Construction Articles

July 1, 2009

The trend towards “going green” in building and construction is here to stay.  With rising energy prices and wide spread climate awareness, residential and non-residential building is required to be more eco-friendly than ever.  The rise of green building and construction projects is becoming visible across the country.  Full Story 

July 1, 2009

As green building standards evolve and are incorporated into everything from regulatory requirements to lender criteria to tax credits, project proponents must keep current on standards and protocols and ensure proper documentation of expectations and understandings. This Alert summarizes upcoming changes to the LEED®[1] Green Building Rating System, the most widely accepted national standard, and describes some of the legal issues that can arise when building green. Full Story 

April 7, 2009

The recession has financially hit us all in some way. And for some, it keeps coming again and again, beating us down until we are forced to curl up and remain as still as possible, closing our eyes and hoping that it will just go away. But it doesn't. It keeps punishing our budgets and stripping clean our pockets, like an elementary school bully looking for lunch money. And we don't want to move for fear of our budgets. We can't handle going in any new directions, let alone the safe ones. Our budgets are too bruised and battered to venture out. So how then can we hear with open arms and willing hands these encouragements and admonishes to "Go Green" when we know that it will cost us precious money and perhaps even cost us more than before? Full Story 

March 30, 2009

Since green building is still a relatively new process, it's a good idea to research green building on your own so you know what to look for when choosing your site, home plan, builder and sustainable products. Full Story 

March 30, 2009

You can learn to live "green" by adopting new habits and ideas that not only reduce the impact our lifestyles have on our planet, but create a healthier home environment. Full Story 

February 27, 2009

When building a new home, adding on an extension or even just a simple remodel within your home, you should always consider your local environment to maximize the efficiency of every aspect of your project. There are three main areas that need to be focused on when planning your building project. They include: water, energy, and building materials. Full Story 

February 27, 2009

Urban planning and city construction have had trends and influences affecting them (and on the cities that implement them) since John Nolan at the turn of the 20th century, with his emphasis on weaving a network of footpaths and parks through planned land development areas. As the trends have waxed and waned, and different demographic elements have come and gone, the tendency to think of cities as planned developments has come back into style. One of the drivers to this trend towards sustainable land development has been seeing the consequences of the Interstate Highway System. The Interstate Highway System induced families to move out of the tightly packed urban cores of cities and into suburban land developments that offered a wide open back yard and lower real estate prices, with the ability to just drive to work in the financial district. This ex-urbanization caused much of the "inner city rot" mentioned by Jane Jacobs and ineptly re-mediated by "the projects" like Cabrini Green in Chicago. Full Story 

February 6, 2009

Over the past decade, the construction industry has experienced significant growth, although recently it has waned due to the financial meltdown caused by subprime mortgages.  Even with the recent abatement in construction, the growth of new construction over the last decade is apparent.  Greater frequency of the discovery of, and ensuing litigation over, faulty or defective workmanship has followed this boom in construction and such exposure is not likely to end soon.  Full Story