2,000 parking spaces. The project is spearheaded by San Diego, Calif.-based developer OliverMcMillan and Nashville, Tenn.-based developer Spectrum | Emery.

Fifth + Broadway is the pivotal development for Nashvilles urban core, said Mayor Megan Barry. We believe this project elevates the Music City brand, delivering world class retail and entertainment, as well as the first of its kind National Museum of African American Music, all in the heart of downtown. As it sits at the heart of our City and at the center of our business and entertainment district, Fifth + Broadway will serve to increase the walkability, connectivity and comprehensive offerings of our city.

Of critical importance is the developments 235,000 SF of retail and entertainment, which at delivery will be the largest collection of shopping in downtown. Downtown Nashville retail space is currently experiencing overwhelming demand; the market only has 2.9% retail space vacancy per Tom Turner of the Downtown Nashville Partnership.

There is very little space remaining for downtown retail, leaving many interested retailers unable to fulfill their needs, added Turner. Fifth + Broadway will be the greatest concentration of retail downtown; delivering the flexible options that retailers require and consumers have been demanding.

Largely driving that demand is Nashvilles record hot streak of tourism and growth. 13.9 million visitors came to Nashville in 2016, up from the record-breaking 13.5 million in 2015, and annual visitor spending now exceeds $5.7 billion. Nashville has been listed as a Top Destination in the World by major travel publications for 5 years straight, including making Travel + Leisures 50 Best Places to Travel in 2017 as well as Thrillests #1 U.S. City to Spend a Weekend.

It is no secret that Nashvilles hospitality industry has been on a record-setting run, said Butch Spyridon, president and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. The challenge for us now is to sustain this incredible momentum. Our facilities, hotels, venues, attractions and restaurants have all enhanced our attractiveness as a destination. With the development at Fifth + Broadway, retail can now be added to the outstanding offerings in the downtown area and help ensure future success.

With approximately 7,000 new hotel rooms under construction or in final planning and nearly 13,000 rooms currently proposed, there is increased hotel capacity in the immediate pipeline to meet Music Citys tourism boom which is showing no signs of slowing down.

In addition to tourism, the number of downtown Nashville residents is expected to surpass 14,000 by the end of the 2018, almost triple the approximately 5,000 that lived in the urban core in 2010. This fast rise in residents is mirrored by downtown corporate growth, highlighted by the new headquarters for Bridgestone Americas, Inc. which will bring more than 1,700 dedicated workers within walking distance of the Fifth + Broadway retail center.

Current retail and entertainment tenants already signed on for Fifth + Broadway include a restaurant concept from Nashville restaurateur Tom Morales (ACME, The Southern) and the National Museum of African American Music, the first museum of its kind celebrating the rich tradition of African American music and its influence on all music.

Nobody stands to benefit more from the comprehensive offerings of Fifth + Broadway than the tenants of 501 Commerce, the office building in the development. Companies occupying the premier building will benefit from convenient access, unmatched views, on-site amenities and a highly efficient design, with a target of LEED Silver sustainable infrastructure certification. As part of downtowns first mixed-use destination, office tenants will have direct access to the shopping and dining, connectivity to an elevated Nashville food market as well as a 20,000 SF rooftop amenity terrace that features dramatic views of downtown.

501 Commerce will offer corporate tenants the total package when it comes to a first-class, visible location with the added advantage of connectivity and immediate access to downtown Nashvilles greatest concentration of retail and entertainment, said Rob Lowe of Cushman & Wakefield, who is leading 501 Commerces leasing along with Stewart Lyman, also of Cushman & Wakefield. Walkability and access to urban amenities is what the modern workforce craves, making 501 Commerce a dream for HR personnel charged with maximizing recruitment and retention. OliverMcMillan and Spectrum | Emery have designed a truly unique office opportunity that will set the bar for urban development in Nashville going forward.

The groundbreaking marks the start of work on the project by construction manager Skanska. Fifth + Broadways retail and its office building, 501 Commerce, are expected to be complete by late 2019.

For more information on Fifth + Broadway retail opportunity, visit: http://fifthandb.com/retail.

For more information for corporations interested in 501 Commerce, visit: http://501Commerce.com.

Follow Fifth + Broadway on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/fifthandb and Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/fifthandb.

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Fifth + Broadway Begins Construction; Will Deliver Unprecedented Retail and Office Opportunity at Center of ... - Business Wire (press release)