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The hottest new thing in sustainable building is, uh, wood The many, many benefits of using wood in place of concrete and steel. The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability, at the University of British Columbia, showing off some timber.  CIRS Architects, builders, and sustainability advocates are all abuzz over a new building material they say could substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the building sector, slash the waste, pollution, and costs associated with construction, and create a more physically, psychologically, and aesthetically healthy built environment. The material is known as, uh, wood. Trees have been used to build...

This Regenerative Building Material is Made From Sand and Bacteria Combine sand, gelatin and bacteria, let them rest and watch one brick turn into eight. An example of the bacteria and sand building material. (Credit: College of Engineering and Applied Science at Colorado) (Inside Science) -- Castles made of sand could, with the help of bacteria, grow copies of themselves and become as strong as the cement that commonly holds bricks together, a new study suggests. Such living materials could one day help people colonize Mars, scientists added. After water, concrete is the most used material on Earth, at a...

Building the AI-enabled mobile construction enterprise The opportunity and threat of artificial intelligence (AI), defined as computers and computerised machines replicating human cognitive behaviours and actions – combined with mobile computing – represent two sides of the same coin.The opportunity is to use the new technologies to significantly increase margin and quality, reduce risk and improve decision making.The threat involves changing not only current technology but to a larger extent working practices, which are amongst the most difficult things to change in any business.But change is needed and long overdue in an industry operating on unsustainable margins and levels of...

Looking to bring disruption to industrial construction Baton Rouge will likely play a critical role in the current development of a disruptive technology platform that takes aim at productivity woes in the industrial construction space. The goals of the endeavor are bold and specific—a potential 35% reduction in project cost, 50% reduction in schedule duration, and 60% improvement in ROI. In July, the Construction Industry Institute launched the research phase for the new platform, dubbed Operating System 2.0, near its headquarters at the University of Texas in Austin. ExxonMobil, Shell, Canada-based Suncor Energy, Australia’s BHP and Saudi Arabia-based Sabic have...

Renovations of former Sears building hint at future mall tenants Building permits filed with the city point to a number of new commercial projects moving forward in Missoula, including renovations to the old Sears property at Southgate Mall and the former Shopko building on South Reserve. WinCo Foods purchased the box store in September and received a building permit from the city on Nov. 25 to begin renovations. A company official on Friday said no timeline has been established for opening. “We don’t have any other updated information on that location yet,” the Boise official said. “We’re still working to move...