The open office has taken over modern business. While controversial, these large, open spacespunctuated by conference rooms and phone boothsare the design of the day, and their proponents claim they increase collaboration. But open offices are also a communal petri dish. In the age of COVID-19, theyre the antithesis of social distancing.

Open offices will need to change for us to go back to work, but how drastically? We talked to Todd Heiser, a co-managing director at the worlds largest architecture firm Gensler, and Primo Orpilla, cofounder at the interior design company Studio O+A, which has designed open office headquarters for companies such as McDonalds. Both have already been working with companies to adjust floor plans and practices in anticipation of bringing employees back to work. Here are the trends they see coming.

One truth about the open office is that it has gotten a bit less open over time, simply because weve started packing a whole lot more people in. Thats a problem when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is suggesting at least 6 feet of space between people.

According to Orpilla, the prototypical open office should be designed to allow people to meander through the space and find their own nook or cranny to settle down in, without bumping elbows with a coworker.

Anytime you look at a well-designed open plan, theres only about 30% of people sitting at the desk. The rest are using other parts of the office space, thereby exercising social distancing on demand in their own way, says Orpilla. That being said, the target has been painted. Over the last five years, theres been a push for the open plan model to densify. Thats where youre seeing the problems. Some places were designed without the additional open areas, meeting spaces, or the right ratio of meeting spaces to headcount. They were not well thought-out.

Already, weve seen companies in China mitigate their density by moving employees to staggered-shift work. Meanwhile, Facebook has announced that people will return to the office in waves. Other companies will likely take the same approach.

In the beginning, maybe 20% of people will go back to work, says Heiser. Perhaps late summer next year we could see those densities grow. Gensler has also been developing a tool for clients, which takes existing floor plans, and algorithmically suggests safer seating layouts. That might sound a bit over the top, using AI just to spread people a minimum distance apart, but several of their clients are working with over a million feet of office space. Some automation will be necessary.

If youve visited an open office in the past few years, youve probably been greeted by someone sitting at a desk. They point you to the coffeeeither K-cups or brewed thermosesand you help yourself before poking around a basket of fruit, then take a seat.

This is to make visitors feel comfortable without a lot of staff oversight. But comfort going forward will be about perceived safety, which is why self-serve coffee may not come back as designers reimagine office entries to deal with visitors and staff who need to decontaminate before entering a shared space.

Weve been thinking, whats the new paradigm? Maybe its a mud room, says Heiser. You come in, change your shoes, wash your hands. Will sinks become primary in entries instead of self-service coffee?

Many offices have such spaces, full of lockers, bike storage, and even showers. But these have been facing side doors and rear entrances. Now, these spaces might face everyone who visits an office. They might even be a place to run health screenings for anyone who comes into the building. If we let someone in the building, [they might] infect people, says Orpilla. So we have to have better checkpoints to screen employees and visitors. Were going to have to take your temperature [at the door].

Heres a twist: Plexiglass is sold out from many suppliers. Why is that? Because architects and interior designers are securing the transparent material to build clear barriers between people.

I know theres a big run on it, says Orpilla of Plexiglass. Essentially, were creating gigantic sneeze guards. When you think of it, its like a sneeze guard at a salad bar. There are better materials that are more antimicrobial. . .but everyone goes to the clear plastic because the perception is, I have this barrier around me.

Orpilla says you should expect to see Plexiglass, and other dividers, rise up, creating walls around desks. One of my clients said the other day, I shouldnt have gotten rid of all those 65-inch-tall panels, says Orpilla. Whether its safe or not, people feel safe with a barrier around them.

At the same time, architects are considering airflow and HVAC systems in new ways. In China, buildings have already been designed with more fresh air flow and air filtration than what we have in the United States. Every expert Ive spoken to, from air flow researchers to architects, agrees that offices across the United States will begin to upgrade their HVAC systems. But not all solutions will be part of the centralized heating and cooling systemat least not at first. Offices will likely install portable air purifiers as a stop gap. Employees may likely bring in their own, too.

