Mortenson Transforms Former Chicago Sun-Times Printing Plant into State-of-the-Art Data Center

CHICAGO, Ill. – Mortenson Construction and QTS Realty Trust have revived the empty Chicago Sun-Times printing plant in Chicago, Illinois’ Pilsen neighborhood as a high-tech hub for the digital economy. The first phase of this massive, highly secure data center opened July 1 with an initial 48,000 square feet of raised floor data hall space and associated critical power and is scalable to 24 MW of critical power and 133,000 square feet of raised floor data hall space. Along with consulting engineer ESD Global and lead architect Corgan Associates, Mortenson and QTS creatively repurposed parts of the building when possible … Read more

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Construction Employment Stalls in June

Construction employment was unchanged from May to June, but an increase in hourly pay and longer workweeks, along with shrinking numbers of unemployed construction workers, suggest contractors would hire more workers if they were available, according to recent analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said the lack of available qualified workers for firms to hire appears to be holding back employment growth and urged Congress to pass legislation to reform and increase funding for career and technical education. “Construction employment stalled in June after declining in April and May, but unemployment among construction workers is at … Read more

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Dodge Momentum Index Jumps in June

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Dodge Momentum Index rose a sharp 11.2 percent in June to 134.4, from its revised May reading of 120.8 (2000=100). The Dodge Momentum Index is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. The index rose in June as the result of a 14.6 percent increase in the institutional component and a 7.7 percent increase in the commercial component. The gain in commercial planning reports is a positive development since that component of … Read more

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CFMA Responds to CDC Report on Suicide Rate by Occupational Group

PRINCETON, N.J. – Statistics released from the CDC on July 1 show that workers in construction and extraction have a 53.3 percent rate of suicide, which is second only to workers in the farming, fishing and forest occupational group (84.5 percent). With 17 states taking part in the CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System, this data heightens the need to address suicide prevention and mental health promotion in the construction industry. The Construction Financial Management Association has taken a leading role in efforts to shatter the stigma surrounding mental illness and prevent suicide in construction. Most recently, CFMA formed the … Read more

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Hill International Receives Two Contracts from Texas Tech University System

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., and LUBBOCK, Texas – Hill International has recently received two contracts from the Texas Tech University System, Department of Facilities Planning and Construction, to provide construction management services in connection with several new building projects. The new Lubbock Education, Research & Technology Building and the West Expansion Building, located in the Lubbock, Texas main campus, are part of TTUS’s Texas Tech University Health Science Center and will feature approximately 150,000 gross square feet of flexible, open and modular high-tech interdisciplinary research laboratories, principal research investigator offices, core instrumentation facilities, a seminar room and academic offices and support space … Read more

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