General

Background London’s increasing density is forcing homeowners to build down, rather than up or out, to create more space. With subterranean extensions, they can sometimes triple the size of the street-level home without needing to build above grade. Despite the benefit to such expansions, it can be challenging to manage construction down in tight quarters … Read More

Background Sports schools are being built around the world with a common goal in mind: produce world-class athletes to represent their countries. In order to train the future athletes of Malaysia, integrated academic and sport schools are being built at an increasing rate. Upon completion in 2012, Sekolah Sukan Sabah will be the third sports … Read More

Background When the owner of a multimillion pound luxury home in London’s exclusive Belgravia district wanted to renovate and add a basement, they went to well-known contractor Abbey Pynford for a solution. However, there were a few obstacles in the way of the owner’s desired construction. Not least of which was that the owner was … Read More

Background Part of northern London, the village of Hampstead is known for some of the most expensive housing in the UK, holding more millionaires within its boundaries than any other area. With that in mind, a homeowner in Hampstead knew that constructing a new home with a basement in the already dense neighborhood would be … Read More

Background The Elements at Rivers Edge is a 33 million dollar residential/commercial development constructed along the Red Deer River in downtown Red Deer, Alberta. Comprising 110,00 ft2, the 3 building complex will house luxury condominiums and 75, 000 ft2 of office and commercial space. This 34 storey apartment tower in Calgary’s historic Mount Royal Village … Read More

Creating Affordable Award-Winning Housing Background With the expense of living in Vancouver, Canada, known to be costly, Westbank Corp. wanted to create more affordable housing. As a result, they chose to collaborate on a project with Vancity, Portland Hotel Society, and Habitat for Humanity. Known as 60 West Cordova Street, the project was a building … Read More

Background Brunei’s National Development Plan has allocated almost a million USD for the construction of 10,000 low-cost homes. The new Tanah Jambu housing project is one such project. Shortly after construction, cracks started to develop along a 5 m (16 ft.) high retaining wall and ran several hundred meters in length. Water was observed leaking … Read More

Background The below grade aspects of construction can sometimes go overlooked, especially when considering the region you’re building in. For instance, when you think of Doha, Qatar, you don’t think concrete waterproofing is as important as it is. However, the fact is, many projects that are built below grade are deteriorating faster than anticipated because … Read More

Background The Hillcrest High School construction project is part of Alvord Unified School District’s plan to increase the local school capacity and help absorb some of the congestion from other schools in the area. The $97.5 million project will sit on a 200,000 square meters (50 acre) site off the 91 freeway in Southern California’s … Read More

Background The IKEA store in the Tempe region of Sydney, Australia is the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere spanning 37,000 square meters (equivalent to 20 football fields) with on a 2.3 hectare site. Making this building unique, the site for the store is a reclaimed landfill, known locally as the Tempe Tip. … Read More