Industrial Starts Ran 16 Million Square Feet in August. A Year Ago It Was 30.7 Million.
Industrial starts hit 16 million square feet in August, down 48% from a year earlier, while 427.6 million square feet stays under way. Yardi Matrix data.
Vortex Bought a Cincinnati Spray-Lining Contractor. Terms Undisclosed, as Usual.
Vortex Companies acquired MCSP of Cincinnati, adding geopolymer spray lining and grout injection across five states. No price and no closing date given.
Fervo Put 33 MW of Enhanced Geothermal on the Grid in Utah. Delivered Cost Is $7,000 a Kilowatt.
Fervo synchronized the first 33 MW block at Cape Station, Utah, the first utility-scale enhanced geothermal plant to export power. Phase I costs $7,000/kW.
Arcadis Is Putting Its Own Engineering Standards Inside Autodesk’s AI Assistant
Arcadis is wiring its own MCP servers into Autodesk Assistant so the AI answers with the firm’s standards instead of generic guidance. No financial terms.
The Navy’s 2018 Shipyard Plan Was $21 Billion Over 20 Years. GAO Now Sizes It Above $200 Billion and Running Past 2080.
GAO-26-107830 puts the Navy’s shipyard optimization program above $200 billion and past 2080, and says Congress isn’t getting consolidated cost reporting.
Newark’s $2.7 Billion Terminal A Is Running a Third Over Design Capacity. Three Years In, the Port Authority Authorized $110 Million for Eight More Gates.
Terminal A opened in 2023 for 13.6 million passengers and handled over 18 million in 2024. The Port Authority just put $110 million toward eight more gates.
A Pipe Stem Rotated During a Bit Change and Killed an HDD Worker. OSHA Called the Violation Willful and Proposed $165,514.
OSHA cited T & T Pipeline with one willful violation and proposed $165,514 over a New Smyrna Beach HDD fatality. The contest window is still open.
DOL Put $65 Million Into Seven Community Colleges and 102 Partners. Construction Is First on the Target List and Workforce Pell Sets the Format.
The sixth round of DOL’s Strengthening Community Colleges grants sends $65 million to seven leads, with construction training built to Workforce Pell rules.
There Is No Industry Definition of “Rejuvenated” Asphalt. A Missouri S&T Lab Is Running Binder Through an MRI-Style Test to Build One.
Missouri S&T is using NMR relaxometry to tell new, aged and rejuvenated asphalt binder apart. No results yet, and no agreed definition of rejuvenation.
The Surface Transportation Deadline Moved to Dec. 11. The IIJA’s Advance Appropriations Did Not Move With It.
A 10-week stopgap moved the authorization deadline but left IIJA advance appropriations behind, putting the $5.5B Bridge Formula Program at risk.
Veolia Ran Milwaukee’s Wastewater Plants for 18 Years. A Commission Vote and Its Own Federal Lawsuit Now Stand Between It and the Exit.
MMSD picked Jacobs over 18-year incumbent Veolia for a $700 million wastewater O&M contract. Veolia’s federal suit over the scoring is unresolved.
USGBC Says LEED Projects Cut Emissions 26% a Year. Platinum Gets 41%, Entry Level Gets 14%.
USGBC’s decarbonization blueprint comes with performance data from 11,000 LEED projects, and the certification-tier spread runs 27 points wide.
SoftBank Put $225 Million Into Autonomous Solutions. The Pitch Is That Contractors Don’t Have to Pick One Equipment Brand.
SoftBank invested $225 million in Autonomous Solutions and capitalized a joint venture for autonomous heavy equipment. No customer is named yet.
Geothermal on a Lennar Subdivision Costs About $25,000 a Home. Xcel’s Rebate Covers Nearly All of It.
Nearly 100 Lennar homes in Littleton now run on ground loops. The install runs $25,000 a house and a utility rebate covers almost the whole thing.
New-Home Sales Read 684,000. The Only Change Census Calls Significant Is a $46,400 Drop in Average Price.
August new-home sales read 684,000, with a 6.4% monthly gain Census can’t tell from zero. Average price fell 8.8% in a year, and that one is real.
Coastal Topped Out a $458M Tower 40 Feet From Condos It Already Handed Over
Coastal topped out the 22-storey north tower at Saltleaf on 23 September, 15.5 months in, alongside a sister tower occupied since March.
A Hard Hat Costs $15. A Type II Helmet Costs Over $100. NC State Is Being Paid to Find Out Why Crews Won’t Switch.
NC State is studying why contractors haven’t moved from Type I hard hats to Type II helmets. The cost gap is roughly sevenfold and small firms carry it hardest.
Construction Unemployment Hit 3.1%. Union Carpenters Took 7% in First-Year Settlements.
Construction unemployment fell to an all-time-low 3.1% in August. Union first-year settlements averaged 4.9% and carpenters took 7%.