Agridome Offers an Efficient Northern Greenhouse

Traditional greenhouses are built horizontally with transparent envelopes to take advantage of the sun. Inventor Glenn Scott wants to revolutionize cold climate greenhouse designs with Agridome, a dome-shaped structure that doesn’t rely on sunlight. Read more

Bechtel Rolls Out Virtual Reality Safety Training

Global construction firm Bechtel partnered with New York City-based construction safety technology company Human Condition Safety to offer the latter’s new virtual reality (VR) immersion safety training. Read more

The State of Modular Construction

ConstructionDIVE’s key takeaways from the OFFsite Construction Expo were: 1) offsite construction still has a long way to go, 2) planning is key when starting a prefab project; and 3) a 30-story building in 15 days is possible. Read more

Nomination Deadline for CCA Awards Is November 18

Canadian Construction Association’s Awards recognize the important contributions of individuals, organizations and projects that promote and enhance the Canadian construction industry, whether through innovation, projects, or dedication to the industry. The submission deadline for 2016 CCA awards is November 18. The awards will presented at CCA’s annual conference in March 2017.

Awards of Excellence: * Person of the year * Excellence in Innovation * Environmental Achievement * International Business * National Safety * Partner Association * Community Leader * Gold Seal Association *

Visit the CCA Awards website

Contractors and Students Team up Inside George Brown’s BIM Lab

Toronto’s George Brown College is collaborating with the construction industry to advance the adoption of BIM technology. Thought to be the first of its kind at a Canadian post-secondary institution, the facility is a platform for educating students and the construction industry alike about the BIM process. Read more

Procurement Ombudsman Works to Raise Awareness

The Interim Procurement Ombudsman (PO), Lorenzo Ieraci, explaining what the office does in a recent interview subsequent to the publication of the office’s 2015-2016 report, admits it has an awareness problem. Read more

Structure of UBC’s tall wood building now complete

The mass wood structure and façade has been completed for UBC’s Brock Commons student residence—the world’s tallest wood building at 18 storeys (53 metres, about 174 feet)—four months ahead of schedule, showcasing the advantages of building with wood. Read more.

Research Team Aims to Treat Wastewater as a Resource

The idea is to recover water and produce energy and fertilizer nutrients from water and wastewater services at greenfield sites, says Nicholas Ashbolt, Alberta Innovates public health professor at the University of Alberta. Read more

KPMG Report: Construction Industry Slow to Adopt New Technology

The construction industry isn’t taking full advantage of new technologies for workflow management and building performance monitoring, including advanced data and analytics, automation, robotics and mobility, according to consulting firm KPMG’s annual report. Read more

Russia Following UK’s Lead with Plans for BIM Mandate

Russia will require contractors on government-funded projects to use building information modeling starting in 2019. Read more