Building firm Wates Construction has opened at new base in Liverpool city centre as it steps up its work on a major project.

Wates is leasing a new office in Henry Street, moving from its former satellite office in Mount Pleasant.

The firm is currently working on the new home for Liverpool shipping giant Atlantic Container Lines (ACL) at 86 and 88-90 Duke Street, on behalf of developer Langtree.

Located adjacent to the Duke Street project, Wates new base will accommodate a 10-strong team and will also become the site office for the Langtree project, where construction began last month.

The announcement comes in the wake of new figures released by RICS reporting that construction workloads, particularly in the private commercial sector, grew in the North West in the final quarter of 2014.

Wates presence in Liverpool in recent years has included its delivery of Hugh Baird Colleges L20 campus in Bootle, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services Toxteth Fire Fit Hub and Liverpool John Moores Universitys flagship Redmonds Building.

Tony Shenton, business unit director, Wates Construction North West, said: The Mayor of Liverpools last development update demonstrated that the value of major projects across the city since 2010 equates to over 2bn of investment, a sure-fire sign that the citys regeneration has gathered pace in recent years.

Wates has played a big part in the development of Liverpool, a role that we are looking to bolster in the coming years. The launch of our new office at Henry Street is a significant step in our strategy for growth, through which we intend to further boost employment for the city.

ACLs 160 staff are currently based at Princes Dock but will move into the new 62,000 sq ft HQ at Duke Street when it is completed.

Continued here:
Wates opens bigger Liverpool base as its steps up construction work on ACL's new HQ

With its first office building essentially full, developer Walnut Capital hopes to start construction of a second one at Bakery Square 2.0 in the booming Penn Avenue corridor in the East End later this year.

Todd Reidbord, Walnut Capital president, said today the firm is ready to start construction of the second six-story, 213,000-square-foot building in Shadyside as soon as it secures a significant commitment from a tenant. He doesnt think hell have to wait long for that.

We expect something to happen this year. The time is right. Pittsburghs hot, he said.

Mr. Reidbord made his comments after Walnut Capitals formal announcement that software company Autodesk will relocate from its offices in OHara and take about 15,000 square feet in the first building once it is completed in spring 2016. The new space will house up to 65 employees.

The move will put Autodesk closer to the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon, which will enable us to more closely collaborate on research and technology development with both universities, and make it easier for their students to do internships with the Autodesk Pittsburgh team, said Noah Cole, Autodesk spokesman.

With the move, the space in the first 215,000-square-foot, Gold LEED-certified building at Bakery Square 2.0 will be all but filled, Mr. Reidbord said. Google is the main tenant.

He added that officials at Pitt and CMU have been telling him that there appears to be great interest from tech-based companies in relocating to or adding offices in Pittsburgh. Given that, the goal is to start construction of a second building this year, he said.

Now that the first building is nearly full, we think well have more activity for a second building, Mr. Reidbord said.

Bakery Square, the redevelopment of the former Nabisco bakery in Larimer, already is full, with Google, UPMCs Technology Development Center, and CMUs Software Engineering Institute among the tenants. It is located across the street from Bakery Square 2.0.

Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com.

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First Bakery Square 2.0 building almost full; Shadyside site ready to expand

Monday, January 19, 2015, 11:42am

By Steve Adams

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South End Office Building Sells For $75M

Congress this month is beginning a 10-year, $752.7 million renovation project on the Cannon House Office Building that will include replacing all of the pipes and plumbing, some of which are more than 100 years old.

The construction is in its first phase now as workers prepare to update plumbing, heating and cooling, preparing for bigger fixes beginning in 2017, when contractors will shut down a wing of the building at a time to fix the marble facade and repair systems that have broken down.

The century-old building is plagued by safety, health, environmental and operational issues that are rapidly worsening, said Bill Weidemeyer, superintendent of the House. Many of the buildings systems are original from the 1908 construction.

Cannon is one of three office buildings to the south of the Capitol itself, and it houses about 140 members of the House. The buildings failings have become grist for social media, with one particularly infamous online video showing staffers collecting buckets of water pouring out of a wall.

Some systems in the building are so old that replacement parts arent available, and workers have needed to build custom parts, Mr. Weidemeyer said.

