Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

(PRWEB UK) 17 August 2014

Electrical heat-tracing specialist, Pentair Thermal Building Solutions, has launched the industrys first BIM (Building Information Modelling) content for heat-tracing solutions. The comprehensive suite of new tools includes BIM families and the dynamic Raychem Trace-It Revit add-in for winter safety applications and hot water maintenance. With this content, architects, engineers, contractors and building owners can easily incorporate heat-tracing content into their building models to optimise efficiencies and performance.

BIM is widely accepted as the integrated process for holistic project collaboration and adoption rates are rapidly increasing across Europe and the USA. In the UK, this is reinforced by the requirement for BIM Level 2 on government projects by 2016. By bringing project teams together at the early stages, BIM has a critical impact in the delivery of more efficient construction projects throughout design, build, operation and maintenance phases.

Pentairs new Raychem Trace-It add-in enables users working in Autodesk Revit to design, calculate and specify the companys reliable, high quality heat-tracing solutions directly and quickly within their BIM models. This smart tool automatically pulls pertinent information from the Revit model, such as pipe material, sizes and lengths. From this, it provides a bill of materials for the heat-tracing application, circuiting information and installation details to assist with estimating and construction. Raychem Trace-It is currently available for pipe frost protection and single pipe hot water systems with more products to follow in the coming months.

In addition to the add-in, Pentair has developed a group of families for ramp heating and surface snow melting, and roof and gutter de-icing. Each family includes design guides and product information to assist with design of the heat-tracing system. Dynamic and streamlined, the BIM families and Trace-It add-in optimise the heat-tracing content within the BIM model. The content is easy to use with a simple user interface and is compatible with Autodesk Revit 2013 and all later editions of Revit.

Our new BIM content facilitates engineering design decisions, providing the deliverables needed to handle each project effectively, comments Jonathan Jones, European Product Manager at Pentair Thermal Building Solutions. By using our Trace-It add-in and BIM families, each and every stakeholder has relevant and useful information throughout the project. This results in quicker, more efficient design and build, which saves time and optimises building performance. And importantly for the UK, were providing the tools to comply with the UK BIM strategy in advance of 2016.

Brad Faulconer, Vice President and General Manager, Thermal Building Solutions, adds: BIM is a game changer in how buildings are designed, procured, built, delivered and maintained. As the first company to introduce BIM content for electrical heat-tracing products, were helping project teams adopt an integrated and collaborative approach to building design and management.

This latest innovation reinforces our position as pioneers in the global heat-tracing industry. Its a tangible example of our commitment to meeting market needs and helping our customers do business more easily and efficiently, says Faulconer.

The Pentairs Raychem BIM families can be downloaded from Autodesk Seek (seek.autodesk.com) and the Trace-It add-in is available in the Autodesk Exchange store (apps.exchange.autodesk.com). A complete catalogue of instruction videos showing how to use the BIM families is also available to view on YouTube search for Pentair Thermal Revit tutorials.

Editors note: ABOUT PENTAIR THERMAL MANAGEMENT Our Thermal Building Solutions focuses on keeping people and infrastructure safe from harm, enhancing building performance and bringing comfort into the home. Our Pentairs industry-leading Raychem brand products are sustainable, easy to install and use, and are relied upon by building investors, owners and professionals in commercial, residential and infrastructure markets around the world. For more information, visit http://pentairthermal.com.

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Pentair Introduces the first BIM content for Heat Tracing Solutions

IF YOU THOUGHT that Bajan men were the only ones in the world who pull out their dingalings out of their zips and pee wherever the urge hits them, at the side of the road, on a tree, on a paling, in the sea, in a gutter, on the back wheel of a bus, in a sweet potato field in the country or an alley in the heart of the City, think again.

YouTube is currently soaked by thousands of hits for a video, which, as reports indicate, relatesto the fact that urinating in public is also a bighabit and a great a problem in Asian countries, especially India.

They note that its not uncommon to see men urinating on walls, in alleys and on corners. Sounds just like Barbados and so we could probably call ourselves, or they themselves, Barbindians.

The condition, as is in Barbados, particularly Bridgetown, has to do with a lack of public toilets, together with poor understanding of hygiene andpublic decency.

