Ann Cammell cant wait for The Lauren apartment building in Vancouvers West End to finally be built.

Not because she wants to live in the new 22-storey monolithic tower, but because Cammell wants the construction the jackhammering, the noise and the rumblings that she has put up with for two years to stop.

Its been a bit of a trial, Cammell said. It gives you a headache when it goes on and on and on.

While the noise can seem non-stop, most Metro Vancouver municipalities dont allow construction on Sundays.

In fact, its written in their noise bylaws that such work can only be done Monday to Friday usually from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., although the times vary from city to city.

Surrey, for instance, allows construction at 9 a.m. on Saturdays, while Richmond doesnt give its residents a break on Sundays and holidays, allowing construction from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

But there are exceptions to every rule and it seems some cities, including Surrey and Vancouver, are willing to bend them.

For a fee Vancouver charges between $148 to $296 and Surrey $50 the cities allow companies to apply for an exemption of the bylaws so they can work extended hours, including Sundays. The reason, city officials say, is to get infrastructure projects built more quickly, or at a time when there is less traffic and fewer people on the streets.

We have a fair share of construction projects that have to go outside the noise hours because theyre large capital projects, said Jas Rehal, Surreys manager of bylaws and licensing. We look at all the projects. If we feel its not time-sensitive or required outside normal noise hours, well reject it.

Rehal didnt know offhand how many exemptions Surrey has issued in the past year, but said I signed off on a couple in the last few weeks.

Continued here:
Relentless construction annoys neighbours in Metro Vancouver

Ann Cammell can't wait for The Lauren apartment building in Vancouver's West End to finally be built.

Not because she wants to live in the new 22-storey monolithic tower, but because Cammell wants the construction - the jackhammering, the noise and the rumblings that she has put up with for two years - to stop.

"It's been a bit of a trial," Cammell said. "It gives you a headache when it goes on and on and on."

While the noise can seem non-stop, most Metro Vancouver municipalities don't allow construction on Sundays.

In fact, it's written in their noise bylaws that such work can only be done Monday to Friday - usually from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. - and on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., although the times vary from city to city.

Surrey, for instance, allows construction at 9 a.m. on Saturdays, while Richmond doesn't give its residents a break on Sundays and holidays, allowing construction from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. But there are exceptions to every rule and it seems some cities, including Surrey and Vancouver, are willing to bend them.

For a fee - Vancouver charges between $148 to $296 and Surrey $50 - the cities allow companies to apply for an exemption of the bylaws so they can work extended hours, including Sundays. The reason, city officials say, is to get infrastructure projects built more quickly, or at a time when there is less traffic and fewer people on the streets.

"We have a fair share of construction projects that have to go outside the noise hours because they're large capital projects," said Jas Rehal, Surrey's manager of bylaws and licensing. "We look at all the projects. If we feel it's not time-sensitive or required outside normal noise hours, we'll reject it."

Rehal didn't know offhand how many exemptions Surrey has issued in the past year, but said "I signed off on a couple in the last few weeks."

Vancouver, however, issued 112 noise exemptions to allow work on a Sunday over the year - 63 of those for construction work at the Main Street-Terminal Avenue SkyTrain Station. Only 25 applications were denied, with about half due to late notice and the rest for an inability to provide a valid or acceptable reason.

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Relentless construction annoys neighbours

Its no secret that the apartment sector has been on a tear.

A big share of Julys gain in housing construction came from the multifamily sector, which tends to be fairly volatile on a monthly basis.

But looking at a rolling 12-month total of multifamily starts without any seasonal adjustment shows that construction for the year ended July reached its highest level since 1989, according to Commerce Department data released Tuesday.

Big gains in apartment construction are less bullish for economic growth than a comparable rise in single-family construction, notes Diane Swonk, chief economist of Mesirow Financial, because single-family housing has a bigger multiplier effect for both consumer spending and job growth.

We will take what economic activity we can get, but our housing market model was designed in the U.S. to build a lot of single-family homes for owners, not multifamily homes for renters, Ms. Swonk wrote Tuesday.

Single-family construction improved in July but has been softer than expected this year. Single-family building permits, for example, are up just 0.8% through July versus the year-earlier period, compared to a 17.5% year-to-date gain for apartment permits.

Still, the surge in apartments offers further evidence that job gains are boosting household formation and that the housing market faces a shelter shortage that will require more constructionfor renting or for owning. The hope is that eventually more of these renters will buy homes.

