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KARACHI, Feb. 27 -- Sindh Minister for Local Government Aga Siraj Durrani has said establishing of high-density zones in Karachi would be a milestone in the journey towards development.He said this while addressing in a special meeting at Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) on Thursday.The meeting was held to finalise the arrangements of inaugural of a project of modern high-rise buildings in Clifton under high-density zone concept.The meeting was attended by Chief Controller Building, senior officers of KBCA, Karachi Water & Sewerage Board, Master Plan Group of Officers, relevant expert architects and builders.The minister was briefed on the project, and told that it would be a 40-storey building having latest facilities and modern system of water supply and electricity generation. The building would also have facilities of security system, car parking and recreational area.The minister asked the officials that all legal formalities should be followed in the construction of the high-rise buildings and no negligence would be tolerated in this regard. Published by HT Syndication with permission from South Asian Media Network. For more information on news feed please contact Sarabjit Jagirdar at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com

KARACHI, Feb. 27 -- Sindh Minister for Local Government Aga Siraj Durrani has said establishing of high-density zones in Karachi would be a milestone in the journey towards development.He said this while addressing in a special meeting at Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) on Thursday.The meeting was held to finalise the arrangements of inaugural of a project of modern high-rise buildings in Clifton under high-density zone concept.The meeting was attended by Chief Controller Building, senior officers of KBCA, Karachi Water & Sewerage Board, Master Plan Group of Officers, relevant expert architects and builders.The minister was briefed on the project, and told that it would be a 40-storey building having latest facilities and modern system of water supply and electricity generation. The building would also have facilities of security system, car parking and recreational area.The minister asked the officials that all legal formalities should be followed in the construction of the high-rise buildings and no negligence would be tolerated in this regard. Published by HT Syndication with permission from South Asian Media Network. For more information on news feed please contact Sarabjit Jagirdar at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com

The California Department of General Services announced today that 11 state office properties, totaling nearly 7.3 million rentable square feet, are now on the market and expected to draw significant interest from capital investors worldwide, potentially eliciting offers in excess of $2 billion for the state. DGS' broker, CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. (CBRE), has listed the properties online . Offers are due by April 14, 2010. In June, Governor Schwarzenegger and the legislature authorized the sale of the properties located in Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco and Santa Rosa. Once sold, the state anticipates retiring more than $1 billion in bond debt, saving California hundreds of millions in interest payments over the next two decades. The sale is also expected to net at least $660 million in proceeds that will be funneled directly into the General Fund, helping to save Californians from increased taxes and deeper cuts in state programs and services.

Contractors have been asked to submit informal tenders for the 180m London skyscraper the Walkie Talkie, according to sources at the developer, Land Securities.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates _ Water gushed from a leak in a shark-filled aquarium in a ritzy Dubai mall on Thursday, sending startled shoppers scattering and shutting down nearby shops in one of the city's proudest attractions. Amateur video footage posted on the Web site of Dubai newspaper Gulf News showed what appeared to be hundreds of gallons of water showering down on the polished tiled floor of the Dubai Mall, which sits in the shadow of the world's tallest tower.

Dubai's battered real estate prices have nearly bottomed out and should start to recover, but probably not until at least next year, the head of one of the troubled emirate's most prominent property developers said Monday.

Iowa State University issued the following news release: The King Pavilion addition to the Iowa State University College of Design has been awarded LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). It is the first higher education building in Iowa to achieve LEED Platinum status. LEED is USGBC's rating system for designing and constructing the greenest, most energy-efficient and high-performing buildings. Platinum is the highest rating given.

Michael Burnham, E&E senior reporter Can a big box have a little environmental footprint? Office Depot Inc. thinks so. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based office supplies retailer said today that it will pursue the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for the insides of new U.S. stores. Developers seeking the LEED for Commercial Interiors certification are awarded points for allowing sunlight to penetrate deep into the building, using energy- and water-efficient fixtures, integrating recycled materials, and providing access to public transportation.

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company's Engineering Technology Center (ETC) in Chicago has received LEED Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), further advancing the company's goal to leverage high-performance design across its existing facilities.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it is time to move ahead more quickly with building at the World Trade Center site while material and labor costs are low.

