Green Construction and Sustainable Design White Papers

Cost-plus and fixed price comprise the two most popular ways to contract a construction project. Each type of contract is advantageous under certain circumstances. Download this white paper to understand the differences between different contract types and their variables.

With the amount of litigation surrounding construction defects, it may be hard to believe that construction defects are easily avoided. There are several levels of peer review, building department review, planning, and checks and balances that take place prior to the provenance of a construction defect.

Most will agree that a successful project is the result of a good team and a good process. BIM is a tool that can support the team and enhance the process at most any point throughout a project’s
lifecycle. For BIM to be used effectively across the lifecycle though, the technology needs to be implemented strategically ensuring that information created early in the process supports the
efforts further downstream. This process is ever developing and will become easier once building information technology further develops the capability to share information across platforms –
which the industry is quickly trending towards. Although a seamless process for implementing BIM from early planning to facility operation still looms at large we are able to do a great deal with the
currently available technology. The technology discussed in this section presents the use of different BIM tools to support the project delivery process throughout the lifecycle of planning,
design, preconstruction, construction, and facility operations.

The following are based on excerpts from information regarding the International Green Construction Code and its Synopsis. Complete copies of the Public Version 2.0, November 2010 of the IGCC and its Synopsis can be obtained through http://www.iccsafe.org/cs/igcc/pages/default.aspx.

In 2004, Congress asked the US Army Corps of Engineers ("Army Corps") and the US Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") to develop comprehensive regulations that establish equivalent standards and criteria for mitigation banks, in-lieu fee projects and permittee responsible mitigation required pursuant to section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 USC § 1251 et seq., the "CWA") and sections 9 and 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act (33 USC § 401). Congress sought the new rules because the Army Corps and EPA had taken a piecemeal
approach to compensatory mitigation with a variety of guidance documents published over the 30-year course of their implementation of the CWA regulatory programs.

In response, the Army Corps and EPA published a proposed rule on Compensatory Mitigation for Losses of Aquatic Resources on March 28, 2006 (71 Fed. Reg. 15,520). After considering approximately 12,000 comments (identified as 850 distinct comments and 11,150 additional
substantially identical comments) received during the 90-day public comment period for the proposed rule, the agencies published their Final Rule on April 10, 2008. 73 Fed. Reg. 19,594 (the "Final Rule").

Construction contracts are not always “fair” in the abstract sense and are not always the result of equal bargaining power. Often contracts are presented on virtually a “take it or leave it” basis. This does not mean, however, that the contractor must surrender and merely sign the document that is put in front of him.

Just as many of you, I have long been fascinated by mathematics, geology, physics, and heavy equipment. I thought everyone was. Believe it or not, there are people who are not moved by math, science and thundering iron.

Multiple studies have concluded that about 31.5 million tons of construction waste are produced in the United States annually. Building operations consume approximately 70 percent of all the electricity and 40 to 48 percent of all energy used in the United States, produce one-third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, create storm water runoff and contribute to urban heat islands. Building construction uses enormous amounts of wood, asphalt, concrete, glass, metal, and plastic. Buildings also develop their own indoor environments that can present an array of health challenges. Where and how buildings are built affects wildlife habitat and corridors and the hydrologic cycle, while influencing the overall quality of human community life.