Apparently, many attempts have been made to solve the problem by activists and different organisations, including public campaigns in Delhi, cleaning and painting of walls, and shaming offenders in Rajasthan by drumming and blowing whistles. But those efforts have had little visible impact.

So how can India stop people from urinating in public? Probably through the latest attempt being made in the city of Mumbai where The Clean Indian, an anonymous anti-public urinationactivist group, has rolled out a possible solution to the problem.

If you go on YouTube, there is the video of The Clean Indian in action with what they call theirpissing tanker. The members wear masks and patrol the city on a giant yellow water tanker spraying any and everybody they see urinating in public.

Their action has been greeted with mixed reactions from Indian citizens with many supporting the effort. It has also been highlighted in an article published in the BBC News online magazine and, according to the reports, there have been interesting debates about whether it is a cultural issue rather than hygienic, whether it is a problem and whether people should bother.

So do we in Barbados need a Clean Bajan group driving around in a refurbished old Barbados Fire Service tanker dousing any men caught with theirdoggies out and in hand, letting it flow wherever they feel like?

The only problem I perceive is that on Kadooment Day, when revellers along theroute have little or no alternative but to pee in public, a large number of the people being doused will be female.

Link:
THE AL GILKES COLUMN: When peeing is gross

Activity at Zenith Ridge 2, one of the three office buildings being built by Burns & Scalo Real Estate Services in Southpointe II, remains strong. The latest tenant to lease space is Regus, which has signed for 15,000 square feet. Regus, which offers shared workspace that includes offices, meeting rooms and access to business lounges, will be on the first floor of the 150,000-square-foot, five-story, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design/G-rated building. Other tenants include EQT, which leased 30,000 square feet, and Sentric Corp., which leased 13,334 square feet.

A new speculative warehouse/distribution facility, with 75,000 square feet, is under construction on a site off Crown Court in North Fayette with an anticipated opening by the end of the year. The estimated $5 million development by Ashford Imperial Partners is being marketed by Joel Kreider and Mike Mannella, both of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. The speculative structure, which can be subdivided, is in the Imperial Business Park.

Officals of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple Inc. will seek the approval on Wednesday of the Monroeville Planning Commission to build a two-story, 13,410-square-foot temple and spire, including a 1,466-square-foot addition, 264-square-foot connecting wing and four gazebos, at 1449 Abers Creek Road. The request includes cut-and-fill oprations of about 24,800 cubic yards because the site has a steep slope or grade. The total site will include one lot of 36.646 acres, a parcel of 22.755 acres and a third lot of 0.768 acre.

In Westmoreland County, two 15-year loans at 2.25 percent interest have been awarded by the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority to renovate buildings for multi-tenant occupancy by leasing to potential businesses. Farnham and Pfile Co. Inc. will receive $896,530 to renovate a building in Monessen. A $542,842 loan will be provided to the Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland for similar treatment to a building in Mt. Pleasant. It is anticipated that the projects will lead to 33 new jobs and retain 79 positions. Total investment for both projects is more than $3.55 million. The Department of Community and Economic Development awarded the city of Latrobe a $60,000 Keystone Communities grant to support the Main Street Program. The grant will provide funding, on behalf of the Latrobe Community Revitalization Program for implementation of the Main Street program over the next three years. Funds will be used to attract businesses and hotel development, downtown facade improvements, ordinance enforcement, the development of a walk/bike trail and the renovation of 3,000 square feet of mixed-use space.

Dollar General opened on Saturday at 4725 Centre Ave., Oakland, with from six to 10 employees.

Annie Hanna Cestra has been reappointed by Gov. Tom Corbett to a term on the Pennsylvania Department of Real Estate Commission. This marks her third term on the Commission which she serves as the current chair. Chestra is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services.

A check for $75,000 was presented to the Washington County Agricultural Fair board of directors by the Washington County Board of Commissioners. This marks the final payment for improvements to the fairgrounds. The county has invested more than $975,000 at the site since 2002, primarily for the construction of buildings 2 and 4.

