6 must reads for the AEC industry today: July 28, 2020

1. $92 million reconstruction of St. Petersburg Municipal Pier completes (BD+C) 
"The $92 million reconstruction of the St. Petersburg Municipal Pier has completed. Dubbed the Pier District, the 26-acre project includes a park, a 1,400-foot pier, a beach, restaurants, shops, artwork, interactive experiences, and entertainment and education areas."

2. Senate Republicans' coronavirus relief measure includes provisions that will help hard-hit construction firms recover (AGC) 
"The HEALS Act includes essential liability, workforce, financial & unemployment reforms, but association will work to get needed infrastructure investments included in final relief measure."

3. Updated Energy Plus and OpenStudio building energy modeling tools released (BD+C) 
"The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Laboratories released updated versions of open-source, whole-building energy modeling tools: the EnergyPlus engine and the OpenStudio software development kit and graphical application."

4. Post-pandemic workplace design will not be the same for all (Sasaki) 
"The shift to open office design was largely driven by a change in the way we work. Our economy shifted from repetitive, production-focused work to innovative, knowledge-based work, which required that cubicle walls come down. As knowledge-based work increased with the explosion of the internet and globalization, employee interaction came to be viewed as an imperative, rather than a distraction hindering productivity."

5. Booming E-commerce sales drive demand for industrial facilities (National Real Estate Investor)
"Industrial facilities are seeing rising rents and potential bidding wars as online sales drive demand for space to store merchandise."

6. Researchers closer to understanding the role of buildings in the pandemic (Bisnow)
"New research by the University of Oregon and the University of California-Davis points to HVAC systems as spreaders of the coronavirus, though the study is still preliminary."