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By Will Swearingen, Chief Data Officer, Zweig Group From The Zweig Letter The latest data highlights key trends in AEC policies, emphasizing pay, remote work, and transparency for growth.   The key to growing your firm and reaching your strategic goals often rests with the quality of your employees, and the quality of your firm’s policies, procedures, and benefits is critical to hiring and retaining a top-notch workforce. Zweig Group’s  2024 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Report  provides AEC industry leaders with industry statistics on policies and procedures, so they can support policy decisions with hard data. Here are some of the key trends from the report:   Budgeting for pay increases.  A significant majority (89 percent) of firms budget for staff pay increases. The median raise among these firms was 5 percent last year, and this figure is projected to remain the same for the current year. While a 3 to 5 percent increase has traditionally been a safe benchmark, the cur

Ralph I. Hage On a late summer’s day in 2019, an engineer stood in an open courtyard of a project he was managing and stared up at the sky. In that period of time, Lebanon was in the midst of national protests, an economic crisis, and a rapidly devaluing currency – options were limited.  The engineer looked back down to Earth and turned towards his bewildered foreman and said, “I’ve found the solution”. The brief was clear but specific. During renovation, the owner of the house had removed the red-tile pitched roof and left the courtyard below exposed to the elements. In its place, he required louver sunshades which were meant to be 8.2 meters long and spaced 0.5 meters apart which would also aid in privacy from the adjacent neighbors. The sunshades were to be fully cantilevered from wall to wall, natural in appearance, and had to be made of wood. The challenge was to find a solution which was structurally sound as well as fit in with the historical nature of the house. From a 1

46,000 Square-Foot Facility Will Provide First Combination Medical Office Building + Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility in Goodyear, AZ Goodyear, AZ – Haydon , a leading full-service general contractor with over 30 years of experience in the Southwest, has officially broken ground on the Abrazo Health Litchfield Medical Building. This new inpatient rehabilitation hospital is set to enhance healthcare accessibility in the West Valley. The facility will offer comprehensive rehabilitation services, including recovery support after traumatic injuries, cardiovascular surgery, stroke, and advanced spine care in addition to other services available at Abrazo West. As the first facility in Goodyear to combine a medical office building with an inpatient rehabilitation hospital in a single location, it will directly connect to the acute care hospital campus. Strategically located along the I-10 freeway, the Abrazo Litchfield Medical Building will house a 24-bed Inpatient Rehabilitation Hos

The Acquisition Supports Legence’s Growth into Priority Markets, Offering Innovative Sustainability Solutions for the Built Environment SAN J OSE, Calif.  – Legence, a Blackstone Portfolio Company and North America’s leading integrated provider of energy efficiency and sustainability solutions for the built environment, today announced the acquisition of AMA Group, a New York City-based national engineering services firm. Over the next several months, AMA will integrate into CMTA, Legence’s largest mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering services portfolio company. This deal marks Legence’s first acquisition in New York City, a priority market with a growing focus on building decarbonization. “By championing building efficiency today, we are dramatically improving the possibilities of a healthier and more sustainable tomorrow. CMTA and AMA Group are leaders in their respective fields, and joining the firms will further establish Legence as a trusted partner in built en

Portland water treatment project will enhance the water system’s resilience, reduce future risks, and better protect customers PORTLAND, OR – Construction has begun on the Bull Run Filtration Facility in Portland, Oregon, and Stantec, a global leader in sustainable design and engineering, is providing engineering services during construction of the facility. Construction started following Portland City Council approval of the project’s construction contract. This transformative initiative aims to enhance the water system’s resilience, reduce future risks, and better protect customers. The filtration facility and related pipelines will allow the City to meet regulatory requirements to remove  Cryptosporidium  from the Bull Run drinking water. The project will also help improve the water system’s resilience by reducing the impacts from fires, landslides, and other extreme events that have become more frequent with climate stress. The 135-million-gallon-per-day facility will be online

New Potential Change Orders functionality streamlines budgeting and billing for horizontal construction projects SUGAR LAND, Texas  — HCSS, the leading software provider for heavy civil construction businesses, is excited to announce a new feature for its HeavyJob product, designed to revolutionize how civil and infrastructure contractors manage potential change orders (PCOs). Launched in July 2024, this addition to HeavyJob will streamline the process of tracking and managing change orders, ensuring accurate budgeting and billing, and improving overall project profitability. HeavyJob’s new PCO feature is specifically tailored for civil and infrastructure construction and will allow users to track all change items in one centralized location. Contractors in this market often deal with unique requirements for change orders from the project owner, making change order tracking a critical function of construction project management. The integrated issue escalation functionality enables c