Astrobotic Technology Inc., which delivers affordable space robotic products, services and future missions for emerging commercial space markets, is expanding its terrestrial facilities at 2515 Liberty Ave., Strip District. It has obtained a $123.290 seven-year loan from the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, a matching grant from Allegheny County and private financing for the $328,996 project. It includes a 10,000-square-foot expansion on the second floor with office space for 50 employees and specialized facilities, including a clean room, shake table and thermal-vacuum chamber. Astrobotic's 2015 inaugural mission will land on the Moon's Lacus Mortis region to claim the Google Lunar XPrize and explore a lunar pit that is a suspected entrance to a lunar cave. Team Astrobotic, with Carnegie Mellon University, has been selected to compete for three of the recently established terrestrial Milestone Prizes, which awards $1.75 million for accomplishments in landing, mobility and imaging.

Correction

Field & Stream's opening at the Old Mill shopping complex in Washington County will be on Sept. 12. A wrong date was listed in the Real Notes column in the Tribune-Review's Aug. 10 edition.

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Real estate notes: Regus leasing in busy Southpointe II complex

August 17, 2014

Image Caption: A remote camera recently captured P-13 and her 10-month-old kittens, P-28 and P-30, on a kill in Malibu Creek State Park. The three of them spent two nights sharing their meal of mule deer. After investigating more than 400 kill sites during our study, we found that mule deer accounted for 95 percent of mountain lion kills. Credit: National Park Service

Cell Press

That mountain lions have managed to survive at all in the Santa Monica Mountains of California in the vicinity of the megacity of Los Angeles is a testament to the resilience of wildlife, but researchers studying these large carnivorous cats now show in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on August 14 that the lions are also completely isolated, cut off from other populations by the freeway. According to the researchers analyses, only one young mountain lion successfully dispersed into the Santa Monica Mountains in a decade.

Due to their almost complete isolation, the Santa Monica mountain lions show dangerously low levels of genetic diversity, the study shows. The circumstances have also made the Los Angeles-area cats incredibly sensitive to individual behaviors. That single male that immigrated in 2009 and successfully mated substantially enhanced the genetic diversity of the entire population all on his own.

Many of these phenomena, including very low genetic diversity and close inbreeding, have only been previously seen in Florida panthers, an endangered and completely isolated population of mountain lions, says Seth Riley of the National Park Service. In our case, the fact that lions in the Santa Monica Mountains are completely surrounded by roads and development likely lead[s] to behaviors that would be rare or nonexistent if normal population and social processes could occur.

Among those behaviors, Riley and his colleagues found evidence of close inbreeding events between fathers and daughters and of intraspecific killing, even of offspring, siblings, and mates, all behaviors that the researchers suspect would be rare or nonexistent if sufficient movement between populations was possible.

While one male lion moved into the Santa Monica Mountains during the study period, to the researchers knowledge not a single young mountain lion has successfully dispersed out, when normally 75% of young lions all of the males and half of the females would likely disperse. Riley says the one possible exception that proves the rule is a single male who dispersed likely from the Santa Monica Mountains out to Griffith Park, where he lives in a tiny dead-end home range.

Increased connectivity is critical for the long-term survival of mountain lions and other wildlife in the region, Riley says. Unfortunately, no one was thinking about that 60 years ago when the Los Angeles freeway was built. As a result, Route 101 is a development corridor, with very little natural habitat on either side. Riley says the National Park Service, the California Department of Transportation, and other local agencies have been working for over a decade to try to obtain the funds for a wildlife crossing, ideally an overpass, for carnivores.

On the bright side, that one successful male immigrant shows that it might not take many successful crossings to get wild populations in much better shape at the genetic level. Otherwise, the future is easy to predict, Riley says.

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Freeways As Fences, Trapping The Mountain Lions Of Los Angeles

Looking for work, or know someone who is?

Times/Review classifieds offers local companies a place to advertise their job openings each week, and this week close to 50 positions are available from an accountant, to an electrician, to a handyman.

And for anyone interested in submitting a classified ad, email: classifieds@timesreview.com.