Orpilla is experimenting with installing giant exhaust fans, like you see over the smoky grills at Korean restaurants, in Studio O+As own office space, for places where small groups of people might meet but still want fresh air. Yet ironically, while cubicles are coming back to seal individual employees inside, shared spaces like small and medium conference rooms may actually be opened up to the rest of the office, to let these rooms breathe.

Weve been thinking of it as an officle. Not quite an office. Not quite a cubicle, says Heiser. Such a room would only have three walls, with one open to allow airflow. It provides privacy and focus work minus a door, he says.

Mass gatherings are canceled across much of the world, which means no big weddingsand also, maybe no work lunch. Even properly proportioned open offices are often built with cafeterias, which are designed to operate with at high capacity to feed most or all employees meals within a very tight window of time. Expect a lot of desk lunches and outdoor eating instead.

But if everyone doesnt gather in the cafeteria for lunch, what do you do with that space? That answer is pretty simple: It opens up to more people working through the day, allowing everyone to distance more.

Heiser suggests that another way to avoid big groups inside is simply to move them outside. This strategy doesnt work so well in dense urban cities, he admits, but in temperate climates like the Bay Area where corporations are set up on large campuses, theres a lot of potential to just move people outdoors.

For the most part, assuming buildings cut down on headcount and vastly improve their HVAC systems, it seems feasible to enable some social distancing at scale inside an office.

But there are two lingering bottlenecks: elevators and hallways.

High-rises present a particularly tricky situation for socially distanced offices. Thats because thousands of people will come to work in a short time frame, who are actually going to several different offices that may not be coordinating shifts with one another. You have to get all the people up the elevators or stairwells, says Orpilla, who notes that some elevators are too small to allow more than one person to ride them in a socially distant way. Were seriously looking at ways you can put dividers up in elevators with plastic screens, so you can go to four corners in the elevator.

Hallways are a similarly tricky proposition. Most buildings didnt build very wide aisles, so you cant maintain 6 feet, says Orpilla.

As a result, many designers are looking to instruct employees to actually circulate in one direction through a space, treating hallways as one-way streets rather than two-way streets.

Ultimately, many of the above ideas will be tested in the field, and soon. Companies have already started planning COVID-19-responsive conversions to office spaces, as states like California detail their plans to reopen. Some of these ideas will work while others wont. But its important to note that these plans are all based upon the relatively vague advice of hygiene and social distancing provided by WHO and the CDC. Both Heiser and Orpilla expect that standards will quickly change as scientists and health officials learn more about COVID-19 and update best practices. That change may happen on a month-to-month basis, Heiser says. And companies will need to continually adapt their workplace to keep up.

More:
Here's how COVID-19 will change your open office - Fast Company

The vote would have been the Houses first formal session since the pandemic upended daily life last month and after some Democrats had prodded legislative leaders to move more quickly in finding ways to allow formal lawmaking to resume.

But the GOP leader, Representative Bradley H. Jones, on Wednesday used a procedural move to block its passage during an informal session, in which any dissent stops a bill from passing. It came moments after House Democrats denied an amendment he filed that would have lifted the rules once Bakers borrowing bill passed. The current draft of the rules keeps them in place as late as January.

Jones, a North Reading Republican, said hes open to discussions but is primarily concerned with a rule that effectively limits how often most representatives can be recognized to speak. Its a move, he said, that promises to cut off crucial rebuttals amid debate. Another provision mandates that lawmakers who want to speak on any bill notify House leaders by 10 a.m. the day of the vote.

Im perfectly OK with remote voting," Jones said. But I dont think in order to achieve remote voting that you need to sacrifice many of the principles that are hallmarks of our democracy.

The order is about power, he added of Democratic leaders. Its an example of lets use this crisis to achieve more power.

Less than 20 minutes after Wednesdays session ended, House Speaker Robert DeLeo released a sharp statement accusing House Republicans of trying to enhance their own very limited power by using a "partisan political move . . . at the expense of the taxpayer and the safety of the public.