Covers HDPE Water Pipelines Up to 60-Inch Diameter and 10,000-Foot-Long Pull IRVING, TX – A new document for small and large diameter high-density polyethylene (HDPE) PE4710 pressure water piping systems using horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is now available.  MAB Model Specification for the Installation of PE4710 Water Service, Distribution, and Transmission Pipes by Horizontal Directional Drilling (MAB-11-2024) is available for free download at https://ift.tt/k8lzpsN  It was developed by the Municipal Advisory Board (MAB), and published with the help of the members of the Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI). Covered in the document are Maxi-HDD and Mini-HDD operations with sections devoted to Subsurface Investigation, Equipment and Supporting Systems, Regulations, Safety, Environmental Practices plus other steps required for the successful HDD installation of HDPE PE4710 pipe.  It also contains verbiage that can be directly used in bid documents, and includes guidance on su

By: Rich MacGregor, Technical Writer The growing trend towards above ground pump stations is transforming wastewater collection systems, empowering operators to rise above the challenges of conventional submersible pumps. It’s common sense that relocating pumps above ground, away from constant exposure to corrosive and hazardous sewage, safeguards the mechanical and electrical components of the pumps, as well as the workers who handle them. This strategic move simplifies maintenance by making the equipment more accessible and eliminates the need for workers to enter dangerous, confined spaces, thus improving safety. Additionally, it reduces wear and tear on equipment and minimizes breakdowns. By dramatically improving reliability, pump efficiency and longevity, the increasing adoption of above ground systems aligns with sustainability goals by eliminating the costly problems of frequent stocking, replacement and disposal of submersible pumps. The longevity of above ground pump

CHICAGO — H.W. Lochner, Inc. (Lochner), a leading provider of infrastructure planning and engineering services, is pleased to announce that Kirk Evans, PE, has been promoted to the position of National Aviation Practice Lead. Kirk Evans, PE In this role, Evans is responsible for the growth of the company’s Aviation business, leading a team of more than 120 airport planners, designers, environmental specialists, project managers, and construction inspectors. With thorough knowledge of Federal Aviation Administration, state, county, and local regulations, Lochner’s aviation professionals partner with commercial and general aviation airports to upgrade infrastructure, increase capacity, and make the journey safer and more reliable. Drawing on nearly two decades of experience, Evans previously served as Lochner’s Central Region Aviation Lead, delivering airside and landside projects throughout the Southwestern United States. Additionally, Evans was instrumental in orchestrating the

Engineer/Homeowner of LEED Platinum “Passive House” is Honored for “Spurring the Housing Industry to Construct More Efficient, Healthy, and Resilient Homes” New York, NY  – Daniel Colombini, a Principal at Goldman Copeland, the New York City-based consulting engineering firm, has been honored by the US Department of Energy with a DOE Housing Innovation Award for spurring the housing industry nationally by creating his LEED Platinum “Passive House” in Ossining, NY, in the Hudson Valley. The single-family three-bedroom house with an attached garage and about 3,500 square feet of living space offers a new model for sustainable, energy-efficient, and cost-effective residences. The  Colombini house  is one of just 24 houses in the nation honored with a  2024 DOE Housing Innovation Award  and one of only two in New York and New England. Both are located in the Hudson Valley; the  other is in Esopus , south of Kingston. In making the award, the US Department of Energy stated, “As part o

TORONTO –  Ware Malcomb , an award-winning international design firm, today announced that construction is complete on  The Birmingham , an historic Campbell Soup factory site redeveloped as a three-building facility to accommodate light industrial and E-commerce uses in the South Etobicoke district near downtown Toronto. Ware Malcomb provided architecture design services for the 398,000 square foot project. The Birmingham is owned by QuadReal Property Group, a full-service global real estate investment, operating and development company with $67.1 billion in assets under management, headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.   The Birmingham’s three new buildings range from 157,710 to approximately 120,000 square feet, each with 36’ clear heights. The buildings feature flexible floorplans that can accommodate a variety of uses, while outdoor spaces are carefully configured to facilitate efficient logistics use. The site provides a total of 86 loading docks and 80 truck-level

Third acquisition in under two years marks ambitious growth for composites manufacturer  ALUM BANK, Pennsylvania – Creative Composites Group (CCG), the leading manufacturer of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites, has announced that the group has acquired the assets of Schaumburg, Illinois-based Trident Industries (Trident), a manufacturer of ultra-resilient single- and muti-layer composite poles. This marks CCG’s third acquisition in less than two years.  Power demands and storm frequencies are increasing, severely stressing the power grid. Trident specializes in extremely resilient composite poles to meet these challenging requirements while minimizing installation and maintenance time. Setting Trident apart is the strength of their multi-layer pole design. The multi-layer design yields a pole so strong that utilities use it to eliminate the need for guy wires in dead-end and angled applications. Trident multi-layer poles can deliver significant groundline moment capacitie

The Property This “recognized iconic asset” to the New York City Skyline is located in midtown Manhattan and was built as a Beaux-arts style building in 1929. The property strategically straddles Park Avenue at 46th Street and offers a direct connection to Grand Central Station. It was acquired (2007) for One Billion One Hundred and Fifty Million USD. The Problem : By 2009, the building had begun to show its age. At the top of the building some of the twenty-six east and south facing Terra-Cotta columns [ with the base starting at the 26th floor and extending past the 34th floor] had begun to show cracking and in some areas had began to shed large pieces of stone. The building owners/management had inquired as to replacement cost of these Terra-cotta Brackets and had been quoted prices exceeding 16 Million dollars. By employing the Cintec method of repair, the owner was able to save more than 15 million Dollars effecting by repairs for just over 1million dollars. The Solution :

