Hickory Construction Selected to Build Blount County War Dead Memorial Plaza

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ALCOA, Tenn. – Hickory Construction, Inc. has been selected as the general contractor to build the new Blount County War Dead Memorial Plaza dedicated to the fallen military heroes of Blount County in Tennessee. The new memorial, to be located on the Blount County Courthouse lawn, will feature a plaza incorporating four monuments on the lawn, a Veterans Walk of Honor and a bench to sit and reflect. The bench will hold a time capsule with mementos of this build and the original 1965 build. The original memorial was dedicated in 1965 and funded by the Disabled American Veterans, Chapter … Read more

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Sustainable Construction, Engineering Details Behind the Brock Environmental Center Revealed

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Chesapeake Bay Foundation recently announced the award of the Living Building Challenge certification to the Brock Environmental Center, a 10,000-square-foot facility located on the Lynnhaven River at Pleasure House Point in Virginia Beach, Virginia. For a construction company, designers and engineers achieving this certification required going outside of the typical toolbox for new building methods, renewable technologies and sustainable materials from around the world. The LBC certification, given by the International Living Future Institute, is the world’s most rigorous and ambitious performance standard for buildings. The Brock Environmental Center is one of the only commercial … Read more

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Construction Firms Add 1,000 Jobs in April, AGC Career Center Launches New Program

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Construction employment rose in April by 1,000 for the month and 261,000 for the year as mild winter weather and labor shortages impacted the early spring hiring season for many firms, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. “Some of the slowdown in hiring last month was due to mild winter weather that allowed contractors to hire or retain workers in the first quarter instead of waiting until spring,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Yet reports from contractors and recent Census Bureau data on construction spending through March suggest industry demand for workers will … Read more

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Dodge Momentum Index Increases in April

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NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Dodge Momentum Index rose 0.6 percent in April to 116.5 from its revised March reading of 115.8 (2000=100). The 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. April’s gain was due to increased planning activity for both commercial and institutional building, with commercial planning moving 0.8 percent higher and institutional planning rising 0.4 percent. Over the last eight months institutional planning has been on somewhat of a roller coaster ride … Read more

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ABC Report: Safety Best Practices Can Make Construction Companies 720% Safer

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WASHINGTON, D.C. –Associated Builders and Contractors recently released its 2016 Safety Performance Report to further the industry’s understanding of how to make construction jobsites safer. Packed with infographics and practical takeaways, the report documents the dramatic impact of using proactive safety practices to reduce recordable incidents by up to 86 percent, making the best-performing companies 720 percent safer than the industry average. “Until now, relatively little research has been conducted on the correlation between the use of ‘leading indicators,’ such as  substance abuse programs, new hire safety orientation and near-miss investigations and safer construction jobsites,” said ABC President and CEO … Read more

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