Construction Informer

Crane Carnage Continues: A 46,000 pound crane section fell on a man who was unloading it from a trailer at a Washington State construction site. The tie-down straps broke. He was 46 years old. In a separate incident in Colorado a worker was moving a self-propelled crane belonging to a custom homebuilder when it unexplainably accelerated, went out of control and dropped into a dry creek bed. The driver of the crane was killed. In yet another incident a worker was killed at a Chicago Heights steel plant when part of the crane he was operating fell on him and killed him. Still, NYC contractors continue complaining about what they call “unwieldy” new regulations imposed by that city in the wake of the federal government’s first updates to crane safety regulations in 40 years. Citing shutdowns caused by missing pieces of paperwork, or messy sites, the NYC contractors claim costly delays are developing.

Institutional Construction Set for Decline: The Architectural Billings Index (ABI) sank to its lowest level in its 13-year history for nonresidential construction. This means that spending on healthcare and educational facilities has once again dropped and that construction nine to 12 months out will be affected. Apparently governments and non-profits are having trouble getting bond approvals for such projects.

Canadian Charity Finds Construction Money Creatively: In a refreshing instance of people with religious convictions actually working together instead of fighting one another the Multifaith Housing Initiative in Ottawa negotiated a second mortgage with the seller of a building in order to fund the creation of 27 units of low-income housing at the site. The organization has Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs on its board, owns 40 affordable housing units in Ottawa, and will use an $840,000 grant from the Ontario government to renovate the building and pay down mortgages on a separate affordable housing building.

If you need to give an old building a new look there could be a lot to recommend using aluminum composite panels (ACPs). This material has been around for a long time but there are many efforts over time that have improved upon its original qualities. As you might expect,  Reynolds Aluminum is one manufacturer of the material that is essentially a layer of plastic bonded between two layers of aluminum. The variations to this use other types of metal, like stainless steel or copper. The building pictured is Voke-III in Vilnius, Lithuania, and has been finished with Reynobond.

China has become the largest supplier of ACPs at 80 percent of world output, and production there is growing at 30 percent per year. Some other countries producing the material include Taiwan and India.

I recently heard from Carol Wong at Shanghai Jixiang Technology Development Group (SHJIX) regarding her company’s line of these products. This company also adds a range of coatings that help to give the material longer life and minimize environmental effects and it offers an amazing array of attractive colors and styles like wood, stone and brushed metal.

You work with ACP much like any metal but with some variations like using a router to score it before bending. Once a framework is attached to the mounting wall the panels are fastened to that. If you get the exterior finish in PVDF there are some advantages like very high gloss preservation, minimal color change, and minimal changes from weather.

Almost all manufacturers list the attributes as lightweight, impact resistant, easy maintenance, excellent sound proofing, thermal resistance, fire retardant, and a 20 year guarantee on the PVDF sheets.

Now, nanotechnology has been applied to the process yielding new properties for the material like self cleaning, anti-pollution, acid-resistance and alkali-resistance. The self cleaning action is established by the low-tension coating that inhibits dust from sticking to the surface and allows rain to do the washing.

Not surprisingly these approximately 4′x8′ panels are also favorites of artists for creating murals that hang on buildings. The one in this picture is entitled Safe Passage and was cut, painted and installed on a brick wall in Windsor, Ontario by Steve Jamieson, Donna Mayne, Bernadette Robertson, Jacqueline Raulin, Sherrill Tucker and JoAnne Weston.