By blocking the rules, he said, the House cant approve the time-sensitive and critical borrowing legislation, which requires a formal roll call vote to advance.

The Republican action could imperil the states cash flow, require cuts to services for vulnerable populations during a public health crisis, and harm the states bond rating, which will only add to the future cost of borrowing, DeLeo said, saying Joness amendment forced us to call lawmakers into the chamber and put at risk House Members, staff, and the public at large.

This is an unparalleled example of both recklessness and fiscal irresponsibility, DeLeo said.

Democrats hold a super majority in the House, leaving the chambers 31-member GOP caucus and Jones, the minority leader since 2003, with little sway beyond forcing recorded roll call votes or debate on legislation.

It made Wednesdays move, and the fiery public response from DeLeo, all the more remarkable.

The speakers statement was as inflammatory as Ive seen out of his office, Jones said, calling it "completely counterproductive and demonstrably false.

DeLeo said Jones was briefed extensively on the rules changes and incorporated some of the House Republicans recommendations into an amended order released Tuesday. That included backtracking from a controversial provision that would have made it more difficult for representatives to force a roll call vote.

The original proposal would have required 25 percent of the House to agree to holding a roll call during remote voting a bar that would make it impossible for the Republican caucus to insist on a recorded vote. House leaders ultimately let the language revert back to the Houses current rule, which requires 10 percent.

The change appeared to appease both House Democrats as well as progressive groups that, like Republicans, said the original language could stifle debate.

The Houses 11-page rules proposal followed weeks of discussion about how representatives could restart formal voting amid the pandemic, which has closed the State House to the public and left legislators to rely on informal, debate-less sessions to pass bills.

Lawmakers in at least 14 other states have already changed their procedures to allow for remote participation or voting since March, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The House plan calls for a small number of representatives to remain in the chamber for a vote and the vast majority of lawmakers to follow along through a public live stream, using conference call lines to dial in and cast their votes. Designated monitors in the chamber would then collect and submit the votes to the House clerk.

Representative Kate Hogan, a Stow Democrat who also sits on the working group that drafted the rules, acknowledged the challenges lawmakers faced in trying to move voting to conference calls.

Its going to be more limited. Theres no way we can replicate a live and in-person floor debate, Hogan said. "We are trying to put these together thoughtfully. Were hoping this isnt going to be forever.

For weeks, lawmakers have relied on back-channel negotiations and informal sessions to continue moving legislation to Bakers desk, including bills that waived the states MCAS requirement and undid a weeklong waiting period for unemployment benefits in response to the health crisis. Last week, lawmakers passed a bill that allows for notaries public to remotely perform work central to estate planning, mortgages, and more.

Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mattpstout

Original post:
Mass. Houses attempt to install remote voting hits GOP roadblock - The Boston Globe

Being apet owner definitely has its ups and downs!

I adopted my dog Tater Tot almost one month ago, and he's a real character. He's a pug and Jack Russell Terrier mix and will be turning 4-years-old in June.

Last night I decided to pick Tater up new food and water bowls. I found some nice stainless steel ones that came with a cute holder. Well, I found out this morning that Tater doesn't like them as much as I do. He was TERRIFIED of the bowls. He barely ate any of his breakfast, so I ended up dumping the rest of his food on the floor. I don't think he's a big fan of the sound the metal makes when it bumps into the holder!

Is your pet afraid of something really random? We asked listeners on Facebook and some of the answers were hilariously ridiculous:

Is your pet afraid of something strange? Let us know in the comments below!

See the original post:
The Random Things Our Pets are Afraid Of - khak.com

It's easy to dream of all the things we'd change about our apartments, but as renters, we can only do so much. Perhaps you'd like to redo an outdated fireplace, upgrade your kitchen's old floors, or better yet, give your out-of-date shower a fresh new look. It all sounds good in theory, but ultimately, remodels lie in the hands of our landlords until now. Yup, believe it or not, there is a landlord-approved way to improve the aesthetics of our homes, and it's called peel-and-stick floor tile.