What does it take to turn silver into gold? For NASA scientists, the answer is "two protons." For Manhattan Construction Company in Washington, it is creative green building solutions which have resulted in the Exploration Sciences Building project becoming the first at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to receive LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

The economic rollercoaster continues for landscape architecture firms, as firm leaders reported modest decreases in work and increases in hiring compared to the previous quarter, according to the latest American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Business Quarterly Survey for the fourth quarter 2009. Less than half (45.5 percent) of firm leaders reported average or above billings compared to the third quarter 2009, a decrease from 51.3 percent last quarter. Levels of average or above inquiries also decreased from 55.4 percent previously to 53.7 percent. Though a modest decline, the levels of work are significantly higher than this time last year, when average or above levels of billings and inquiries were 31 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively. While work levels showed a small decline, hiring increased modestly with 16.4 percent of firms planning to hire in the first quarter 2010, up from 11.8 percent last quarter and 12.8 percent this time last year. In addition, 22.3 percent of firms reported work directly from stimulus funds, slightly up from 20.2 percent last quarter.

Downtown's historic 712 Main building - the Art Deco skyscraper that houses the Houston headquarters of JPMorgan Chase - has been sold to the Brookfield Real Estate Opportunity Fund.

MEDIA RELEASE PR38328 SOM's Bold Plan Envisions a Gateway District to Beijing BEIJING, Feb.12 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- The Chicago and China offices of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) have designed an urban model showcasing integrated solutions for energy, water conservation and transit systems in Beijing's Dawangjing District. The SOM Plan introduces a sustainable "engine" in the form of a Central Park that would passively heat and cool the district. The plan won an international competition to guide Wangjing's redevelopment. The Beijing Chaoyang District Planning Bureau is the client. Philip Enquist, FAIA, Partner-in-Charge of Urban Design and Planning and Peter Ruggiero, AIA, Design Partner, led the SOM team. The team collaboration was led by Beijing R&F Properties Development Co. Ltd., E-House (China) Holdings Limited and MVA Transport Consultants. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100211 AQ54141)

Athletes participating in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games starting Friday in British Columbia will sleep, eat, and watch sporting events in buildings that include Alcoa's energy-efficient, recyclable and colorful Reynobond® aluminum composite material (ACM).

Jobs created by LEED-certified homes in Florida will be among new positions counted during an upcoming Agency for Workforce Innovations survey. E3 Building Sciences has already created green consulting positions as the state's first private-sector LEED for Homes Provider for the U.S. Green Building Council.

Breaks Ground for New Embassy Compound in Belgrade, Serbia U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Mary Burce Warlick; Minister for the Environment and Spatial Planning, Oliver Dulic; Mayor Dragan Djilas of the City of Belgrade; and Managing Director for Construction, Facility & Security Management of the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations Rod Evans broke ground for the Belgrade New Embassy Compound (NEC) in Serbia today.

Durability has often been an issue for builders and architects due to the fact that developers want to build at the lowest cost possible. But as more developers choose to go green, and LEED certifications toughen, durability is brought to the forefront in building envelope construction.

When developer Urban Offerings, Inc. of El Segundo, CA, acquired a 1956 vintage bow truss industrial building in the Culver City area of Los Angeles in 2007 to renovate it for adaptive creative office space, the company envisioned an even greater concurrent challenge: to make an existing building energy sustainable. Both goals were achieved, the company reports. Urban Offerings and its partner, Meridian Group Ltd. of Los Angeles, have completed their renovation of the 28,000-square-foot building located at 3641 Holdrege Ave. Concurrently, Urban Offerings announces that it has received a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification for core and shell renovation, the second highest sustainability designation awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The construction works for Austria's tallest building, the DC Tower 1 in Vienna Donaucity, are supposed to begin within several months. The EUR 300-million (USD 412 million) skyscraper is going to be 220 metres tall and shall be finished by 2012. The contest for the architectural project was won by Dominique Perrault back in 2002. The office building is going to include a restaurant on the 57 and 58 floor and several floors will be convertible into lofts. (EUR 1 = USD 1.376) () aw