Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

October 10, 2012 19:59 PM

Green Building Expo - Bex Kicks Off In Singapore Today

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah

SINGAPORE, Oct 10 (Bernama) -- Build Eco Xpo (BEX) Asia, Southeast Asia's premier event and exhibition for green building and construction industry, kicked off Wednesday at Singapore's Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

Grace Fu, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, who is Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, graced the official opening ceremony as the Guest-of-Honour.

The three-day regional event -- an industry platform for networking opportunities, insight sharing and business propositions -- has returned this year.

A total of 282 companies from over 29 countries are participating in BEX Asia 2012, more than double since its inception five years ago.

Its rapid growth shows the regional building and construction sector is becoming more eco-friendly and is keen on adopting sustainable technologies, products and work practices.

The green building rush is also creating business opportunities. Last year, a total of 7,693 people from 37 countries, including 3,086 key executives and decision makers, visited BEX Asia.

A staggering US$81 million was generated in sales, up 11 per cent from US$73 million in 2010. This year, BEX Asia is expecting over 8,000 visitors and US$90 million in sales.

See more here:
Green Building Expo - Bex Kicks Off In Singapore Today

A pensioner's plea to give a new lease of life to the office he had once worked in has been heard.

Bihar Police Building Construction Corporation (BPBCC) has taken steps to repair the historic Pirbahore police station in the capital. The corporation has charted out a detailed plan and deputed a team of officials to monitor the repair work.

Four days after The Telegraph published a report on the dilapidated condition of the police station building and its first officer in-charge Uma Nath Verma donating Rs 5,001 from his pension account for the repair work, a band of labourers started removing debris and garbage from the premises on Wednesday.

Sources in the police headquarters said a copy of Verma's letter was sent to the BPBCC chairman last week.

A senior IPS officer said the letter addressed to chief minister Nitish Kumar created ripples in the police circles. "It was an eye-opener for the senior police officers responsible for proper upkeep of the buildings. It also depicts the picture of the sorry state of affairs at the police stations. It throws light on the poor working conditions of policemen," he said.

The BPBCC chairman-cum-managing director, Ashok Kumar Gupta, said the renovation work would be completed within four months. Around Rs 10.57 lakh has been sanctioned for the repair work. The chairman added that the repair estimate was prepared on the basis of the report of the officials of the technical cell of the corporation. Executive engineer B.P. Chaurasia headed the team.

A decision to get the building renovated was taken at a meeting with the officials of the BPBCC, which decides on construction and repair work of police stations in Bihar. "A detailed report was submitted by a team of technical experts, who visited the Pirbahore police station three days ago," he said.

The corporation was also mulling over a proposal to construct a seven-storeyed building on the land of the police station. "The thana is located at a prime locality and is adjacent to Ashok Rajpath. It could be developed into a multi-storeyed building. The corporation has to seek an approval from the police headquarters and also from the government," Gupta said.

Happy over the decision, Verma, who took the pain to bring the issue into the limelight, said: "It gives me immense pleasure to know that the renovation work has been started. It will be a great pleasure if the police station is developed into a tower police station to control all sorts of crime on the patterns of those in US, Canada and UK."

More:
State answers former cop's prayer for building upgrade

DAVAO CITY A new building costing about P30 million for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Davao City Extension Office is in the works.

SEC-Davao head lawyer Javey Paul Francisco said bidding process for the agencys new building is now undergoing.

The two-level new building will stand at the over 1,000 square meters property owned by SEC at Juna Subdivision, Davao City.

SECs old building now standing at the property in Juna Subdivision is in four levels. Since the building is now dilapidated, SEC will construct a new one, Francisco said.

Construction of the new building will start early next year and be completed in 10 to 12 months, he said.

To improve SEC-Davaos operation, it has requested a P4-million budget to go into full computerization, Francisco said.

At present, SEC-Davao is still partially computerized.

By the time the new building is ready, SEC-Davao will also roll out its online database which will provide prepaid cards to the public in order to have easy access to SEC information and programs, he added.(PNA)

LDV/JGQ/LDP/PJN

For the latest Zamboanga City and Philippine news stories and videos, visit ZamboTimes.com

More:
P30-M SEC new regional office building soon to rise in Davao City

RACINE Students at Racine Unifieds Mack Center have been busy in art class the past three weeks, breaking tiles and arranging them just right for a water-themed mosaic that will decorate the retaining wall outside the buildings entrance.

Students finished designing mosaic sections last week and those sections should be installed outside this week.

Its actually pretty cool that everybody will see it, said 16-year-old sophomore Connor Christensen, a special education student who worked on the mosaic along with about 60 other regular and special education students enrolled in art at the Mack Center, a Racine Unified program housed at 1325 Park Ave. that helps misbehaving and credit-deficient sixth- through 12th-graders get on track and back into their regular schools.

Mack Center art teacher Megan Goers came up with the mosaic idea in talks with a special education teacher.