Whether it's a bathroom, living room, or kitchen that needs a new look, these tiles are water-resistant and require no grout to be installed. Simply trim them with a utility knife, unstick the back, and place them on your floor or wall. It's really that easy! Think of it as temporary wallpaper, but for floors and backsplashes. The best part is once you're ready to move out, all you have to do is unpeel the tiles and be on your way.

If these peel-and-stick tiles sound like something you'd like to try, check out 30 options we've gathered ahead.

Read the rest here:
Peel-and-Stick Floor Tile Is the Decor Trick You Need in Your Life, Especially If You Rent - POPSUGAR Australia

Dublin, April 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Wood & Competitive Decking - 10th Edition" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This study analyzes US demand for decking by product, market, and region. Decks are defined as unroofed, floored areas that are attached to the exterior of a structure. Typically, they are located at the rear of a building. This study encompasses deck boards, which are used to make the floor of the deck, as well as railing systems (consisting of a top rail, spindles, and bottom rail) and other built-in accessories, such as stairs, benches, and planter boxes.

Decking products are broken out by:

The major market segments analyzed are:

The residential building market is further segmented by housing type (single-family, multifamily, and manufactured housing). Commercial structures on which decks are usually installed include bars, restaurants, hotels, casinos, resorts, spas, and other entertainment facilities.

The non-building segment encompasses decks that are not attached to a building. The majority of these decks are located in coastal or other waterfront areas and include boardwalks, docks, marinas, and piers. Non-building decks also include walkways and platforms at national, state, or local parks; amusement parks; water parks; and playgrounds. In many cases, decks in these applications are built through municipal or other government contracts.

Companies Mentioned

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. Overview

3. Factors Affecting Decking Demand

4. Wood Decking

5. Wood-Plastic Composite Decking

6. Plastic & Other Decking

7. Residential Building Markets

8. Commercial & Nonbuilding Markets

9. Regions

10. Industry Structure

11. Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/dqwx3j

About ResearchAndMarkets.comResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Read the rest here:
Wood and Competitive Decking in the United States Market Analysis 2020: Segmented by Product Type and Region - GlobeNewswire

4/29/2020

The city of Woonsocket was last week in the midst of installing a new asphalt parking lot across from the Stadium Theatre. The brick building at right is Terrys Tire and Auto, on Blackstone Street. (Breeze photo by Tom Ward)

WOONSOCKET When the Stadium Theatre eventually reopens to the public, patrons will find improved parking options at the municipal lot across the street.

Last month, the citys Department of Public Works began improvements to the lot directly across from the theater on Monument Square. In addition to excavating and repaving the existing lot, the project involved eliminating islands, restriping and lowering the level of the pavement to make it ADA-compliant.

In the next few weeks, said Director of Public Works Steven DAgostino, a contractor will be installing LED lighting around the perimeter of the lot.

My hope is to have it nearly completed if not totally completed by the time the Stadium opens, he said.

Cathy Levesque, executive director of the Stadium Theatre, said the timing of the project, which started the week the theater closed due to the COVID-19 measures, was has offered hope to staff members.

My office is on the fourth floor of the Conservatory, so I have been watching Steve DAgostino and his team working daily, she said. Observing their progress on this project has kept our spirits up. It is one exceedingly good thing during an incredibly bad time.

DAgostino said the project will cost approximately $250,000 to complete, a significant savings compared with if the city had outsourced the work.

The renovated parking lot is one of several projects the city has taken on while vehicle and pedestrian traffic is slower due to the coronavirus measures. Last week, a playground supplier began installing new playground equipment at Cass Park. The parks newly completed softball field, said DAgostino, was scheduled to open this spring, but didnt have a chance before spring sports were shut down due to COVID-19.

On May 18, North Kingstown-based T. Miozzi is scheduled to begin resurfacing Park Avenue from Hamlet Avenue to Transit Street. Prior to that, National Grid is expected to begin repaving the upper portion of Park Avenue following a gas line replacement last summer, the final step in a project that caused several road detours last year.

