News

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...

MI6 floor plans lost by building contractor Floor plans of MI6's central London headquarters were lost by building contractors during a refurbishment. The documents, most of which were recovered inside the building, held sensitive information on the layout, including entry and exit points. Balfour Beatty, the company working on the refurbishment at the headquarters in Vauxhall, is reportedly no longer working on the project. The Foreign Office said it did not comment on intelligence matters. The documents, which went missing a few weeks ago, were produced and owned by Balfour Beatty and designed to be used for the refurbishment. The...

Peak Funding May Have Hit Construction Tech Startups Last year, funding in construction tech startups broke records. And that year may stand alone. Funding in US-based construction tech startups totals just $192.5 million across 40 deals halfway through 2019. Of course, there are caveats: reported data often undercounts seed and early stage rounds. Furthermore, it takes just a couple of big rounds (like Katerra’s $865 million Series D last year) to skew those numbers pretty significantly. Still, $192.5 million across 40 deals is still significantly lower than the $1.274 billion raised by US-based construction startups in the first half of...

Construction for Massive Development Starting Soon in Burlington   The construction of a massive building in Burlington is starting very soon. According to the city’s website, Burlington has approved a 22-storey mixed-use building that will be located at 490-492 Brock Ave. and 1298 Ontario St.  The development, which was proposed by The Molinaro Group, will consist of, according to the project coordinator, Kristen Baugaard, 22-storeys (including a one-storey rooftop amenity area), 160 residential units, 186 square metres of ground-floor retail commercial space, and four levels of underground parking. Vehicle access will be from Ontario Street. So, when will construction for this development commence? As noted on...