In Oak Brook, Ill., about 15 miles west of downtown Chicago, McDonald’s former corporate headquarters has been transformed into a modern office building for its new tenant, Ace Hardware. Now for the first time, Ace Hardware can bring 1,700 employees from three facilities under one roof.

New York City’s recently revealed Green Economy Action Plan includes the goals of the decarbonization of buildings and developing a renewable energy system. The ambitious plan includes enabling low-carbon alternatives in the transportation sector and boosting green industries, aiming to create more than 12,000 green economy apprenticeships by 2040.

The 2023 Multifamily Giants get creative to solve the affordability crisis, while helping their developer clients build faster and more economically. 

The average age of a main instructional school building in the United States is 49 years, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). About 38% of schools were built before 1970. Roughly half of the schools surveyed have undergone a major building renovation or addition.

By following the Scan to Point Cloud + Point Cloud to BIM process, organizations can leverage the power of LIDAR and BIM technology at the same time. This optimizes the documentation of existing building conditions, functions, and equipment needs as a current condition and as a starting point for future physical plant expansion projects. 

Nuclear power, direct-to-chip liquid cooling, and data centers as learning destinations are among the emerging design trends in the data center sector, according to Scott Hays, Sector Leader, Sustainable Design, with HED. 

The U.S. Department of Energy launched the American-Made Building Envelope Innovation Prize—Secondary Glazing Systems. The program will offer up to $2 million to encourage production of high-performance, cost-effective commercial windows. 

Contractor giant Suffolk Construction has invested in 27 ConTech and PropTech companies since 2019 through its Suffolk Technologies venture capital firm. Parker Mundt, Suffolk Technologies’ Vice President–Platforms, recently spoke with Building Design+Construction about his company’s investment strategy.