construction

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Construction Industry Faces Suicide Crisis

With deaths rising, industry is stepping up outreach efforts

(Newser) - The figures on suicide in the construction industry are stark: According to the most recent data available, around 6,000 construction workers in the US died by suicide in 2022, an increase from 2021, NBC News reports. That's six times the number of deaths in the industry from workplace...

Worker: Shift Change Saved Me From Bridge Collapse
He Should've
Been on the
Bridge, but
Changed Shift
THE RUNDOWN

He Should've Been on the Bridge, but Changed Shift

Moises Diaz mourns co-workers who died during collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge

(Newser) - The bodies of two Brawner Builders construction workers have been pulled from the waters of Maryland's Patapsco River following the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, and four more are presumed dead; the search for them has been suspended. Now, another of the company's...

144 Years Later, Barcelona Landmark Will Finally Be 'Complete'

Work on Gaudi's Sagrada Familia to wrap up in 2026, though additions are possible

(Newser) - Work began on Barcelona's famed Sagrada Familia in 1882. Today, the massive cathedral towers over the city—but the work continues. The building, long accompanied by cranes and scaffolding, has never been completed. No more than 15% was complete in 1926, the year architect Antoni Gaudi died, per CNN...

Trend Shifts to Smaller, Cheaper Builds for New Homebuyers

Square footage of new builds dropped by 4% last year

(Newser) - First-time homebuyers are up against so many obstacles today—inflation, low inventory, and soaring interest rates—that the issue made it into the State of the Union . "I know the cost of housing is so important to you," President Biden said. "Inflation keeps coming down, and mortgage...

We Need a Better Way to Build Houses
We Are Building
Our Homes Wrong
OPINION

We Are Building Our Homes Wrong

Binyamin Appelbaum makes the case for factory-built modular homes

(Newser) - Pretty much every home built in America these days is built "the old-fashioned way," writes Binyamin Appelbaum in the New York Times . Meaning, by hand, with a crew of workers on site—the same way most homes in the US have been built for more than a century....

Workers Started the Concrete Pour. Then the Floor Gave Way

8 injured as building under construction in New Haven, Connecticut, partially collapses

(Newser) - A building under construction partially collapsed Friday in New Haven, Connecticut, when a concrete pour went awry, injuring eight workers, including two critically, city officials said, adding there were no fatalities. City firefighters and other authorities were called to Lafayette Street shortly after 12:30pm, per the AP . "Our...

China Is Once Again Busy in the Antarctic

Beijing is building a fifth facility, which is raising surveillance fears

(Newser) - China is back to building in Antarctica. Satellite images from January show new support facilities, temporary buildings, a helicopter pad, and foundations for a main building at the site of the country's fifth Antarctic research station on Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea. China began building there in 2018...

Lumber Prices Have Returned to Earth

Lower demand for new housing means falling prices for lumber

(Newser) - Sure, winter's coming, but now's the time to build that deck. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the price of lumber has fallen to its lowest point in more than two years—back to pre-pandemic levels. Lumber futures settled at $429.30 per thousand board feet on Tuesday—...

He Told His Wife, 'I Will Make a Taj Mahal You Can Live In'

That's exactly what India's Anand Prakash Chouksey has now done

(Newser) - It took 22 years to build India's Taj Mahal, but only three years to build a replica roughly a third of its size, now home to an Indian couple in Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh. Businessman Anand Prakash Chouksey, 52, says he built the "monument of love" at a cost...

Floral-Scented Asphalt Is Now a Thing

Road builders have Poland's Budimex to thank

(Newser) - Construction workers know the stench of hot asphalt all too well, and it doesn’t smell like roses. Or does it? Polish construction firm Budimex says it's teamed up with refiner Lotos to create a floral-scented asphalt more pleasing to road builders. Added to the typical bitumen recipe are...

Feds Clear Path for New Northeast Tunnel

It will replace the existing Hudson River tunnel connecting NY and NJ

(Newser) - A planned $11 billion rail tunnel key to train travel up and down the northeastern US received a boost Friday with long sought federal environmental approval. The decision by the Department of Transportation means the project to build a new Hudson River tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey can...

Bulldozers, Looting Reported at Mexico's Teotihuacan

Private building crews said to have chased away cops

(Newser) - Mexico's government says private building crews are refusing to stop work that threatens one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country, ancient Teotihuacan. At least 25 structures at the protected pre-Aztec site boasting twin pyramids and "hundreds of smaller, more remote, and often unexplored sites "...

Hollywood Actor Is Working in Construction

Armie Hammer is living with a pal after marital split

(Newser) - Call Me by Your Name actor Armie Hammer says he's living with a pal and working in construction these days, People reports. The 34-year-old posted an Instagram message some two months after splitting with wife Elizabeth Chambers: "This [is] one of my best friends, Ashton," he wrote...

What It Looks Like to Build a Hospital in Just 10 Days

7K pairs of hands were involved

(Newser) - How do you manage to build a 645,000-square-foot hospital in just 10 days? According to some of the 7,000 laborers who accomplished the feat, you don't sleep. Chinese state media have said a new 1,000-bed hospital began taking in coronavirus patients just outside Wuhan on Monday,...

Worker Hurt in New Orleans Collapse Gets Shown the Door

Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma, 38, was flown to Honduras

(Newser) - A construction worker hurt in last month’s collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel construction site in New Orleans has been deported to his native Honduras on Friday, the AP reports. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox said Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma, 38, was flown to Honduras...

Big Blasts Boom Over City Skyline
Big Blasts Rock New Orleans
updated

Big Blasts Rock New Orleans

Down come 2 cranes from the Hard Rock Hotel construction collapse

(Newser) - Officials set off thundering explosions that toppled two cranes Sunday that had loomed precariously for days over a partially collapsed hotel in New Orleans, saying their controlled demolition went "exactly" as planned and efforts now would focus on retrieving two bodies still inside the ruined building, the AP reports....

Sneaky Troopers Don Disguise to Nab Speeders

They dress as construction workers

(Newser) - About 30 drivers in Pennsylvania who zipped by a construction worker while over the speed limit got a rude surprise less than a mile down the road. That construction worker was actually a state trooper in disguise, and he then radioed ahead for the speeders to be pulled over on...

Oregon Approves Nation's First All-Wood High Rise

Portland building will use new technique

(Newser) - Officials in Oregon have approved construction permits for the first all-wood high-rise building in the nation. Construction on the 12-story building, called Framework, will break ground this fall in Portland's trendy and rapidly growing Pearl District and is expected to be completed by the following winter. The decision by...

Couple Sues After Construction Crew Blocks Drive to Emergency Vet

New York City couple says men also damaged their car

(Newser) - A New York couple is suing two construction workers they allege not only blocked them from driving their bulldog to an emergency vet appointment but jumped on and damaged their BMW. Jair Freire and wife Angela Cuce say that Bienvenido Rodriguez and Anthony Pate were given "pseudo authority" over...

Couple Claim Their House Is Being Mimicked a Mile Away
Couple Claim Their House Is Being Mimicked a Mile Away
in case you missed it

Couple Claim Their House Is Being Mimicked a Mile Away

Construction temporarily postponed in the interest of 'professional courtesy'

(Newser) - In 2005, Long Island couple Seth and Rivka Fortgang built their dream home in the village of Lawrence and copyrighted the architectural plans to ensure that it remained truly one-of-a-kind. Now Rivka, an interior and exterior designer who envisioned the whole project, says her business and reputation are suffering because...

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