We just started thinking about public works of art and getting our kids involved with something thats a little bit bigger, Goers said. A lot of our students have rough home lives and they dont really have much that happens that they can really be proud about so that was our goal to allow them to beautify their community and take pride in a space.

To fund the mosaic, Goers received some grant money from Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church, 625 College Ave., and then got donations of necessary supplies, she said. A mosaic is constructed using bits of tile, glass, stone or other materials that get grouted together to reveal a larger picture or design.

Mack Center students started their mosaic construction by measuring the buildings 50-foot long retaining wall, which ranges in height from 21 inches to 18.5 inches. It was selected as the mosaic site because the Mack Center building itself is a historic site and cannot be altered, Goers said.

The mosaic location set, students smashed and sorted tiles Im talking kids with safety glasses and gloves and hammers, Goers said. and then arranged the broken pieces into 1-foot by about 1-foot sections.

You had to fit different pieces in different areas to see what ones went best, student Connor said. It was fun to figure out what pieces went where.

When all the sections get grouted put together outside this week, the mosaic will show the Root River flowing along the retaining walls western side.

Excerpt from:
Mack Center students create outdoor mosaic

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

This week's nasty forecast is making nearlytwo dozenNorth Charlotte homeowners nervous.

They said with each rainstorm the wall that's holding up theirbackyardskeeps lurching outward, and they're worried about safety.

Homeowners in the Sonoma Village community have been battling for months with building company DR Horton to fix the retaining wall that keeps their backyards from falling into a marsh.

"Every rain you just pray you still have a house when you come home," said homeowner Layla McCall.

McCall showed Eyewitness News the 6-foot wall that keeps her backyard from slipping into the undeveloped marsh.

"Our issue is it's eroding here, and eventually this wall is going to fall," McCall said. "You just worry if the wall is falling today. You worry if this the day you come home and your house is in this natural wetland."

Nearly two-dozenresidents said for the last few months bricks along the wall are moving and sliding, and cracks have started to develop -- small at first, then bigger with every rainstorm.

"This is definitely a safety risk because if this wall goes, eventually it'll cause all of this ground to go, because this is a slope. Our houses will potentially fall off the foundation," McCall said.

McCall said homebuilder DR Horton added cement two years ago to fix the problem, but now they're refusing to do more.

View post:
Homeowners battle building company over deteriorating wall

MINNEAPOLIS, MN--(Marketwire - Oct 10, 2012) - Allan Block Corporation, a leading provider of retaining walls, today announced the launch of its Residential Retaining Walls Estimator for the Android phones and tablets.This app is a fully featured estimating tool that guides a user through the step-by-step process of estimating a retaining wall project.This release is following up to the popular release of the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch version back in May 2012.

This user-friendly app has 5 quick steps to enter the information for the project and then has the ability to email the user a complete detailed package with everything needed to get started.This package includes wall drawings in an easy to read format, a listing of local suppliers ready to assist the customer and a complete material list for all of the available AB block collections -- so the user can see the difference and make a choice.

This app is also a great benefit to the contractors bidding projects.Using the simple steps to enter the project's information, they can use the detailed package as a professional proposal to potential customers which saves them time and resources.

Also included within this app is a photo gallery where you can browse through the project photos to find ideas and see the different styles of the Allan Block Retaining Wall products.Check out the Featured Projects to see examples of successful projects from all over the world.Use the app along with our website http://www.allanblock.com to find the installation details, giving the user everything they need to plan, design and build an Allan Block project.

Allan Block has millions of square feet of retaining wall products installed throughout the world, and has the resources to deliver performance and quality to every project.The Allan Block products are inspired by nature and manufactured with recycled materials in order to increase efficiency and minimize the footprint we have on the world we live in.

Read the original here:
Allan Block Releases an Android Version Estimator App for Residential Retaining Walls

Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer

The retaining wall of an apartment complex in Liguanea, St Andrew, which has rendered a section of the Sandy Gully unstable, has raised concern about how the construction received approval from the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC).

Yesterday, Richard Azan, state minister in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, who went on a tour in the area along with a technical team, said it was clear the wall was in breach of the building code.

Azan said the KSAC should play a part in the repair work at the site as, "from observing the wall it is quite heavy and that has helped to contribute to the problem that we are having here".

Communication manager at the National Works Agency Stephen Shaw, who was also on the tour, later made it clear that the apartment buildings behind the wall did not themselves seem to be in breach of the code which stipulates that construction should take place at least 15 feet away from gullies.

"Certainly the building itself looks like it adheres to that minimum, but the retaining wall seems to be in breach. But that is something that the Town and Country Planning Authority will have to look at," Shaw said.

RESIDENTS HAVE TO ASSIST

Azan disclosed that residents occupying the complex might have to assist in whatever way possible to minimise the damage being done to the gully.

"There are some pipes from the apartment buildings that lead to the gully and I think that is contributing to the problem that we are having here," Azan said. "We need to have some discussion with the owners of the property ... they have to help in some way to control the waste water from their property."

