News

COP24: Huge untapped potential in greener construction, says UN environment agency   Noting some progress in greening the global construction industry, the United Nations environment agency (UNEP) co-released a report on Friday at the COP24 climate conference in Katowice, Poland, sounding the alarm on the need for “dramatic action” to reduce the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. “It’s critical we have a big change over the next couple of years in how we do buildings and construction”, said Joyce Msuya, Deputy Executive Director of UNEP. “We only need to look at the current norms and quality of many buildings to see...

S-Squared unveils new ARCS construction 3D printer After years of research, development, and capital investment, S-Squared 3D Printers (SQ3D), a desktop 3D printer manufacturer from Patchogue, NY, became the latest company to venture into the fascinating realm of construction 3D printing by presenting its patent-pending Autonomous Robotic Construction System, (ARCS). Like other construction systems, the ARCS applies cartesian 3D printing principles to traditional construction, with the potential of building everything from homes and commercial buildings to infrastructures such as roads and bridges. The technology has no inherent size limitation so its potential is very broad and the company has built an...

Lithium Werks Announces Construction Of Battery Gigafactory In China Lithium Werks is a lithium-ion battery manufacturer that has its headquarters located in the Netherlands. In October, it announced a partnership with the Chinese Zhejiang Jiashan Economic and Technological Development Zone Industry Corporation. They signed an agreement to construct a gigafactory on 60 hectares of land in Jiangsheng, a city near Shanghai. This week, the company announced that construction is set to start in 2019 and that the factory will have “an initial annual production capacity of 8GWh.” Once operational, this will be the first battery Gigafactory in China built by a...

China Halts Bridge Construction After 6,000 Rare Fish Die SHANGHAI China has halted construction of a bridge in the province of Hubei after it was said to have caused the death of around 6,000 critically endangered Chinese sturgeon, the China Daily said, citing the agriculture ministry. An investigation team found the construction project in the city of Jingzhou had illegally encroached on a protected national nature reserve, the paper said. The fish were bred at an aquafarm in Jingzhou. Their deaths were attributed to the "shocks, noises and changes of water sources" brought about by the bridge project. The Chinese...

Would you move to Ireland to work in construction? The number of people working in the construction sector in Ireland has jumped by 14 per cent, or 17,900 jobs, in the past 12 months, but Ireland will need an influx of workers from abroad to meet housing targets, according to the ESRI. This may put even more pressure on an already strained housing market, however, and worries about another property crash is putting some construction workers off moving here from abroad, according to one major building company. The Irish Times would like to hear from construction workers based overseas, or...