The construction will be going on at the same time as workers are repairing the dome on the Capitol a project thats projected to last through 2016. The domes exterior is currently covered by scaffolding, while the interior has a protective cushion around the inside of the dome.

The Cannon buildings exterior is also in need of work. Large pieces of the decorative stone around the roof began falling off with such frequency that workers installed netting last year to make sure no one was hurt, Mr. Weidemeyer said.

Restoring the dome is expected to cost $60 million, but the Cannon refurbishment is projected to be $752.7 million. By comparison, the entire underground Capitol Visitor Center complex was built for $621 million.

At 826,465 square feet, the House office building will cost more than $900 per square foot to renovate.

Only about $100 million of the Cannon restoration funds have been appropriated by Congress so far.

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Cannon House Office Building begins $752M renovation

Posted on 01.18.2015 11:52 a.m.

(Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital illustration)

The parking lot immediately adjacent to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital,351 S. Patterson Ave., and its medical office building have been closed to facilitate construction of a new medical office building (to be located closer to the corner of Hollister and South Patterson avenues) that will open next year.

The existing medical office building will remain open.

Vehicle access to the Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Emergency Department from South Patterson Avenue is being routed south of the hospital toward More Road on the west side of the complex and then north along More Road. Additional access to the Emergency Department and the medical office building is via Hollister Avenue at More Road.

Valet parking and a shuttle service will be available at the hospitals main entrance off of South Patterson Avenue. Free, self-parking will continue to be available in the large parking lot across the street from the hospital at the corner of Hollister and South Patterson avenues.

Construction continues on the new Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, which will be a two-story facility totaling 152,000 square feet. Improvements will include all private patient rooms, along with expanding the size of the Emergency and Surgical Services departments. Completion is planned for later this year.

Click here for more information on the Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital construction project.

Maria Zateis a spokeswoman for Cottage Health System.

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Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Reroutes Emergency Room Access to Accommodate Construction

SIOUX CITY | From his living room, Charlie Cowell can look out the window and see his office at City Hall.

Cowell, 26, moved last May into a one-bedroom condo in the historic Williges Buildingat 713 Pierce St.

"I'm not a big fan of commuting,'' said Cowell, a city planner. "I like to walk and it's next to my work."

How close? By cutting through an alley, it's a jaunt of 40 yards.

The top floor of the three-story Willegeswas converted into seven upscale lofts with such amenities as granite counter-tops and hardwood floors. Priced between $104,000 and $152,900 depending on the size, the units sold out within six or seven months of completion.

The 1917 Willeges Building -- originally a fur factory and later a women's clothing store -- was saved from the wrecking ball in 2007 by developer Bart Connelly. The lower two floors had previously been converted into offices for a law firm and other tenants.

The Willeges was the latest mixed-use rehabilitation project that Connelly has completed downtown in recent years.

Nearly all the condos and lofts in the two most recent rehabbed buildings -- the United Center, a turn-of-the-century six-story warehouse at 302 Jones St., and the 4th & Jackson, a 1970s-era, six-story office building at 700 Fourth St. -- have been sold or leased and remain full.

With a growing number of prospective homebuyers, from young professionals to empty nesters, opting for downtown living, developers are moving to fix up additional spaces in the central business district.

"I think there's definitely more demand," said United Commercial President Chris Bogenrief, who helped market the Connelly projects. "It's just finding the right properties with the right parking and being able to get them cheap enough to make it work."

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Sioux City historic buildings get new life as housing

By Beth Sharp Thursday 15 January 2015 Updated: 16/01 11:40

Buy photos An artist impression of the office building. (s)

HUNDREDS of new Longbridge jobs could be created if a planning application for a headquarters-style office building is given the go-ahead.

The applicants St Modwen also submitted a separate proposal for up to 215 family homes, off Dalmuir Road, to support the new workers.

If approved, there will be a range of different types and styles of homes suitable for people on all stages of the property ladder, each property will also benefit from its own parking and cycle storage.

The office building application for One Park Square includes 105,000sq ft of grade A workspace over four storeys.

The proposal includes floor to ceiling windows and will overlook the three acre Austin Park.

It will also have a view of the second phase of the 1billion Longbridge Town Centre Regeneration Scheme where the Midlands largest Marks and Spencer store is currently under construction along with a retail, restaurant and cafe space.