This is a great time to do some work, said DAgostino. The traffic has slowed right down. Its a great opportunity.

Follow this link:
Improved parking lot will greet Stadium when it reopens - Valley Breeze

Las Vegas casinos are all starting to make their plans for an eventual re-opening, whenever that may be. As many of the bigger resorts are publishing the safety guidelines they will follow when Governor Steve Sisolak allows gambling to resume, at least one downtown casino is following the lead of Penn National Gaming and hiring a local firm to install sneezeguards.

Las Vegas-based Screaming Images, run by James Swanson, has started developing safety shields to install at table games and slot machines. The clear acrylic shields can be installed in 15 minutes, and would protect the players from each other, and the dealer, from unwanted airborne spray.

Downtown Las Vegas casino the El Cortez has already agreed to a trial run of these shields, allowing Screaming Images to install them in exchange for the free publicity theyll get from it.

James is really one of our best vendors by far. Very reliable and very responsive. He owns the company and yet hes still one of the ones that comes out for a new project, Adam Wiesberg, El Cortez general manager, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. So when he reached out about this new technology, and with everything being such an unknown to us and the industry, any new idea that could potentially work to protect employees and customers were willing to take a look at. So letting him use our tables and slot floor to create, design and develop this new technology, we welcomed it.

Screaming Images isnt a new company. The company has been in operation for 18 years, providing print and design services to resorts, as well as the Las Vegas Raiders, Golden Knights and the Aces.

These new dividers, Swanson noted, are made of clear acrylic and dont fog up. They also dont involve any screws, so they can easily be removed with no damage to the existing property, unlike the Penn guards which appear to be screwed right into the table. Wiesberg and others whove seen the setup have given it positive reviews, and a few hotel properties have already shown an interest in purchasing them for their floor.

Its unclear at this point if the shields would help casinos lessen the need for social distancing; considering they arent bubbles, theres probably still some need to keep players further apart. But if they help players feel safer, and reduce even some transmission of disease, they could be worth the investment.

And lets face it, they arent the most elegant solution one could possibly imagine. But if they help casinos keep their customers safer, and allow the industry to get back in business faster, then they definitely suit a pressing need.

View post:
Las Vegas casino joins the sneezeguard trend - CalvinAyre.com

Miami has become known as a global capital for the visual arts thanks to the artists who make the city home, and aided internationally by the attention of the annual Miami Art Week crowds each December.

Fewer know, however, that Miami-Dade County is also home to one of the largest public art collections in the United States.

The countys Art in Public Places program has placed more than 750 works of art since it was established in 1973, in spots including Miami International Airport, Zoo Miami, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, libraries, fire and police stations.

That means that despite the COVID-19 pandemic and associated social-distancing prevention measures that have limited the publics ability to see art in person in galleries or museum, many of the pieces in the Art in Public Places collection are in locations still viewable by the public.

Its a major collection, says Amanda Sanfilippo Long, who has served as the programs curator and artist manager since 2016. We have some artworks that are spanning from the greats of the pop art generation, important artists working in South Florida, and also internationally.

We are very artist-focused, she adds. Its about really privileging the artists to the fullest extent to expand their practice, and really being artist-centric, as opposed to sometimes public art agencies being very focused on sort of guessing the needs of the community. This is about artists and their work.

Art in Public Places has had a long time to figure out the best way to marry the many needs of the multiple stakeholders in a public art project, including the artist, the community and real estate developers. The 1973 ordinance that created the program stipulates that any developer building on county-owned land must finance public art projects on that development with 1.5percent of their total project budget.

The first step, Sanfilippo Long says, is a sit-down to look at [a particular] project and talk about the opportunity for public art. Sometimes, projects have components that they designed from the get-go with the idea of incorporating or integrating public art into the fabric of the building not just hanging a painting on a wall, but something thats architecturally scaled. It could be a massive terrazzo floor, or something integrated using landscaping.

One such example: the terrazzo floors by Michele Oka Doner in the North Terminal D of Miami International Airport.

