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The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently sent a letter to officials in Lee County, Florida alleging that hundreds of homes were rebuilt in violation of the agency’s rules following Hurricane Ian. The letter provoked a sharp backlash as homeowners struggle to rebuild following the devastating 2022 storm that destroyed a large swath of the county.
The Biden Administration recently released “Decarbonizing the U.S. Economy by 2050: A National Blueprint for the Buildings Sector,” a comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions from buildings by 65% by 2035 and 90% by 2050.
Boston has placed significant aspects of its plan to protect the city from rising sea levels on the actions of private developers. Amid a post-Covid commercial development slump, though, efforts to build protective infrastructure have stalled.
On February 8, 2024, Mayor Muriel Bowser presented the Zero Waste DC Plan to the Council, outlining policies, programs, and initiatives to meet the District’s aim of reducing per capita waste generation by 15% and transitioning from a disposable culture to a circular economy. Of the 43 actions in the plan, a handful are essential for building owners and design professionals to know about now.
Some cities are deliberately discouraging construction of new parking spaces by allowing the construction of buildings with a lower ratio of parking spaces to dwellings (as low as 0.75 spaces per residence).
The Environmental Protection Agency continues to develop new stormwater regulations that are expected to force project developers to write stormwater considerations into designs.
An amendment to a Michigan appropriations budget authorizes an increase in state debt to pay for state university construction projects. But some experts see a “higher education bubble” on the horizon, and said more taxpayer debt for more buildings is a bad idea.
Skanska USA resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the Chamber’s decision to support the American High-Performance Buildings Coalition.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced a new national emphasis program (NEP) to protect workers from serious health effects caused by occupational exposure to isocyanates.
Regulatory bodies have proposed changes in how leased equipment is treated on a corporate balance sheet.
On-the-job construction fatalities dropped from 802 in 2010 to 781 in 2011, and recordable injuries fell from 4.7 per 100 workers in 2008 to 3.9 per 100 in 2011, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
More than 90% of New York City schools have at least one outstanding building code violation. Loose wires, stuck doors and inadequate ventilation are just some of the problems.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says it will propose to extend the compliance date for the crane operator certification requirement by three years to Nov. 10, 2017.
As New York, New Jersey and other states hit hard during Superstorm Sandy begin their long road to recovery, the decisions they make on how to rebuild are crucial to determining how well they will weather the next big storm.