Rising rents could eventually give potential homebuyers added urgency. A separate report Tuesday showed that rents were rising at their fastest pace in five years in July, up 3.3% from a year earlier. That compares to a 2.8% gain last July, according to the Labor Department.

Many Americans have opted to rent because they dont have enough savings for a down payment or they cant qualify for a mortgage. Others may prefer the flexibility that comes with signing a lease.

Its little mystery, then, why apartment company stocks have been on a tear. Shares of Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities closed Tuesday at their highest levels since the companies went public in 1993 and 1994, respectively.

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With Rentals in Fashion, Apartment Construction Hits 25-Year High

Artist's rendering of Murfey Constructions latest project in Hillcrest, which will break ground in September 2014. (Courtesy)

By Marti Gacioch

Murfey Construction is ready to break ground in September 2014 for a five-story apartment building that will house 36 luxury apartments on the corner of Washington Street and Eighth Avenue in Hillcrest. They are our main focus now, said sales manager Jesse Lyons.

The one- and two-bedroom units will range in size from 760- to 1200-square-feet.

Amenities will be similar to other Murfey Construction projects, including solar panels on the roof top deck complete with a BBQ, that serves as a common area for residents to entertain and socialize, Lyons said.

Energy-efficient stainless steel appliances and energy-efficient green heating and air conditioning are also a given with Murfey Construction. The company thinks green for the environment and builds green to continue protecting it while serving its tenants with cutting edge, state-of-art technology, Lyons said.

Other amenities will include European-style wooden cabinets, hard surface quartz counters in two color schemes, a washer and dryer in each unit, and refrigerator, range, dishwasher, microwave and tankless water heaters.

Everything will be pre-wired for cable and Internet and there will be wall-mounted connections for flat panel TVs and LED lighting, Lyons said. There will be some nice panoramic views toward the ocean a fitness center may be included.

Russ Murfey added With our projects, we install highly efficient, cost-effective products whenever possible, including gas appliances, which are less expensive to operate than electric appliances. We build with Quartz countertops and recycled wood flooring, including bamboo, and try to keep products out of the landfill by recycling more than 50 percent of the materials we use.

Units in Murfeys Famosa project at Voltaire Street and Catalina Boulevard in Point Loma (nine contemporary, 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath townhomes with 2-car garages) are now for sale. A few of the 1,400-1,500 square foot townhomes include a rooftop deck. The multi-use project will have street-level retail spaces.

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Murfey Construction to build apartments in Hillcrest and Famosa Townhomes in Point Loma areas of San Diego

As the investigation continues into a massive fire that destroyed a Far East Side apartment building project earlier this month, authorities said Monday the blaze may have caused more than $10 million in damage.

No one was injured in the Aug. 8 fire, which leveled the four-story, 105-unit apartment complex under construction on the 500 block of Apollo Way.

The fire sent up smoke that could be seen around the Madison area, and generated intense heat, threatening nearby homes.

Because of the fires size, local authorities called in investigative help from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives National Response Team.

Federal and local authorities have interviewed 105 people since then, officials said at a press conference Monday.

Investigators are still looking into how the fire started and have a few hypotheses, Madison Fire Department Chief Steve Davis said.

Dan Heenan, an ATF special agent with the National Response Team, said some possible causes have been ruled out, including an electrical or natural gas source, since the building was not yet hooked up to those utilities.

They have not yet ruled out arson, Heenan said.

Authorities initially said the fire caused $3.5 million to $5 million in damage, but Heenan said Monday that an insurer estimated that damage was upwards of $10 million.

The National Response Team, made up of investigators from across the country, is now turning the inquiry over to local authorities from the Madison police and fire departments and local ATF office, Heenan said.

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Investigation into Apollo Way fire continues; damage now estimated at $10M

LA GRANGE A proposal for the construction of a multiple family apartment building in La Grange at the corner of Ashland and Harris avenues will move forward with a negative recommendation from the village of La Grange Plan Commission after its meeting Aug. 12.

Four of the commissioners voted against the proposal and 3 voted in favor.

Community Development Director Patrick Benjamin said he'd love to offer up a more precise description as to why the commission voted the way it did, but due to the "absence of much commentary," Benjamin is still searching for that answer himself.

At the meeting, John Schiess, an architect and partner with the developer Brand & Co., presented a revised proposal to the commission that included lowering the structure by two feet, efforts to minimize the traffic outflow onto Harris Avenue and to better align the building with La Grange's design guidelines.

The multiple family residential building will have four floors of residences, each with diverse unit types, according to Schiess.