Overseen by a trust that is appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, with guidance from a professional advisory committee, the programs focus remains firmly on ensuring the art will have an effect on both the community and the artist themselves.

The opportunity to work with artists to create things that are not only permanent but are maybe some of the largest or most robust examples of their work in their oeuvre, is fabulous, she says. Its about scale, about these artists being able to push themselves.

The trust also ensures that decisions on a collection of such magnitude and permanence are not taken lightly.

Its an extraordinary program with a real solid focus on supporting artists and excellence and diversity, and thats really important, she says. Who are the decision-makers at the table, and are they reflective of the community? Diversity, equity and inclusion are very important to us, and you can see it in our community members, our trust, and its reflective of the artists that we are engaging.

The following is a selection of pieces throughout Miami-Dade County, with highlights from Sanfilippo Long.

Erwin Redls Volume Miami

Location:PortMiami, Crown of Miami Cruise Terminal A Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, 2299 E. Port Blvd.

Featuring 650 custom light fixtures, this installation on the Royal Caribbean Cruise Terminal is best viewed at night, driving east from downtown Miami to Miami Beach on the Interstate-395 Causeway.

Whats exquisite is that this artwork is actually a gift to the entire city because its visible for anyone driving on 395. Its just this glimmering, shimmering experience and light that are installed throughout the immense architectural volume of the terminal, she says. The lights are on a very specific program, coming in different intervals, so its not only just about whats inside the buildings, but what everyone can see outside as well. There are so many different dynamic ways the collection exists out in the world.

Nekisha Durrett and Hank Willis Thomas I See Myself In You

Location:6103 NW Seventh Ave., Miami

On the Northwest Seventh Avenue facing side of Liberty Citys Sandrell Rivers Theater is a 3-Dimensional metal wall sculpture of a woman gazing outward with reflective glasses, which allows the work to change throughout the day.

Its this beautiful facade of the building that is a beacon, and transforming, she says.

Isamu Noguchis Slide Mantra

Bayfront Park, Biscayne Boulevard at Flagler Street

This interactive piece made of Carrara marble is also a functional slide.

Its a wonderful artwork that you actually get to climb on the back and slide down.

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggens Dropped Bowl with Scattered Slices and Peels

Location:Stephen P. Clark Government Center, 111 NW First St., Miami

Installed in 1990 on the southwest corner of First Street and Second Avenue, this sculpture is reminiscent of a dropped bowl of fruit.

Its just a joy, she says.

Purvis Youngs Untitled

Location:Northside Metrorail Station, 3150 NW 79th St., Miami

Painted by one of Miamis most celebrated sons, this monumental mural graces the Northside Metrorail Station and emerges as you ride the escalator up to the train platform.

Its an enormous mural by Purvis Young, and most people have never seen it, and its just a gem from 1986, she says. Its a really special thing.

Art at Marlins Park:Carlos Cruz-Diezs Chromatic Induction in a Double Frequency andDaniel Arsham/Snarkitectures A Memorial Bowing

Location:Marlins Park, 501 NW 16th Ave., Miami

The Miami Marlins ballpark is home to several pieces from the public art program.

I definitely recommend walking around the grounds of the Marlins ballpark and just experiencing the collection of artwork there, she says. Carlos Cruz-Diezs incredible integrated walkways are just mesmerizing, they are so much fun to visit. I have to say its one of my favorite pieces in the collection!

And then, of course, dont forget around the other side of the Marlins Ballpark youve got Daniel Arsham/Snarkitecture, with his great big orange letters that look like they tumbled off the side of the former Orange Bowl and just dropped and embedded themselves in the concrete of the steps of the Marlins Park.

ArtburstMiami.comis a nonprofit source of theater, dance, visual arts, music and performing arts news.

