"See the Forest for the Trees" Wood use for institutional and commercial buildings

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By Tomo Tsuda, PE
November 2010, The Construction Specifier

Green Affordable Housing is Going Mainstream

Just the Basics Once the Exception, Green Affordable Housing is Going Mainstream


Future development phases, expected to begin in a year or two, will build 1,000 units of mixed-income housing with 80 percent affordable.

Focusing on the Basics

As developers gain experience building green, many are adopting standard packages of green features. “It’s mainly nuts and bolts things like high efficiency boilers, good construction to make buildings air tight, balanced ventilation systems, proper lighting levels and lighting controls and low-flow plumbing fixtures,” explains Ryan Merkin, senior project manager, Steven Winter Associates, New York.

“The basics are what really make the most significant differences in building performance,” Stein says. “It’s the little things that add up to significant energy savings for a building,”

Courtlandt Corners I and II, a 423,000-sq.-ft. development with 323 apartments in four buildings on East 161st Street in the Bronx, takes this basic approach to sustainability. The project, designed by Dattner, features high performance building envelops, energy efficient HVAC systems, Energy Star appliances and lighting, apartments sealed for ventilation tightness and low flow plumbing fixtures. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2010.

Courtlandt’s developer, the Phipps Houses Group, New York, also enlisted Dattner to design a companion project called Courtlandt Crescent with similar sustainable features. The project will consist of two buildings housing 217 apartments and 10,000-sq.-ft. of community space. Construction is expected to start in July 2011.

Over the past 10 years developer Les Bluestone, cofounder of Huntington, N.Y.-based Blue Sea Development, has refined a set of methods and features now incorporated into all his affordable projects. He focuses on the core and shell, making sure the building is well insulated and sealed, and indoor air quality.

Instead of a central ventilation system Bluestone air seals and ventilates each apartment separately with a continuously running fan that “uses less energy than a light bulb. “Trickle vents at the windows guarantee a steady supply of fresh air. Low-VOC materials help ensure good indoor air quality.

This spring Bluestone completed the $15.3 million General Colin L. Powell Apartments in the South Bronx. The 7-story, 60,000-sq-ft building with 50 affordable coops uses 43 percent less energy than a comparable building and attained LEED Platinum and NYSERDA MPP certifications.

Bluestone, who is not afraid of trying new ideas, installed two, five kw micro co-generation units in the building that produce 100% of the project’s domestic hot water plus electricity for the common areas. Going forward, micro co-gen units will be installed in all his projects based on the system’s payback and efficiency.

Four blocks north Blue Sea partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build Prospect Macy, an affordable coop. The building includes a co-generation unit, a green roof, fitness room and landscaped play yard. Completion is slated for the end of 2010.

Construction will start in 2011 on an 8-story, 120-unit affordable rental project in Morrisania in the Bronx. This Blue Sea project features a 10,000-sq-ft rooftop greenhouse that will house an urban farm growing produce hydroponically for local distribution. The project will employ panelized wall systems and prefabricated bathroom modules to speed construction.

Green Innovations

Other innovative developers include the Richmond Group, which is using modular construction to build Park Terrace, a 4-story, 49-unit rental building for seniors in Yonkers, N.Y. The project, slated for completion in spring 2001, is seeking LEED Silver certification.

The modular housing units, constructed by Capsys Corporation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, feature low emitting materials and finishes, Energy Star appliances and low-flow plumbing fixtures. The indoor assembly process reduces construction waste and creates very air-tight modules, Cirillo explains. The modules will be trucked to the site this fall and placed on completed foundations.

The Bluestone Organization, Fresh Meadows, N.Y., employed insulated concrete forms (ICF) to construct the wall system of The Andrew, a 50-unit affordable apartment building in Rego Park, Queens. ICF walls are formed by pouring concrete between two, 2.5-in polystyrene panels tied together with plastic or steel ties. The super insulated walls are very airtight with little thermal breaks, Merkin explains.

The developer is also using the wall system to construct the Calverts, six multi-family buildings in Harlem. The buildings, ranging in height from 4- to 8-stories, are seeking Energy Star and LEED certification. The projects are slated for completion between February and July 2011.

