Construction

Marriott International Boosts Modular Construction Initiative The next time you stay at a Marriott, there’s a possibility that your hotel room was put together many miles away from your actual location. That’s because Marriott International has launched a plan to adopt more modular construction in its properties. The company is aiming to use prefabricated structures on roughly 13 percent of its hotels in North America through 2017, amounting to 50 new structures. A Solution To New Construction Obstacles Driven by a need to reduce building costs and help franchisees cope with U.S. construction labor shortages, Marriott has embraced the advantages...

Bahrain’s Transportation and Telecommunications Ministry HQ on track for completion in H2 The facility is expected to enhance the level of productivity and ensure the smooth flow of work More than 58% of works have been completed on the headquarters building of the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, Bahraini officials have announced. The building is taking shape in Muharraq, Bahrain and is on track for completion in the second half of this year, the officials said. Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam bin Abdulla Khalaf and Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed visited the site to...

  Updated Volvo excavators offer 10% more fuel efficiency The new EC250E and EC300E excavators from Volvo Construction Equipment are heavy-duty machines weighing in at 26-31.5t and 30.2-36.8t respectively. Both models are packed with the latest technology, new and proven features, and can even come with purpose-built attachments to help customers move more for less. The updated machines deliver up to 10% improvements in fuel efficiency, thanks to a combination of features that includes more intelligent electro-hydraulics, the classic ECO mode and selectable work modes, and finally the new D8M Volvo engine. This upgraded engine reduces rpm from 1,800 down...

Smart City Development Pushing Huge Shift In Construction Materials   Multiple nations around the world are making massive investments in smart city mega projects. All of them contain elements meant to reduce pollution or produce power. As a result, researchers expect the demand for advanced green materials to skyrocket. A study by a technology market research company predicted a $400 billion market for the materials needed to construct the highly integrated smart cities of the future. Global Shift In City Planning Underway In places as diverse as South Korea, Singapore, New York City, Saudi Arabia, and Mumbai, both smart residential...

Smart concrete could pave the way for high-tech, cost-effective roads The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco averages more than 100,000 vehicles daily. Photo by Saketh Garuda for Unsplash Luna Lu, Purdue University and Vishal Saravade, Purdue University Every day, Americans travel on roads, bridges and highways without considering the safety or reliability of these structures. Yet much of the transportation infrastructure in the U.S. is outdated, deteriorating and badly in need of repair. Of the 614,387 bridges in the U.S., for example, 39% are older than their designed lifetimes, while nearly 10% are structurally deficient, meaning they could begin...