"We are providing something that's not available [in La Grange]," Schiess said. "These types of homes are not available ... but they're very much desired."

In the months prior to the commission's meeting, Schiess, representing the developer, sat down with local neighbors in an attempt to address their concerns about the building. Schiess said that during the meeting, residents opposed the develpment having retail or restaurant space, and voiced concerns about a nearby school zone safety on Harris Avenue and the potential for street flooding.

Schiess said the developers reached out to the neighbors because they wanted to hear about their concerns directly.

As the presentation progressed, Schiess pointing out that the vacant lot is currently a commercially zoned property.

"We believe this site should be an R-8 [zone]," Schiess said and asked the commission to rezone the lot for a residential property. "That rezoning of the site is supported by the [village's] comprehensive plan."

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La Grange Plan Commission moves project forward with negative recommendation

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) Pyongyang isn't just any North Korean city. So when a 23-story apartment building under construction collapsed in the center of the showcase capital in May, officials faced a bona fide emergency.

Their response was in some ways predictable: a grudgingly slow and piecemeal confirmation, followed by scapegoating and spin. Three months later, they still refuse to give a death toll, saying only that it was "serious" and that leader Kim Jong Un "sat up all night, feeling painful after being told about the accident."

But in a country where acknowledgment of failure is rare, experts say North Korea's handling of the collapse also shines a light on how it is grappling with some deeper issues, including its image among foreign investors, the limits on its control over information and the need to address, at a public level, the concerns of its citizens.

In this photo taken on Thursday, July 31, 2014, a North Korean woman walks past a recently completed dormitory to house more than 3,000 workers at the Kim Jong Suk Textile Factory in Pyongyang, North Korea. Home to more than one-tenth of North Korea?s 24 million people, Pyongyang has always been the focus of development and the prime beneficiary of state funding. Providing better housing for Pyongyang residents, who have a much higher standard of living than other North Koreans, is a key means for the leadership to ensure their support and loyalty. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) (Wong Maye-E/AP)

Well aware of how far North Korea lags behind its more prosperous neighbors, Kim has singled out development projects as a key priority since he assumed power following the death of his father in 2011. This week, while visiting a block of apartment houses being built in Pyongyang for university teachers, he reportedly said the nation's soldier-builders are "racing against time in ushering in a great heyday of building a rich and powerful country."

Nowhere is that race more feverish or the political stakes higher than in Pyongyang.

Home to more than one-tenth of North Korea's 24 million people, Pyongyang has always been the focus of development and the prime beneficiary of state funding. Providing better housing for Pyongyang residents, who have a much higher standard of living than other North Koreans, is a key means for the leadership to ensure their support and loyalty.

In a country that sorely needs to improve its basic infrastructure, there is no public debate over whether North Korea really needs a new luxury ski resort, or a 105-story pyramid-shaped hotel that has been a Pyongyang landmark for more than 20 years, but has yet to open for business. Questioning the value of megaprojects held up as symbols of progress and national pride in North Korea is taboo.

Housing, however, hits closer to home.

"This accident happened because they broke the rules and methods of construction," Pyongyang resident Pak Chol told The Associated Press after the accident was reported by the state media. "We must make sure that this kind of terrible accident never happens again, by sticking to the proper method of building."

Excerpt from:
Building fail sheds light on N. Korean priorities

Residents were evacuated from a Brooklyn apartment building Friday after a piece of construction equipment smashed through a wall.

Firefighters say an excavator from a neighboring construction site was leaning against the building when they got there.

Six people were evacuated, but no one was injured.

NY1 spoke to people who were inside the building when it happened.

"There was, like, a boom and then, like, a little shake, and then, the people came, the firemen came, and they said we had to evacuate the building," said one person who was inside the building.

"The second floor, the lady told me that the whole wall shook. She came downstairs and said the building is smashed. So I went upstairs, the whole wall is smashed in. It took the whole sheet rock and pushed it all in," said another.

"I just felt scared because I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what happened until I came outside and it was unlevel," said a third. "To me, it was an accident."

There is no word yet on when residents will be allowed back into their homes.