Check out the listings below:

ACCOUNTING CLERK: F/T for our payroll department. High school diploma and payroll tax experience required. Little Flower Children and Family Services in Wading River, NY. Send resume, http://www.wadingriver-jobs@lfchild.org or fax 631-929-6203. EOE

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSIST- ANT: P/T, weekends, immediate start. Top real estate firm seeks a detail-oriented front desk administrative assistant for Greenport office. Pleasant demeanor, good communication/computer skills a must. At- tractive hourly rate. References required. Send resume, 37newtown@gmail.com

ART GALLERY ASSISTANT MANAGER: Responsibilities include sales, social media updates and promotion of weekly events. Must be familiar with Macs and able to navigate the Internet. Contact John, info@GalleryCrossing.com

ASSEMBLER: F/T, immediate start. Experienced. Seeking a motivated individual with all-around mechanical skills to join our team. Will train. Electrical and bilingual a plus. Competitive salary, benefits/growth potential. Send resume to wiona@stidd.com or call 631-477- 2400, ext. 132. STIDD Systems, Inc. Greenport, NY 11944.

BARN HELP: P/T in Orient to help care for 2 horses. 516-380-4069.

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Help Wanted: Engineer, landscaper, nurse

by Bill McBride on 8/17/2014 10:59:00 AM

We had hoped that with these settlements we could bring down the number of never-to-be-lived-in houses, said Jim Rokakis, director of the Thriving Communities Institute, a program of the nonprofit Western Reserve Land Conservancy that works to take over and repurpose vacant properties in the Cleveland area. Vacancy rates are 15 percent or higher, all as a result of the crisis. Now its a matter of burying the dead.

Mr. Rokakiss organization also works with 22 county land banks throughout the state, nonprofit entities that take over distressed properties and sell them for nominal amounts to people who will rebuild on them or, more commonly, turn them into gardens or community spaces.

Studies show that bulldozing distressed properties reduces foreclosure rates in the surrounding neighborhoods and can improve the values of nearby homes. An analysis conducted for the Western Reserve Land Conservancy found that demolishing 6,000 homes in and around Cleveland between 2009 and 2013 helped slow the fall in property values, generating a net benefit in retained property values of $1.40 for every dollar spent on demolition. In January 2009, I proposed adding a demolition plan to the stimulus package. This would have helped remove blight from many areas, and would have employed many idled construction workers. I think this was a small missed opportunity.

Excerpt from:
Demolition as Stimulus

SAN JOSE -- Complying with new state rules aimed at cutting water use during California's historic drought, the San Jose City Council is poised to declare a citywide water shortage, ask all residents to cut use by 20 percent and place new limits on watering lawns and landscaping.

But like many other large Bay Area urban communities, the city does not plan to hire "water cops" or issue fines for people who ignore the rules -- at least not for now.

"We are working to make sure the rules are enforced and our community does what is required," said Kerrie Romanow, director of the San Jose's Environmental Services Department. "At this point we don't feel that needs to include monetary fines."

If the City Council approves the new rules at its Aug. 26 meeting, as expected, it will be illegal to water any lawns or landscaping in San Jose every day between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. All private property, along with government property such as schools and parks, is affected.

Residents using recycled wastewater for irrigation, such as large businesses and parks, would be exempt, however. So would people watering yards and plants with buckets filled with water collected from their showers.

San Jose's roughly 1 million residents also would be prohibited from watering landscaping so much that water runs into the street, sidewalks or neighboring property. And they would be banned from washing down sidewalks and driveways, washing cars without shut-off nozzles on their hoses, or operating decorative fountains unless they have recirculating water.

The rules would take effect immediately for all city residents, regardless of who provides their water, and continue until April 25, 2015.

Historic drought

California is laboring under its worst drought since at least 1976-77, and by some accounts in a century. The state is in its third year of below-normal rainfall, with creeks drying up, major reservoirs at half full or less, water tables falling and wildfire danger at extreme highs.

San Jose's proposed rules come one month after the state Water Resources Control Board ordered every water provider in the state with more than 3,000 customers to place mandatory rules to limit water wasting and limit landscape watering, allowing fines of up to $500 for violators.

See original here:
California drought: San Jose moving to impose water conservation measures, but without fines

Pedestrians in downtown Helena may notice some of the empty retail space.

Though the empty window fronts downtown may cause people to question, empty commercial space is not exclusive to downtown.

Its not just the downtown. People walk downtown and they see some vacant storefronts, but its not representative of what is coming out of the town, Randall Green, broker and owner of Green & Green Realty Associates, said.