See the original post here:
Behold Miami-Dade's Art In Public Places, One Of The Largest Public Collections In U.S. - WLRN

In 2016, Chris Neffendorf installed an exhaust air duct on a Portland office building. Sheet metal products are among those becoming more difficult to procure amid coronavirus-related closures, contractors say. (Sam Tenney/DJC file)

While construction teams carry on during the COVID-19 pandemic, some are beginning to encounter a materials supply chain that has been taxed to the limit especially beyond U.S. borders. Government-imposed economic shutdowns have left manufacturers, distributors and their customers all scrambling to keep shelves stocked and workers equipped.

Lead times on orders are increasing. Material shortages are persisting. Its the new norm, and no one really knows when that will change.

Two weeks ago, (if) you would have asked how is a particular project in Hillsboro going for us I would (have said), Fine; no issues, said Eric Wiesmann, purchasing manager for Rosendin Electrics Hillsboro facility. And three days later, factories are shut down and materials are put off until June. So Id say today its undetermined; next week Im probably going to tell you every one of our projects is going to be impacted.

Many countries have required factories to suspend or severely limit operations. Outputs are slowing, and delivery times are growing and U.S. customers are noticing. Andersen Construction Vice President Brian Knudsen said international shipments of a number of items elevators, doors, flooring, thin brick and others are being delayed.

We have had a thin brick product on a project delayed not only due to the German factory being closed, but also because the broker for the product is from New York and they are closed, he said. So getting the delivery information has been difficult, causing uncertainty.

Meanwhile, for the Halsey 106 mixed-use building in Portland, general contractor LMC Construction is trying to ensure there wont be a shipment problem.

On this one, we have quartz countertops coming from Vietnam, and at this point we havent heard of any issues, project manager Ken Bello said. But what were trying to do is procure and get this stuff on ships as soon as possible so we have them here.

LMC Construction has tried to be proactive, Vice President Kyle Anderson added.

Everything were hearing is be prepared for materials coming from China to take a lot longer, he said. But right now it hasnt hit us because weve tried to get ahead of it and get material on-site and get additional storage.

A similar approach is being taken by Hoffman Construction, according to Vice President Dan Drinkward. The firm has been able to work through supply chain issues so far, he said, but there are concerns about long lead times especially for items coming from overseas.

Locally, even before state emergency measures were being taken, builders were working to mitigate supply chain issues. For the Robert Libke Public Safety Building project in Oregon City, procurement of items like rooftop HVAC units and storefront systems was moved up to accommodate a wider delivery window, P&C Construction project manager Will Somme said.

We have to get out in front of it, he said. Its been minor, but the whole shipping industry is overwhelmed right now.

LMC Construction expects to see more of that, Anderson said.

All we can do with our clients is be as transparent as we can about whats potentially coming up and what were seeing, he said, and then we just react to it on a case-by-case scenario.

While issues vary for each project, Hoffman Construction has adjusted by ordering materials earlier than usual, forgoing factory inspections in distant locations, and working with subcontractors and distributors to try and identify potential problems before they become critical.

Were trying to set up projects up front and avoid sole-source specifications that could lead us into a bottleneck that would put a project in a difficult position, Drinkward said. Were trying to build some flexibility into the supply chain anticipating were going to have impacts and understanding we dont know what we dont know yet.

What is known is that numerous fabrication shops in Clark County, Washington including ones that work with steel have closed. That impact has stretched across the Portland-metro area.

Weve had some subcontractors and suppliers from Washington basically tell us theyre shutting down, Anderson said. Most of our Washington-based subs are still working. The ones weve heard of are the ones with an actual fabrication shop in Washington, where they feel like they have to shut it down.

Much of that burden is being shouldered by distributors, Wiesmann said.

Were going to distributors and asking them to find new light fixtures, panel boards, breakers different brands of those products and were going to multiple distributors, he said. Everybody is working harder, and its this very odd blend of circumstances that leaves people working harder and making less money.