In the meantime, Azan said repairs to the Sandy Gully could cost the Government more than $300 million, up from initial estimates.

More here:
Approval for retaining wall at Sandy Gully leaves officials scratching heads

Labour says Christchurch parents are worried the government's school closure proposals are a way of "clearing the decks" for charter schools. 10 October 2012

The government is being accused of using the Christchurch earthquakes as an excuse for privatising the city's schools.

It proposes closing 13 schools and merging 18 others while it is allowing a charter school to open and another private venture - a "character school" run by a relative of Education Minister Hekia Parata - is waiting for approval.

Labour MP Chris Hipkins says Christchurch parents are worried the government is "clearing the decks" so there can be more charter schools.

"Recovery from the earthquakes must not be used as an excuse to privatise Christchurch's education system," he said on Wednesday.

"Charter schools are untested, won't have to employ a full complement of qualified teachers and won't have to teach the same curriculum as public schools."

The government has given the go-ahead for two pilot charter schools, one in Auckland and one in Christchurch.

They will be state-funded and run by businesses or community groups.

Allowing them to operate is part of the government's support agreement with the ACT Party, which says state schools fail one in five students and charter schools will tailor their teaching to deal with those who aren't making it.

The school that Ms Parata's second cousin Rangimarie Parata Takurua proposes opening is a Maori immersion school similar to a charter school, The Press newspaper reports.

Originally posted here:
Govt accused of school `privatisation'

When a viewer called Fox59 to let us know she wasn't getting any help from her landlord in her mold-infested home, we took action to make sure her family has a healthy place to live.

It is in the wall, it is in the carpet, it is all behind my couch, the tenant said.

The concerned mom said she wanted to remain anonymous to protect her family, but felt contacting Fox59 was the only way to get help.

Mold a very big concern for me because I have a baby on a nebulizer. He was sick twice last week back to back in the hospital.

We brought in Brian Lester from Indiana Mold Remediation to check the apartment.

Thats a heavy, black, sooty mold growth and that's definitely something we don't want to allow to stay in the unit, Lester said about some of the mold.

Painting over the mold isn't enough, according to Lester. The apartment needs to stay dry.

Theres a problem; the tenant said every time it rains outside, her walls and carpet get wet, too.

It literally rains inside my apartment, she said.

The first thing you need to do is stop the source of moisture, Lester told Fox59. Then you remove porous building materials that are non-cleanable.

View post:
Taking Action for You: Fox59 helps family with apartment mold problem

The village of Angel Fire has paid a local couple $88,000 to drop a lawsuit filed against the municipality for allegedly requiring them to connect their Angel Fire property to an inoperable sewer system.

Rush Family Limited Partnership No. 2 filed the lawsuit in the Eighth Judicial District Court in Raton May 22 and dismissed its complaint Aug. 30. The village paid the plaintiffs, Avery and Dana Rush, from the New Mexico Self Insurers Fund, an insurance account administered by the New Mexico Municipal League.

Claimants understand and agree that they are releasing all known or unknown, present or future claims against the village of Angel Fire, its elected officials, employees, agents and insurers arising from or in any way related to the claims asserted in the lawsuit or any claims which could have been asserted, an undated, hand-written settlement agreement states.

The Rush familys complaint alleges that on Aug. 21, 2009, the village issued a statement indicating that sewer service was available at the familys residential lot at 44 Beaver Loop in the Valley of the Utes subdivision. From September 2009 to June 2011, it states, the village billed the family for sewer availability.

Plaintiff justifiably relied on Defendants series of negligent misrepresentations and proceeded to design and placed the house on the lot without consideration of locating a gravity septic system, the complaint states. Instead Plaintiff installed the specific sewage treatment system that would connect to the Defendants municipal sewage utility and thereafter completed landscaping on the surface of the lot.

But after the home was built, the complaint states, the village issued a letter in spring 2011 stating the house could not be connected to the municipal sewage system. The family was then forced to remove landscaping, install a pump-operated septic system uphill from the house, and re-landscape the scarring left by the installation process, it states.

Plaintiff unnecessarily spent time and money installing a sewage system and line to connect to the nonexistent sewer line of the village, the complaint states.

The complaint states that the Rush family was seeking monetary damages to be determined at trial, including compensatory and consequential damages, statutory damages, and such other relief deemed proper by the court.

The village settled a separate lawsuit with its Linda Apodaca, its former finance director in May.

Through the earlier settlement, the village paid Apodaca $200,000 to drop a lawsuit she filed against the municipality after she was fired from the position last year. She filed the lawsuit against the village, its Clerk Terry Cordova and then Mayor Stuart Hamilton for allegedly violating the New Mexico Whistleblower Protection Act with the termination of her employment and the Inspection of Public Records Act during her subsequent attempts to review village records.

Go here to see the original:
Sangre Chronicle > Angel Fire > Angel Fire pays $88,000 to settle sewer lawsuit