Construction Industry News

Toronto, Canada (Dec. 9, 2019)—Ware Malcomb, an international design firm, has announced the opening a second office in Canada, located at 250 University Avenue, Suite 235 in downtown Toronto, Canada. Ware Malcomb’s Vaughan office will continue to operate at 180 Bass Pro Mills Drive, #103.

New Jersey (Dec. 6, 2019)—The Dodge Momentum Index moved 2.9% higher in November to 155.3 (2000=100) from the revised October reading of 150.9.

Just in time for the holidays, GlobalData has given us a new report to study. That’s what you were planning on spending your holidays doing, right?

What’s Santa bringing you this season? For Layton Construction and STO Building Group, it’s a big fat merger. The two companies announced last week that Layton and STO will merge by the end of the year.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Dec. 2, 2019)—The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) has announced the 2019 recipients of its annual Advocates Program awards, which recognize outstanding commitment by AEM members to industry advocacy efforts. 

This year, 25 member companies received AEM Advocates Program Gold awards for achieving the highest level of participation in grassroots advocacy.

Washington, D.C. (Nov. 27, 2019)—The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Wage and Hour Division (WHD) remind employers to protect worker safety and pay during the upcoming holiday season.

Construction leader AECOM announced in a recent “governance agreement” with investor Starboard Value LLP that Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Michael Burke will retire as soon as the company names a new CEO or until the firm’s 2020 annual meeting in March.

You get a contract! And you get a contract! It’s been a busy couple of weeks in terms of construction contracts. Here are two projects in particular that you should watch:

London, England (Nov. 27, 2019)—Total construction and real-estate industry private equity deals in Q3 2019 worth $2.23 billion were announced in the US, according to GlobalData’s deals database. The value marked an increase of 2876.1% over the previous quarter and a rise of 83.9% when compared with the last four-quarter average of $1.21 billion.

Washington. D.C. (Nov. 19, 2019)—The Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Greenprint Center for Building Performance has released a new report, Embodied Carbon in Buildings Materials for Real Estate, explaining how reducing embodied carbon in the construction process can save developers money and help mitigate the impacts of climate change. Greenprint is a worldwide alliance of real estate owners, investors and strategic partners committed to improving the environmental performance of the global real estate industry. Through measurement, benchmarking, knowledge sharing and implementation of best practices, Greenprint and its members are striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030.

London, England (Nov. 19, 2019)—Total announced global construction and real estate industry deals for Q3 2019 were worth $61.7 billion, according to GlobalData’s deals database. The value marked an increase of 92.4% over the previous quarter and a rise of 33.2% when compared with the last four-quarter average of $46.68 billion. In terms of number of deals, the sector saw a rise of 10.7% over the last four-quarter average with 654 deals against the average of 591 deals. In value terms, North America led the activity with deals worth $25.26 billion.

New York, New York (Nov. 18, 2019)—New construction starts declined 11% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $696.3 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. This is the third consecutive monthly drop in construction starts activity. By major sector, nonresidential building starts fell 20% from September to October and nonbuilding starts dropped 14%, while residential starts moved 2% lower. The October statistics pushed the Dodge Index down to 147 (2000=100) compared to 166 in September.

Washington, D.C. (Nov. 14, 2019)—The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation has released the November 2019 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI). Designed to collect leadership data, the index reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $900 billion equipment finance sector. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 54.9, an increase from the October index of 51.4.

Dodge predicts construction starts will decline 4% in 2020 to $776 billion. The most notable drops by sector are residential (forecasted to decrease by 6% from 2019) and nonresidential buildings and nonbuilding construction (both forecasted to drop 3%).

EIGHTY FOUR, Pa. (Nov. 14, 2019) — 84 Lumber Company announced the company has entered into a new 7-year $310 million Senior Secured Term Loan B Facility and 5-year $400 million Asset Based Revolving Credit Facility. The proceeds will be used to refinance the $307.5 million outstanding Term Loan B and $400 million ABL Revolver.

WASHINGTON (Nov. 13, 2019) – The United States Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has released a comprehensive Technical Assistance Guide (TAG) for the construction industry. The guide will assist contractors meet their legal requirements and responsibilities for equal employment opportunity by preventing violations before they occur.

Last week, the United States Department of Transportation awarded a $25 million grant to the Port of Alaska through the department’s Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) program.

A 2-year investigation by the Associated Press found that at least 1,680 dams across the United States pose risks to the residents in the areas surrounding them. The AP reviewed federal data and identified a number of dams that are rated in poor or unsatisfactory condition.

Tutor Perini released its third quarter results last week, announcing record quarterly operating cash of $222.9 million. Skanska reported an operating profit of $221.6 million (2.15 billion Swedish kronor) in the third quarter 2019. The profit is an increase of 324% from Q3 2018 and significantly surpassed analysts’ expectations. Total revenue for Q3 was 44.5 billion Swedish kronor, up 8% from 2018. 

New York, New York (Nov. 7, 2019)—The Dodge Momentum Index increased 6.9% in October to 152.6 (2000=100) from the revised September reading of 142.7. The Momentum Index, issued by Dodge Data & Analytics, 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. October’s increase was due entirely to a recovery in institutional planning projects, which had stepped back over the previous few months. Institutional planning moved 22.8% higher in the month while commercial planning lost 0.5%.