Welcome to Structural News
Your news on what's going up and what's coming downTesting the Strength of Connections
Cold-formed steel (CFS) framing is a clear and viable solution to 21st century structural needs. As the system becomes increasingly popular, it becomes more and more important to ensure all components of a CFS structure meet and exceed code standards. End connections...
America’s Crumbling Infrastructure: Part One
In the coming weeks, Structural News will be running special stories on the current, dilapidated state of America's infrastructure. With the recent passing of a new federal Highway bill, America's crumbling roads and critical structures seem, politically, to...
“Haunted” building comes down
The recent demolition of the Plaza Hotel at Texas A&M University provided brilliant views of a quick demolition for hundreds of onlookers. The 17-storey building was built in 1960 and had been used as both a Ramada Inn and a private college dormitory. The owners...
Ringo Starr Birthplace Saved from Demolition
The birthplace of Ringo Starr in Liverpool, England was set to be demolished as part of a Liverpool City Council revitalization project on Nine Madryn Street. The City Council rethought its decision, however, when "a tide of community support" saved the home after...
Is this what efficiency looks like?
Broad Group, the Chinese construction company that describes itself as a "sustainable building" company, is well known for its record breaking construction times in mid-rise to high-rise structures. I saw the first video of theirs (top video below) over a year ago,...
LeanNova and Altair Announce Partnership
It appears as though LeanNova Engineering, a company that formed out of the now bankrupt Saab Corporation and primarily funded by the Swedish government, is now partnering with Altair, an American based engineering software company. The duo hopes to facilitate the...
Rotting Decks Threaten Lives, Leave Homeowners Unhappy
The story of last month's deck collapse in Atlanta inspired me to do a bit more digging into deck collapse occurrences. Deck collapse as a result of failure of the deck-to-house ledger connection Ten years ago the Environmental Protection Agency began a process to...
Avoiding Responsibilities
Lawsuits in the modern age are a dime-a-dozen. However, lawsuits involving a former mobster, a fatal structural collapse, and a prestigious United States university are a bit more rare. Columbia University’s controversial building projects in Harlem, one of New York’s...
Media versus Builders
The new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (left), still under construction Caltrans, the name for the California Department of Transportation, has called for the retraction of a recent Sacramento Bee investigative piece that claims the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay...
The Structural Integrity of Historical Structures
The recent earthquake in Italy has a reported death toll of 25, making it the most deadly quake to strike the region since the 2009 earthquake that leveled the city of L’Aquila and killed over 300. Both quakes highlight a serious problem faced by experts, scientists...
An Expensive View
A modern apartment with a view of central park How much would you pay for a duplex penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park in downtown New York City? If the number thought of is more than $115 million dollars, then the One57, a 90-storey residential skyscraper in...
Green Above Grime
Recently, Structural News brought you the story of the Bethlehem Steel Administration Building and its slated demolition. The building sits over a large swath of land which at one time housed a steel manufacturing plant that in the mid-1960s employed 20,000 American...
The Luck of the Irish?
The Anglo Irish Bank Building, located on the North Wall of Dublin’s Docklands, has undergone an extraordinary number of setbacks in its going-on-five-years of construction. The headquarters building project began as an expensive, hi-tech testament to the bank’s...
Recent Deck Collapse Highlights Safety Concerns
A recent, memorial day deck collapse in Atlanta has underscored the need for progress in the area of deck safety. 7 People were injured Sunday, May 27th when a deck that was holding a weekend celebration to kick off the official start of summer suddenly collapsed....
Revolutionary Structural Analysis Tool Passes DTRA Tests with Flying Colors
Blast Column Simulation Marking an important milestone in the world of engineering and demolitions software, Applied Science International’s (ASI) mathematical and technological breakthrough has been approved after a grueling “Phase I” of the US Defense Threat...
Engaging Children in Construction
Few toys are able to excite children as much about the construction industry as Rokenbok’s toys have for the past 17 years. A combination of build-it-yourself Legos and remote controlled construction vehicles, these toys are educating a new generation of children in...
To Demolish or Preserve
(Left) The Bethlehem Steel Admin Building in 1908. (Right) The Bethlehem Steel Admin Building as of 2007. One of the most unique characteristics of the demolition industry is the sheer amount of community feedback, and often resistance, that any given demolition...
Largest Tunnel Boring Machine in the United States Making Underground Progress in Florida
Fully assembled, she stands 42.3 feet tall and 428.5 feet long. “Harriet,” the name given to the German-made tunnel boring machine by the Miami-Dade County Girl Scouts Troop, is currently digging her way from Watson Island to Dodge Island in Florida, a 4,200 foot...