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January 24, 2013

News for and about concrete professionals

Industry News

Concrete flashback: Specimens in history
Th aqueduct at Pont du Gard in France, the Colosseum in Rome and Hadrian’s Wall in the U.K. are just some examples that demonstrate the durability of concrete. This piece takes a short trip back and highlights several famous landmarks constructed from the ubiquitous building material. The Telegraph (London) (tiered subscription model) (1/23)

26,000 y3 of concrete to complete Idaho dam's spillway renovation
Work to renovate the spillway of the Minidoka Dam in Idaho is ongoing. Crews need to demolish the existing pier and stoplog structure, and build a gated spillway made from roller-compacted concrete using 26,000 cubic yards of the material to complete the $21.3 million project. The Times-News (Twin Falls, Idaho) (1/22)

Concrete plays a role in design of first U.S. jazz center
Concrete played a part in Mark Cavagnero Associates' architectural work for the first stand-alone jazz concert building in the U.S. The design of the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco includes "a concrete-enclosed auditorium," which provides "acoustical isolation for concerts and handles the building's entire seismic load," writes Lamar Anderson. Cavagnero wanted the design to "create a place that would feel alive." ArchitecturalRecord.com (1/21), San Francisco Chronicle (1/22), American City Business Journals/San Francisco (1/17)

Wash. state needs $1.4B to complete work on SR 520 project
Exactly where to run the new Highway 520 bridge across Lake Washington to Interstate 5 in Seattle has been controversial, but now the City Council seeks to finalize the placement and speed up construction. In a formal draft resolution, the Council is asking the Washington state transportation department to shift the Portage Bay bridge section a bit to the north and keep it as narrow as possible to save money and construction time. Meanwhile, there is still a $1.4 billion shortfall in the project's funding. KUOW-FM (Seattle) (1/23), The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) (1/24)

Technology & Trends

Tackling "big data" in AEC firms
The use of building information modeling has increased. This means AEC firms need to keep track of even more data than ever, and storing it in various places means not all can know what information is where. So some have turned to collaboration technology that lives in the cloud. Constructech (free registration) (1/22)

Leadership & HR

Admit it: It's weird to be in charge
Bosses who find themselves leading a team of former peers should start by discussing the weirdness of the situation, Mike Figliuolo writes. Only by recognizing the elephant in the room will people be able to beat it into submission, Figliuolo writes. "Acknowledging discomfort is the only way to truly focus on it and make it go away," he adds. ThoughtLeaders blog (1/21)

NLRB backs workers who talk shop on social media
The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (1/21)

Policy Watch

3-month debt-ceiling bill clears House
The Republican-controlled House has passed a measure to suspend enforcement of the U.S. debt limit until May 18. The action averts a government shutdown and a possible default on debt. The legislation leaves unchanged automatic spending cuts that will hit the Pentagon particularly hard. The Washington Post (1/23), The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (1/23), Reuters (1/23)

ACI News

Support the ACI Foundation
Visit www.ACIFoundation.org for details on all of our programs, donation opportunities, and a chance to learn about our funding recipients and donors. Your donation will help important programs like the Concrete Research Council and the Scholarship Council.

International Conference on Concrete Sustainability
The International Conference on Concrete Sustainability will take place in Tokyo, Japan, May 27-29, 2013. Join industry leaders as they join together to discuss environmental impact reduction technologies, sustainability aspects in durability, environmental design, evaluation, and systems, social and economic aspects, and case studies of sustainable concrete materials and structures. Abstracts for the event are being accepted now. Learn more.

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