In March construction started on Via Verde, a $99 million complex in the South Bronx. The project developed by Phipps Houses and Jonathan Rose Companies, in partnership with Dattner Architects and Grimshaw Architects, is designed to achieve LEED Gold designation. Lettire is the project’s general contractor.

The 288,000-sq.-ft. development will create 222 units in three buildings; a 20-story tower at the north end, a 6-13-story mid-rise building in the middle and townhouses to the south, organized around a central courtyard. The buildings step down along the length of the site creating a series of green roofs. Solar panels will cover the vertical walls of the steps. The highly insulated buildings are clad in a rain screen, which provides for a more water tight envelope for the building, Stein says.

November 1, 2010
By Diane Greer, New York Construction

Traffic causes delays, lost productivity for N.J. construction firms

Friday, June 11, 2010 01:50 PM By Evelyn Lee Evelyn Lee Evelyn Lee covers real estate, economic development and the environment for NJBIZ. She has been a staff reporter here since 2006.

Traffic congestion, and the resulting delays, are costing the nation’s construction firms some $23 billion a year — and New Jersey companies, in some ways, are more affected than their counterparts in other states, according to a new analysis released Thursday by the Associated General Contractors of America, in Washington, D.C.

New Jersey mirrored the nation in that 93 percent of the firms that were surveyed reported that traffic congestion and shipping unreliability had an impact on their operations — but 50 percent of local companies characterized that impact as “significant,” compared to only 22 percent nationally. Nearly 1,200 construction firms participated in the survey, including 25 from the Garden State.



Twenty-one percent of local general contractors, moreover, said that their cost of doing business increased by 11 percent or more because of delays, wasted fuel and other traffic impacts, while only 9 percent of firms nationally said the same, according to the survey results.

Traffic delays and congestion have lead to more than 30 hours per worker per year of lost productivity for 21 percent of New Jersey companies, about level with the national average, the survey said. Meanwhile, 64 percent of survey respondents said they had made changes to schedules or business operations because of traffic congestion and unreliable shipping schedules.

For example, Del-Sano Contracting Corp., a Union-based general contractor, has implemented practices to adjust to traffic congestion near some construction sites, particularly those in the state’s urban areas.

The firm’s employees generally get to work sites early in the morning and on time, said Angelo Del Russo, the company’s president. But “if the traffic has mounted up and stalled, it could hold things up for deliveries” of construction materials, and in turn add overtime to the project, he said.

“There’s a planning process that goes on,” Del Russo said. “What we try to do is just anticipate ahead of time what the traffic patterns are around our particular sites.” The company will post signage a day or two before the start of construction to alert residents about the project in the area.

Also, “there is a need to have professional help from the local police department to keep [traffic] moving,” he said. For example, on one recent project in Union City, police had traffic patterns set up to allow 25 trucks delivering concrete to get in and out of the site as quickly as possible.

“We’ve taken these measures, and it lessens the impact” of traffic, he said.

Go to actual link:
http://www.njbiz.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82244:report-traffic-causes-delays-lost-productivity-for-nj-construction-firms&catid=34:daily-news&Itemid=109

CEO Angelo Del Russo Speaks at Crane's Mill Ribbon Cutting

CEO of DelSano Contracting speaks at the ribbon cutting of the completed Crane's Mill Project, in New Jersey.

Angelo Del Russo followed his passion for construction early in his career. Energized by his desire to create a construction company devoted to quality and craftsmanship, Mr. Del Russo incorporated Del-Sano Contracting in 1975. Today, he proudly oversees a company that regularly ranks as one of the top performers in the New York/New Jersey metro area. Mr. Del Russo graduated from The New Jersey Institute of Technology with a degree in civil engineering technology. He has served as Secretary and Treasurer of E.L.A Associates, published numerous industry articles, and is a member of several trade and business associations including the United States Green Builders Council.

Crane's Mill
Phase II will complete the residential development of the campus with the addition of 70 Residential apartments with 47 underground parking spaces and 10 cottages. The project is planned to consist of a two story, (118,550 sq ft) structure with underground parking to be built and directly linked to the existing central facility building; completing the campus development. Ten cottages with attached garages (23,900 sq ft) are also included in Phase II.