In 2019, electrician Charlie Niemann installed a light fixture at the Wells Fargo Center. Materials distributors have been experiencing shortages of various building materials, including light fixtures. (Josh Kulla/DJC file)

Fortunately for LMC Construction, the material impacts it has experienced so far have not been critical, Anderson said. The closure of a door manufacturer in another state forced project managers for a renovation of the Silvertowne Apartments in Silverton to hunt for alternatives. Meanwhile, a team handling a different project ran into difficulties sourcing bath hardware. Other items that are proving more difficult to procure, Anderson said, include sheet metal products and steel products.

We made the substitution from a different manufacturer for a slight material increase, and thats what were seeing for the most part, he said. But the other thing were starting to see more and more of is suppliers and manufacturers warning us that their lead times are going to be longer.

Andersen Construction has multiple tower projects under way in downtown Portland. Its receiving similar messages, Knudsen said.

We have received notices from most of our trade partners about material delays on all of our projects, he said. Many times they are not specific, only that there will be delays, but the timing is not specific or is given as a range of weeks or months of delay.

Not every contractor in the Portland-metro area is dealing with such uncertainty. Yes, larger materials, and especially ones not standard sizes, seem to be problematic. And of course, many international shipments appear likely to be slower for the foreseeable future. But some firms have yet to face material shortages or delivery delays.

It is definitely an important topic to examine, and seems to be coming up a lot on some of the calls with developers, said Angie Cole, director of marketing for general contractor Lorentz Bruun Construction. We are very fortunate, however, in that we have not experienced any of the challenges you mentioned. We may be a lucky exception.

Ultimately, as the pandemic continues, no one is sure what the long-term effects will be, either on their projects or the wider construction industry. Everyone is responding to the situation at hand.

Nevertheless, Drinkward and others say the industry is already adapting to the new realities including supply chain challenges in a more cooperative fashion than in the past.

Its ever-changing, but weve figured out largely how to do it, he said. And were seeing with the (resumption of construction) now in Washington, with our projects up there, although many of them were considered essential, now theyve got new guidelines and the new normal. Its actually one of the things weve hoped and offered up. As other businesses start up, we have a lot of lessons weve learned on how to do it.

Read the original:
Proactive approach aiding construction industry - Daily Journal of Commerce

sThe city of Spokane Valley, which has spent the last year addressing the cracking and sinking of the exterior wall of its city hall, has sued the companies who built the building, accusing them of negligence and breaching their contract.

Spokane Valley City Hall, a $14 million project that opened in 2017, was designed to spur economic development in the area and eventually be the heart of a municipal center that includes a new library across the street and an expanded Balfour Park.

According to the lawsuit the city filed Tuesday, the city is seeking damages for the cost to investigate issues, hire consultants and pay attorneys fees. The city is accusing the companies that built and inspected the building of breaching their contracts and warranties and of negligence.

The facility was built by Meridian Construction and included additional work by Architects West, Allwest Testing & Engineering, and Eight31 Consulting, all of which are named in the lawsuit.

Mark DAgostino, president of Meridian Construction, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.

City staff noticed damages to the curved outer wall of City Council chambers soon after moving in, according to the lawsuit.

The city hired a consultant to investigate the damage and found that the soil underneath the foundation for the curved wall hadnt been properly compacted and that the wall was sinking. The rest of the building is under a separate foundation that has not had issues.

A contractor has since installed 10 micro-piles to stabilize the curved wall, and it has stopped sinking.

In addition to the settling beneath the building, a contractor the city hired recently discovered other issues, including improper or missing welding, missing spray-in insulation and materials not installed to manufacturers specifications or installed incorrectly.

According to the lawsuit, those issues have led to the cracking in the walls, an uneven floor and windows that arent sealed.

The city walled off the damaged section of City Council chambers a few weeks before the entire building closed to the public to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

City Council last fall approved spending $400,000 to repair the damage, on the condition it would be reimbursed by the companies that built the facility. When they approved that funding, city staff told them $500,000 was likely a conservative estimate on how much repairs would cost.

The city is not commenting on the lawsuit to allow it to play out fairly in the courts, city spokesman Jeff Kleingartner said.

See the article here:
Spokane Valley sues companies that built City Hall, accusing them of negligence, breach of contract - The Spokesman-Review