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Residents of Brooklyn Apartment Evacuate After Construction Equipment Smashes Through Wall

In this photo taken on Friday, Aug. 1, 2014, elderly North Korean men walk on a sidewalk with the 105-story pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel, which has been under construction since 1987, seen in the background in Pyongyang, North Korea. Home to more than one-tenth of North Koreas 24 million people, Pyongyang has always been the focus of development and the prime beneficiary of state funding. Providing better housing for Pyongyang residents, who have a much higher standard of living than other North Koreans, is a key means for the leadership to ensure their support and loyalty. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)The Associated Press

In this photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014, construction workers sit in front of the new Pyongyang International airport terminal under construction in Pyongyang, North Korea. Home to more than one-tenth of North Koreas 24 million people, Pyongyang has always been the focus of development and the prime beneficiary of state funding. Providing better housing for Pyongyang residents, who have a much higher standard of living than other North Koreans, is a key means for the leadership to ensure their support and loyalty. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)The Associated Press

In this photo taken on Thursday, July 31, 2014, North Koreans paint the facade of their apartment building in Pyongyang, North Korea. Home to more than one-tenth of North Koreas 24 million people, Pyongyang has always been the focus of development and the prime beneficiary of state funding. Providing better housing for Pyongyang residents, who have a much higher standard of living than other North Koreans, is a key means for the leadership to ensure their support and loyalty. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)The Associated Press

In this photo taken on Monday, July 28, 2014, construction work is underway at the new Pyongyang International airport terminal in Pyongyang, North Korea. Home to more than one-tenth of North Koreas 24 million people, Pyongyang has always been the focus of development and the prime beneficiary of state funding. Providing better housing for Pyongyang residents, who have a much higher standard of living than other North Koreans, is a key means for the leadership to ensure their support and loyalty. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)The Associated Press

In this photo taken on Thursday, July 31, 2014, North Korean men wait next to the recently completed dormitory to house more than 3,000 workers at the Kim Jong Suk Textile Factory in Pyongyang, North Korea. Home to more than one-tenth of North Koreas 24 million people, Pyongyang has always been the focus of development and the prime beneficiary of state funding. Providing better housing for Pyongyang residents, who have a much higher standard of living than other North Koreans, is a key means for the leadership to ensure their support and loyalty. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)The Associated Press

PYONGYANG, North Korea Pyongyang isn't just any North Korean city. So when a 23-story apartment building under construction collapsed in the center of the showcase capital in May, officials faced a bona fide emergency.

Their response was in some ways predictable: a grudgingly slow and piecemeal confirmation, followed by scapegoating and spin. Three months later, they still refuse to give a death toll, saying only that it was "serious" and that leader Kim Jong Un "sat up all night, feeling painful after being told about the accident."

But in a country where acknowledgment of failure is rare, experts say North Korea's handling of the collapse also shines a light on how it is grappling with some deeper issues, including its image among foreign investors, the limits on its control over information and the need to address, at a public level, the concerns of its citizens.

Well aware of how far North Korea lags behind its more prosperous neighbors, Kim has singled out development projects as a key priority since he assumed power following the death of his father in 2011. This week, while visiting a block of apartment houses being built in Pyongyang for university teachers, he reportedly said the nation's soldier-builders are "racing against time in ushering in a great heyday of building a rich and powerful country."

Nowhere is that race more feverish or the political stakes higher than in Pyongyang.

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Accountability, Pyongyang style: North Korea grapples with implications of high-rise collapse

MADISON, Wis. -

The fire department said the "powerful" fire the took down a large apartment building last week on damaged more than a dozen nearby homes and melted parts of the fire engine.

Madison Fire spokeswoman Bernadette Galvez said Thursday that crews responding to the fire last Friday night worked to wet down homes near the four-floor structure that was emitting heat hot enough to melt parts of a fire engine and cracking windows in adjacent buildings. The fire at a building under construction on the 500 block of Apollo Way was initially reported by drivers seeing smoke and flames from Interstate 90 at about 7:30 p.m., officials said last week.

"The radiant heat from the fire was so intense that firefighter air packs were hot to the touch, fire gear started to melt and fire engine tires were smoking," Galvez said Thursday. "This powerful fire would burn any exposed skin if not covered."

Galvez said crews arriving to the scene could feel heat from the blaze 100 feet away through the fire engine windshield. Parts of the engine can be seen melted and warped in photos provided by the Madison Fire Department.

Images of nearby homes showed melted, rippled siding the department said was caused by radiant heat.

The building complex that burned is a total loss estimated at $3.5 million to $5 million.

The fire investigation continued Thursday, Galvez said.

Published On:Aug 08 2014 08:24:58 PM CDT Updated On:Aug 14 2014 01:27:53 PM CDT

A large fire broke out in an apartment building in the Grandview Commons subdivision on Madison's east side Aug. 8. Photos show the building burning and subsequent damage caused by heat from the big blaze.

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Heat from fire damages 14 nearby homes, fire engine