October 2015 – SpecNews

GIB signs deal for £1.5bn offshore wind site

The Green Investment Bank (GIB) yesterday unveiled its backing for a £1.5 billion wind farm off the Suffolk coast, its eighth deal to date in the offshore wind sector.
The joint venture has also secured £1.37bn of debt facilities from a consortium of 12 commercial banks plus the European Investment Bank (EIB), making it the UK’s first construction-ready offshore wind project finance deal.
Although the partners haven’t detailed how much they have each committed to the project, it is thought GIB is investing around £100 million.
The Edinburgh and London-based bank has joined Siemens Financial Services, Macquarie Capital and German energy group RWE Innogy as 25 per cent joint equity partners in the Galloper wind farm.
Construction of the 336 megaWatt (mW) wind farm will start next month with around 700 jobs created during the construction phase and up to 90 in operations and maintenance once construction is complete.

Penda highlights global water crisis with pathway installation

“And will there be enough clean water, if the pollution and population of our planet continuous to grow as expected?”
The temporary installation, named Where the River Runs, will invite visitors to follow the path of an imaginary river as it winds its way through the landscape.
“The water the dinosaurs drank millions of years ago is the same water that falls as rain today,” said Penda architects Chris Precht and Dayong Sun, who have offices in both Beijing and Vienna.
It is the other way around,” they said. “Our task is to find a reasonable way to survive inside its boundaries.”
Architecture studio Penda has designed a meadow containing sunken pathways and concealed meeting places, which opens next month as part of China’s International Garden Expo 2015.

‘Amber warning light’ on economy (From Herald Scotland)

SCOTTISH Chambers of Commerce has declared that its latest economic survey, which shows much weaker manufacturing growth and declining confidence among services firms, is an “amber warning light” for the UK and Scottish Governments.
The survey shows the first fall in optimism in the Scottish financial and business services sector for a year.
Scottish Chambers’ survey, conducted by Strathclyde University’s Fraser of Allander Institute, flags a sharp slowdown in investment growth in the manufacturing sector north of the Border.
The survey signals that year-on-year growth in sales revenue in the Scottish tourism sector accelerated between the second and third quarters.
And it signals a fall in capital investment in the financial and business services sector.

Sharp decline in construction drags GDP growth

But while steady growth in the UK as a whole is still expected, the prospects are less optimistic for Northern Ireland.
A STEEP decline in construction output dragged down growth in the UK’s economy in the last quarter with the slow down worse than anticipated at 0.5 per cent.
Analysts had forecast that growth would slow slightly from 0.7 per cent in the second quarter to 0.6 per cent in the three months to September.
Manufacturing continued to struggle as it fell by a more moderate 0.3 per cent, while mining and quarrying increased 2.4 per cent.
Meanwhile, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders Brian Berry said the figures “will shake away any complacency that the recovery in the construction industry can be taken for granted”.

Mapping the World in 3D — with Drones? > ENGINEERING.com

In fact, these UAVs (or drones, as they are commonly called) will soon be able to see and map the world in 3D using reality capture software.
This is where the reality capture drone comes in.
These reality capture drones, capable of easily rendering flat photographs into 3D models, will have the ability to collect information on a scale previously thought difficult or impossible.
Drones are to be fitted with Leica’s RCD30 Oblique camera for 3D urban mapping.
They will also be equipped with Acute3D’s ContextCapture software, which is designed to produce high-resolution 3D models from photographs without human intervention.

Livinglass Announces Free Decorative Glass Samples

Architectural decorative glass is the key to making any design look extraordinary.
As you may know, we here at Livinglass make custom glass in Los Angeles, CA for the world’s largest designers and architecture firms around the world.
Our architectural glass designs are renowned for their beauty, elegance, safety, and use of recycled materials. We make you look good, as well as the planet.
We are excited for our recent growth and for the impact that our glass designs are having on the international architecture and design community.
Our other custom glass lines: Fusion, Fresh and Elemental, offer additional design options.

Project Orange’s West Stow Lodge has a pared-back interior

West Stow Lodge was designed by London architects Project Orange for a family with three young children in a village near Bury St Edmunds.
To emphasise the sense of visual continuity throughout West Stow Lodge, Project Orange spaced the mullions of all the windows evenly, at 600-millimetre intervals.
Oak joinery, white-painted bricks, and concrete flooring were used to make the interior of this new house in Suffolk, England, more contemporary than its traditional pitched-roof exterior (+ slideshow).
“The interior materials echo the exterior, and are intended very much as an honest expression of the construction,” said Ash.
“Within this setting, the house can be seen as a nuanced, contemporary exploration of the domestic vernacular architecture in Suffolk,” said Ash.

Chinese contractor begins work on $137m new town in Panama

Photo: The ground-breaking ceremony, attended by the president of Panama (China Construction America)
The contractor, which is the American subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corporation, was awarded the scheme on 4 August.
The police intervened to keep the demonstrators from disrupting the ground-breaking ceremony.
The ground-breaking ceremony was attended by Juan Carlos Varela, the president of Panama.
The scheme will also host a campus for the University of Panama for West Panama.

Major Exhibition on Frank Gehry Opens at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT

Architect Frank Gehry “I Have an Idea” runs October 16, 2015 through February 7, 2016 at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo.
This autumn, Tokyo’s 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT museum is presenting a major exhibition on Frank Gehry’s stunning, yet often controversial, ideas of architecture.
The person of Frank Gehry, his inspiration, design processes, craftsmanship, and struggles – all will be explored in this unmissable exhibition.
Ontario-born Frank Gehry has been called ‘the most important architect of our time’ by Vanity Fair.
A stupid idea, but you like it.

SSAB to Initiate Negotiations to Reduce Workforce in Finland

SSAB is to initiate employer-employee negotiations regarding a potential reduction in the workforce at SSAB Europe division’s production site in Raahe and in the Ruukki Construction division.
SSAB Europe has responsibility for strip, plate and tubular products in Europe, and global profit responsibility for the Automotive segment.
The negotiations will affect around 2,900 employees in Finland and there is a need to reduce the workforce by a maximum of 295 persons.
The negotiations at the Raahe site affect the entire personnel, 2,455 persons: all employees in production and support functions at SSAB Europe, SSAB Special Steels and group functions.
The negotiations at Ruukki Construction aim to reduce costs by a total of at least SEK 200 million on a permanent annual basis.