Its no secret that there are several spots in Helena that have commercial space available for rent, such as the Capital Hill Mall, which holds only a handful of open stores.

Green said he thinks part of the problem is that such a large portion of Helenas economy relies on government employment.

The state, Green said, rents about 700,000 square feet of office space in Helena. And while the stability of government employment is good for some aspects of the economy, it isnt expanding into more rental space.

Green also said the financial climate right now is ideal for construction and redevelopment of space. As companies move out of their old spaces into new buildings, its common that no one comes in to fill the old space.

Green pointed to some of the properties that Green and Green is responsible for, including an old health club where the property is sitting vacant, and old fast food places on Prospect Avenue that are vacant.

Helenas economy, in my opinion is floating on a very slow current right now, Green said.

Tracy Reich, director of the Helena Business Improvement District, said thats not the case downtown. She said the downtown economy is healthy and that turnover in retail space is expected to happen anywhere.

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Helenas empty commercial space: Common or concerning?

Johnny Cashs childhood home in Dyess, Arkansas has now been opened to the pubic as a tourist attraction.

Called The Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, Arkansas State Universitys newest Heritage site will be open for public tours after a large restoration project that took place which repaired Cashs home along with several other houses in the neighborhood.

The home attempts to capture the feeling of the 1930s in which Cash lived, and even includes cultural artifacts like Cashs mothers piano, his fathers shaving mug, and the houses original flooring, including the burn marks on the linoleum from the wood-burning stove. While the home had a toilet and a sink, the home had no running water and no electricity until 1945.

As Ruth Hawkins, director of the Heritage Site program, told CNN, most of the other furniture in the house are not original pieces, but objects of the time donated by others.

According to the News Observer, Hawkins also noted that, "restoring the Dyess Colony Administration Building, and even saving at least one of the typical colony houses, would have been a worthwhile project, even without the Johnny Cash connection."

The project is being used to illustrate the life in Dyess during the Great Depression. Hawkins does admit, however, that without the Johnny Cash connection, "the project would not have gotten anywhere near the public support that it has, and it would not be a major tourism draw,"

Hawkins notes that the design and details of the home were based on the pictures and accounts of Cashs siblings, Tommy Cash and Joanne Cash Yates.

CNN and the News Observer both note that Dyess was a federal agricultural resettlement community that was established in 1934 as part of Presidents Franklin Roosevelts New Deal Program. More specifically, the Cash family were part of the farmers who successfully applied to the Works Progress Administration program, becoming one of the 487 families to be given land, a mule, and a job during this economic downturn. The Cash family moved to Dyess when Cash was three years old in 1935.

Cash himself noted the influence Dyess had on him and his music, including the song Five Feet and Rising. As he told to the Dyess High School reunion in 1990, Cash noted that the little church in Dyess, Arkansas, has been such an inspiration to me, and (so have) the people from Dyess.

Excerpt from:
Johnny Cash's childhood home now open as tourist attraction

My life changed the day I visited a friend who had downsized into a charming home perched on the perimeter of a little lake on the outskirts of Kansas City, Mo.

I fell in love with the quiet community of small, unassuming homes built decades ago around a sleepy lake.

After commuting a few hours a day between our home and my store, I was ready for a close location where we could stay when in Kansas City. Within days, my husband Dan had found a little fixer-upper on the lake and, ready or not, we began our downsizing adventure.

If a smaller, easier home sounds like heaven to you, too, I have great news: Your new nest can be just as big on style as the larger home you're leaving behind. Here are five tips I'm following as we transition to our new home.

Modify to fit your needs

The flow of our lake home comfortably fit the sweet elderly woman we brought it from, but Dan and I knew it was not going to work so well for us and how we do life.

We connected with a good friend who is an architect and got to work figuring out how to modernize the home and add our own personality. The remodeling project has taken more than a year, and while I was ready to pull my hair out a few times, I'm glad we did it.

If you have a chance to remodel or build your smaller home, list the things you absolutely have to work around.

One of ours was books. We needed homes for Dan's gazillion volumes. So we lined the walls of the living room with bookshelves.

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5 tips for downsized home decorating