Construction Technology Helps with Environment friendly Certification

Getting any sort of green certification may be a challenging and difficult process. For AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) teams working on projects that are planning green certification, documents becomes central to the process.

The great news is many technology manufacturers have showed up at market with solutions specifically geared to providing this process a little easier, and some are partnering with third-party companies that provide environmentally friendly and sustainability certification, auditing, testing, and standards development.

Such is the case with the recent partnership between SCS Global Services, www.scsglobalservices.com, Emeryville, Calif., and GreenWizard, www.greenwizard.com, Charleston, S.C. The two companies are working along to offer the construction industry an easier way to locate and obtain certified products for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) projects.GreenWizard offers technology that allows users to collect documentation related to LEED needs. SCS Global Solutions offers a variety of environmental certifications for products and the types of materials in green building construction, satisfying requirements for LEED as well as other green standards, while also providing services to conduct full lifecycle assessment studies.

Through training and enhanced data transfers, the alliance will expand exposure of SCS-certified clients and products to the environmentally friendly design and green construction community, adding thousands of certified products to the GreenWizard database.

Partnerships such as this allow for more certified products to be included in the database, further enabling green building. From there, the technology allows the construction industry to minimize the measure of time it takes to apply for green certifications by automatically allocating products to appropriate LEED credit categories, providing time savings for the industry.

Green building is becoming more common around the world. As construction teams search for new ways to efficiently submit for certification, technology can offer an easier way to round up documentation and apply online.

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fib Symposium 2013 Tel-Aviv

Message from the fib President

The International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib) is delighted to be holding the 2013 Symposium in Tel-Aviv, hosted by our Israeli member group. The fib Symposia are important opportunities for people from across the world to share knowledge, whether you are an academic, designer, contractor or supplier, there will always be something new to learn and new people to meet.

The 2013 Symposium themes, which cover developments in materials, design and construction of concrete structures, will have interest for almost everyone to be informed of the latest innovations, techniques and ideas, and to have opportunity to discuss and debate.

I encourage all of you to participate.

Gordon Clark

Chairman of Scientific Committee

fib President 2013-2014

Official Website: http://www.fib2013tel-aviv.co.il/

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Moscow’s Mercury City overtakes The Shard as Europe’s tallest skyscraper

Moscow skyscraper Mercury City topped out today and has overtaken Renzo Piano’s The Shard as the tallest building in Europe.

According to buildings analyst Emporis, the tower surpassed the 310-metre-height of Piano’s London tower in September and it now stands at 339 metres tall.

The tower is one of five Russian skyscrapers in the list of ten tallest buildings in Europe, while Moscow is also the city with the most high-rise buildings on the continent. As an expert in large-scale construction projects, Emporis reports that the property boom there can be credited to a number of factors. “Many Russian and foreign investors focus on prestigious building projects,” said analyst Matthew Keutenius. “Furthermore, there are less building regulations in Moscow than in other European metropolises.”

Featuring a shimmering facade of golden glass, Mercury City was designed by Russian architect Mikhail Posokhin and the late American architect Frank Williams, and is due to be inaugurated in early 2013.

However, its reign as tallest building will likely be short-lived, as under construction nearby is the planned 506-metre Federation Tower, which is set to complete next year.

Compared with skyscrapers globally, Europe’s buildings are still relatively small. The tallest building in the world currently is the SOM-designed Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which at 828 metres is almost 500 metres higher than Mercury City. Construction has also started on the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, which will be over 1000 metres high once complete.

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World's Tallest Skyscraper to Be Built in 210 Days in China

China, which seems to complete greatest infrastructure projects on a routine basis, is going to claim the tallest skyscraper in the world with the new project. Chinese Company Broad Sustainable Building (BSB), announced plans to build the world’s tallest skyscraper in an unbelievable 90 days. Now the build time for the 838-meter-tall tower has been pushed back to more reasonable (if still incredibly speedy) 210 days. Sky City is set to shatter the current record for loftiest building held by the 828-meter-tall Burj Khalifa in downtown Dubai.

At a proposed height of 220 stories tall, Sky City is set to become the world’s tallest building. Construction is set to begin by November of this year in the Chinese city of Changsha in the province of Hunan, and the project was originally estimated to take only 90 days to complete. However, developer Broad Sustainable Building has now extended the deadline to March of 2013. Even at this pace, Sky City would set a record completion time 9 times faster than the Burj Khalifa, the globe’s current record holder. It will also cost a “mere” $628 million in contrast to Burj Khalifa’s $1.5 billion price tag.

 click to enlarge

Sky City is designed to provide housing for over 100,000 people while incorporating retail and leisure facilities. The building will total a whopping 1,000,000 square meters of usable space across 220 floors. 104 separate elevators will transport residents up and down the soon-to-be wonder of the world. The structure is designed to be earthquake resistant, and its 15-cm-thick walls are heavily insulated for energy efficiency.

                                                                    

While competitors such as Gensler, who designed the Shanghai Tower, have shown skepticism over BSB’s timetable, the company is certain they can complete the enormous undertaking. If they experience no more delays, Sky City will still be on track to become one of the largest and least expensive skyscrapers in modern times.

 

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