Reston, VA – Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. (the Company or Bowman) (NASDAQ: BWMN), a national engineering services firm delivering infrastructure solutions to customers who own, develop and maintain the built environment, was selected by Southwest Gas to provide on-call survey services in Western and Northern Nevada and California, marking the Company’s fifth ongoing on-call agreement with the natural gas distribution company and the first in these territories. Southwest Gas provides natural gas service to more than 2 million customers throughout Arizona, Nevada and portions of California. Bowman supports Southwest Gas with a variety of utility-specific survey, engineering and design services throughout Arizona. Prior to this expansion of territory, Bowman served Southwest Gas throughout Arizona and southern Nevada. Bowman is committed to being highly responsive to Southwest Gas’ needs and will apply continued process improvements to effectively support Southwest Gas’ business of safe

August 6, 2024 – Today, Autodesk announced that it has been named the Official Design and Make Platform of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Team USA. Over the next four years, Autodesk’s software – used by designers, engineers, builders, and creators – will support LA28’s more than $1 billion temporary overlay and construction plan, incorporating sustainable design principles.   Autodesk’s Design and Make Platform will be supporting LA28’s no-new-permanent-venues plan: a commitment to buildLA28’s footprintby adapting existing or building temporary infrastructure. “Autodesk’s technology is used every day to design and make a better world, which is why we’re thrilled to be LA28’s official Design and Make Platform,” said Andrew Anagnost, Autodesk President and CEO. “Our partnership will enable Autodesk software to do more than ever before. Together with LA28, we will help prepare Los Angeles for not only a 29-day celebration but also strengthen the greater Los Angeles commu

Indianapolis, Ind.  – Schmidt Associates, a leading Midwest architectural and engineering firm, is excited to announce the launch of Waypoint Strategies, a new division dedicated to helping organizations plan, build, maintain, and operate facilities. Waypoint Strategies’ mission is to meet Owners where they are, offering tailored solutions that go beyond technical proficiency to ensure projects are delivered with understanding, respect, and care. Focused on providing Owner’s representation, program management, facilities management, and operational strategy services, this initiative is a testament to Schmidt Associates’ commitment to providing comprehensive, client-focused services. Audra Blasdel Appointed as Division Lead Schmidt Associates is pleased to welcome Audra Blasdel as Division Lead, Waypoint Strategies, to spearhead this new initiative. In her new role, Blasdel will engage Owners as their advocate to ensure their projects deliver on intent, are technically sound, and

Combined sewer overflow storage tunnel will improve water quality, address sewer capacity issue Lynchburg, VA  – Stantec, a global leader in sustainable design and engineering, is continuing its partnership with the City of Lynchburg, Virginia, in the City’s efforts to reduce combined sewer overflows (CSO) as climate change leads to more intense rain events and increased wet weather flow. The firm is providing construction management services, engineering services during construction, and inspection services for a CSO storage tunnel with a pump station. Construction on the project began recently. When complete, the US$104-million CSO project, known as the Blackwater CSO Tunnel, will address a combined sewer capacity issue that has caused overflow into a local creek in a popular city park. With the new storage tunnel and pump station in place, overflow will move outside the park with less discharge frequency and volume. The nearly mile-long CSO tunnel will have a finished diameter of

CROSBY, TX  —Lockwood, Andrews, and Newnam, Inc. (LAN) announces the groundbreaking ceremony to expand Crosby High School. The event took place Monday, July 29th, marking the beginning of a project that will enhance the educational facilities at Crosby High School and meet the growing needs of the community. The expansion project includes the construction of a new academic wing featuring two floors, each comprising 16 classrooms and four labs, resulting in a total of 32 classrooms and eight labs. Additionally, the Career and Technical Education (CTE) section will be expanded on the south side of the high school, providing advanced facilities to support vocational programs. “We are excited to commence this project, which will provide much-needed space and resources for Crosby High School,” said Robert Arcement, PMP, AC, Program Manager with LAN. “This expansion is a testament to our commitment to supporting the educational needs of our community.” Once completed, the expansion will a

National Building Systems Design Firm Helps Bring World’s First Climate Positive Arena to Life LENEXA, Kan. —  Henderson Engineers , a national building systems design firm, is proud to be part of the all-star team helping deliver  Intuit Dome , the world’s first climate positive arena and home of the Los Angeles Clippers. When fans pour into the state-of-the-art facility for NBA games, concerts, and other entertainment events upon its grand opening on August 15, they’ll be stepping into a multipurpose venue unlike any other in significant part thanks to sustainable mechanical engineering by Henderson Engineers. Located in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, Calif., the 17,700-seat, all-electric arena packs a punch on the amenity front. In addition to housing five basketball courts, a practice facility and training center, and an outdoor plaza with two bars, a restaurant, and a team store, the venue has the world’s largest Halo Board, an oval, double-sided 4K scoreboard that measure