The building will have its own car park with nearly 150 spaces and will be aimed at a major corporate occupier.

Mike Murray, St Modwens senior development surveyor, said the submission of the two planning applications marked the next phase of the project.

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Longbridge next phase to bring hundreds of new jobs and homes

Skylights are exposed after decades of being hidden behind a dropped ceiling in Senators' offices at the State Capitol in St.Paul, where construction will alter what visitors see when they visit, photographed Monday, December 30, 2014. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

The leader of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor caucus in Minnesota's House of Representatives joined Republicans in criticizing Senate DFL plans for Capitol office space Friday.

Members of the Senate DFL caucus want committee chairs to have offices in the Capitol building after its renovation next year, in addition to their space in the Senate office building under construction right now.

Republicans, never champions of the office building to begin with, have pushed back -- resulting in a stalemate that's delaying the final phase of the Capitol renovation.

House DFL leader Paul Thissen doesn't have a major role in that decision, but he publicly opposed the Senate DFL plan in a Friday news conference.

"I've never quite understood why... (chairmen) would want to have an office in the Capitol when all the members they work with are over in this other building," Thissen said. "Tom -- Sen. Bakk's -- idea of the Senate office building was that it would create this more collegiality, it would create this ability for people to work together. Having people in that building I think accomplishes what Sen. Bakk rightly was thinking about as a purpose of that building."

House Speaker Kurt Daudt, a Republican, has to sign a deal over Capitol space with Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, a DFLer, as well as Gov. Mark Dayton, Attorney General Lori Swanson and Chief Justice Lorie Gildea.

That deal was supposed to be done by Thursday, to allow the final phase of Capitol renovation to begin.

Construction crews can adapt to a delay of up to a week by focusing their work on existing phases of the renovation. But if Daudt, Bakk, Dayton, Swanson and Gildea haven't reached a deal by next Thursday, work crews could leave the project for other jobs. That process could cost the state $680,000 per month.

The $273 million renovation project is expected to be completed in 2017.

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Senate DFLers criticized over Capitol space stalemate

Work on the construction of a new building for the Thuraiyur municipal office on Perambalur Road has been completed at an estimate of Rs. 3 crore. The work which commenced on April 2013 under the Operation and Maintenance Gap Filling Fund scheme has been completed well ahead of schedule.

The new building has a plinth area of 7,762 sq. feet on each floor and has ground plus two floors. The new building will have all basic amenities for members of the public and municipal officials. The ground floor will have tax-collection unit, birth and death certificate issuing unit, and the municipal engineers office. The chairmans chamber and the council hall will come up on the first floor, which will also have an office room for the commissioner.

The present building of the municipal office, though located near the bus stand in the heart of the town, is too cramped, say sources. The building too has been ill-designed. Accumulation of tyres and tubes seized as part of the anti-dengue drive across the town has been adding to the buildings woes, the sources said. The new building will be inaugurated after the lifting of the model code of conduct currently in force in the district.

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Thuraiyur municipal office ready for inauguration

TOPPING OFF.(From left) Dakay Contruction president Ricky Dakay, architect Rolly Mercado, CLI president and CEO Jose Soberano III, CLI COO Jose Franco Soberano and architect Joey Valdez.(Allan Defensor)

THE 19th-storey office building Park Centrale of the Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) in Cebu IT Park was topped off yesterday.

The building will be fully operational by the end of the second quarter this year, according to CLI chief operating officer Jose Franco Soberano.

This will be a busy and exciting year for us as we begin the operation of this building which we envisioned to be the top office building here in Cebu IT Park, he said.

CLI is the first Cebu developer to receive an award from the prestigious Philippines Property Awards 2014, when its flagship office project Park Centrale bagged the Best Commercial Development in Cebu award.

The office building reaped the recognition based on the following criteria design and concept, value for money, sales performance, construction quality and green building standards. Park Centrale qualifies for the South East Asia Property Award, which will be held in Singapore.

50 locators

Park Centrale will house 50 locators composed of retail establishments, law firms, accounting firms, a bank and BPO offices are set to occupy the building.

The retail space at the ground floor will be occupied by Burger King, a convenience store and a major bank.

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Developer tops off Park Centrale in IT Park