Understanding both the rewards and risk of fast-tracking a project can help owners, architects, engineers, and contractors maximize the benefits of this strategy and can bring great reward on all fronts when managed properly.

East of downtown Atlanta, a new residential building called Signal House will provide the city with 162 units ranging from one to three bedrooms. Located on the Atlanta BeltLine, a former railway corridor, the 21-story building is part of the latest phase of Ponce City Market, a onetime Sears building and now a mixed-use complex.

In downtown Houston, Skanska USA’s 1550 on the Green, a 28-story, 375,000-sf office tower, aims to be one of Texas’ most sustainable buildings. The $225 million project has deployed various sustainable building materials, such as less carbon-intensive cement, to target 60% reduced embodied carbon.

Brad Perkins, FAIA, a veteran of more than four decades in the planning and design of senior living communities, looks at where the market is heading in the immediate future. 

The Centre for Clean Energy and Automotive Innovation, to be designed by Stantec, will house classrooms, labs, a library and learning center, an Indigenous gathering space, administrative offices, and multiple collaborative learning spaces.

Solar provided a record-high 7.3% of U.S. electrical generation in May, “driven in large part by growth in ‘estimated’ small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar PV whose output increased by 25.6% and accounted for nearly a third (31.9%) of total solar production,” according to a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 

As temperatures in many areas hit record highs this summer, cities around the world are turning to creative solutions to cope with the heat. Here are several creative ways cities are seeking to beat urban heat gain.

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) recently announced plans to use $975 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding for energy efficiency and clean energy upgrades to federal buildings across the country. The investment will impact about 40 million sf, or about 20% of GSA’s federal buildings portfolio.