Global Capital Projects Outlook Released
Despite many challenges, the survey shows optimism remains high in the construction world, with digital technologies, economic growth and recovery, and sustainable building projects identified as key areas of growth. In today’s turbulent economic conditions, people who build our infrastructure projects want to know the status of their business and what the future holds. To help answer that, InEight, a company that develops and sells construction management software, launched its thi...
Industry Interview: Julien Moutte: The Successor to Keith Bentley
Julien Moutte (right) was named CTO of Bentley Systems, taking over from longtime CTO and founder, Keith Bentley (left). In December 2023, Informed Infrastructure Editorial Director Todd Danielson interviewed Julien Moutte, the new chief technology officer (CTO) at Bentley Systems. Moutte succeeded Keith Bentley, one of the company’s founders and its only CTO since 1984. The full video interview can be viewed at bit.ly/3PWPHg3, but we also wanted to include some excerpts in this issue of t...
Sky-High Expectations: Exploring the Understated Elegance of GRG Precast Panels at LaGuardia’s Terminal B
Described by the development team as potentially the most-complex aviation project anywhere ever, the new Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport symbolizes a top-to-bottom transformation of one of the nation’s highest-profile airports, and it does so with stunning style and grace. Representing the largest public-private partnership (P3) in U.S. aviation history, the $5.1 billion reconstruction of Terminal B was made possible by innovation across the board. From contracting to execution and long-term o...
Water Utilities Tackle PFAS Remediation
According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) is linked to increased risk of a variety of health concerns to humans and other mammals, including some cancers. Many PFASs were used in the mid-20th century in products and on materials due to their enhanced water-resistant properties, such as within Teflon or aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) used to fight fires. Much is still being learned about PFAS, but these “...
Connected Construction Strategies and Insights
Four contractors discuss the challenges and opportunities of linking people, workflows and data through integrated technology. With contractors deploying software systems at an accelerated pace, connecting applications and the data they generate is emerging as a leading opportunity to improve performance and profitability. Executives from four heavy-construction companies shared insights on strategies and technologies they see as the keys to linking their workflows and realizing such potential...
Bringing Harmony to Bustling Hangzhou: Archi-Tectonics Creates New Natural Landscape for 2023 Asian Games
Given its rectangular footprint and startlingly verdant, sylvan hilliness amid densely clustered tall buildings, Hangzhou’s new Canal Asian Games Ecopark invites comparison to New York City’s Central Park, especially when seen from above. But unlike Central Park, everything on view in the 116-acre (47-hectare) Ecopark—every building, tree, slope, hill and waterway—is brand new, or at least in a brand-new location. Development of the park began in summer 2018 with three months of excavation and...
Waste Water Not an Option: 5D Technology Helps EchoWater Project Save $400 Million (and a Lot of Water)
Getting Control of the Project To learn more about the 5D planning, scheduling and costing digital twin that was at the heart of the EchoWater Project and its ability to finish on time and under budget, I interviewed Project Controls Cubed’s Jeff Campbell, director of virtual planning, and Serelle Corn, lead planner and managing member. Some excerpts from that interview made it into this article, but you can watch the full video interview above or at bit.ly/3Pc4LWB. Infrastru...
National Climate Policy Aimed at Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gases Also Would Improve Water Quality
A climate policy that raises the price of carbon-intensive products across the entire U.S. economy would yield a side benefit of reducing nitrate groundwater contamination throughout the Mississippi River Basin. The Gulf of Mexico, an important U.S. fishery, also would see modest benefits from the nitrate reductions. These were among the conclusions of a recent study, “U.S. Climate Policy Yields Water Quality Cobenefits in the Mississippi Basin and Gulf of Mexico,” published in the Proceedings...
The Edge of Innovation: Geospatial Intelligence Reduces Need for Inference
A digital dig board is a vital resource on an active jobsite where many trades are coming and going on busy schedules. Brasfield & Gorrie can provide all site personnel with immediate access to the in-ground utility locations with touchscreen ease. (Brasfield & Gorrie) As the fundamental thread in a fabric of human cohesion, infrastructure in each of its many forms is as much an organism as it is a collection of systems. Organism or entity, in either case, change is inevitable. Th...
Transforming Empty Offices into Homes
Converting empty offices to housing isn’t a new concept. As shown here, 2040 Market, the five-story concrete former headquarters for the American Automobile Association in Philadelphia, was turned into a mixed-use residential building in 2013. But renewed interest in such conversions is allowing cities to leverage existing buildings and transform them to meet today’s housing needs without having to demolish and rebuild from scratch. Cities nationwide are exploring adaptive reuse p...