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A law ending single-family-home-only zoning in California was ruled unconstitutional by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. The decision could lead to the law being invalidated in the state’s largest cities.
A new Biden Administration rule bans the use of fossil fuels in new federal buildings beginning in 2030. The announcement came despite longstanding opposition to the rule by the natural gas industry.
Among affordable housing developers today, there’s one commonality tying projects together: uncertainty. AEC firms share their latest insights and philosophies on the future of affordable housing in BD+C's 2023 Multifamily Annual Report.
The New York City Council is considering a proposed law with the goal of preventing building collapses. The Billingsley Structural Integrity Act is a response to the collapse of 1915 Billingsley Terrace in the Bronx last December.
Illinois is the latest jurisdiction to release a stretch energy code that provides standards for communities to mandate more efficient building construction. St. Louis, Mo., and a few states, including California, Colorado, and Massachusetts, currently have stretch codes in place.
Virginia recently became the first state to adopt International Code Council/Modular Building Institute off-site construction standards.
With millions of shipping containers lying empty at ports around the world, it may seem like repurposing them to construct buildings would be a clear environmental winner. The reality of building with shipping containers is complicated, though, and in many cases isn’t a net-positive for the environment, critics charge, according to a report by NPR's Chloe Veltman.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is expected to cut red tape to make it easier and less costly to build housing projects in the city. Adams would exempt projects with fewer than 175 units in low-density residential areas and those with fewer than 250 units in commercial, manufacturing, and medium- and high-density residential areas from environmental review.
Facing a severe housing shortage, the City of Berkeley, Calif., increased the height limits on residential buildings to 12 stories in the area close to the University of California campus.
A guide focusing on the critical role of grid interactivity in building decarbonization was recently published by ASHRAE. The Grid-Interactive Buildings for Decarbonization: Design and Operation Resource Guide provides information on maximizing carbon reduction through buildings’ interaction with the electric power grid.
New building codes in Washington state intended to protect structures from wildfires are provoking backlash from builders, cities, and environmentalists. Critics charge that the rules that are scheduled to take effect March 15 are confusing, will increase housing costs, and could cause too many trees to be cut down.
Five winners were selected to share a $2 million prize in the 2023 Mass Timber Competition: Building to Net-Zero Carbon. The competition was co-sponsored by the Softwood Lumber Board and USDA Forest Service (USDA) with the intent “to demonstrate mass timber’s applications in architectural design and highlight its significant role in reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment.”
IMEG's Edwin Dean, Joe Gulden, and Doug Sweeney, share seven key focuses for structural engineers when planning office-to-residential conversions.
Modern building codes and construction techniques were effective in saving buildings from the devastating wildfire in Maui on August 9th, according to a recent report, IBHS Early Insights Lahaina Fire—2023, from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety’s research division.
