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Recycling as much debris as possible has become part of the process of demolishing structures in this day and age. Some items taken from buildings, such as steel, wood and concrete, are in high demand and command fairly nice prices. Then there are items left behind that the demolition contractor can salvage and sell. Pat Clauss, owner of Clauss Construction in Lakeside, removed a pair of wood and glass doors that once served as the entrance to Steve Wynns art collection at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. The doors, including frames with inlaid gold, and magnificent beveled glass designs, were installed at his new Lakeside office, along with glass sconces retrieved from the same project. At several sites he has found workable heavy equipment and other machinery easily sold, or re-used by the company.
(AXcess News) Washington - An economic slowdown has caused homebuyers to think twice about buying a new home as inflation drove up living costs for most Americans thanks to a spike in energy prices and growing concerns in the workplace. New-home construction in August fell 6 percent, the Commerce Department reported, with new-home construction down nearly 20 percent compared to the same period last year when the boom inhousing was still at its peak. Total housing starts dropped 6.0 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.665 million units, according to figures released by the Commerce Department today. The pace of new-home construction was down 19.8 percent from a year earlier, which was a record-breaking year. Builders slowed the pace of single-family home construction by 5.9 percent for the month to 1.360 million units, a 20.6 percent drop from a year earlier.
Hurricane Katrina sped along plans for a spate of new high-rise residential towers, but more than a quarter of the proposed housing units have already been killed or put on hold. Out-of-town investors "are circling like eagles" with capital ready to invest in downtown projects, said Kurt Weigle, executive director of the Downtown Development District. And inquiries from outside developers have increased five-fold, possibly because of special tax incentives being made available to building projects in hurricane-impacted areas. But not all of the residential projects will be built, experts say. The pricetags on most of the announced projects have risen 30 percent due to escalating prices on labor and building materials, developers say. That big of an increase is giving pause to both the developers behind the condo towers and the potential condo buyers who, in some cases, are backing out of sales contracts when presented with the higher prices.
Federal Ministry of Water Resources is now to give clearance for the construction of dams in all parts of the country. Minister of Water Resources Mukhtari Shagari stated this in an interview with the newsmen in Abuja. Shagari said the directive had become necessary to ensure adherence to the existing rules and guidelines on dam construction. “It will also check the abuse of maintenance standards by states and private organisations as well as prevent floods and collapse of dams in the country," he said. The minister said experts in the ministry had attributed the prevailing cases of floods in the country to negligence and bad design by the state or private firms that handled dam construction. He cited the Birnin Ruwa dam in Zamfara State which, he noted, was among the oldest state-owned dams that suffered neglect by the government, resulting in its collapse.
City officials are concerned that a pond built to control runoff water could pose a structural threat to the nearly completed Lakeside 370 Business Park levee.
As a result, City Administrator Bill Charnisky is seeking authority to spend $252,000 to cope with the matter if no other solution is found soon.
The concern is whether sand was exposed during excavation for the pond, which is just outside the levee in the Mississippi River flood plain. If sand is exposed, water from a major flood could seep under the levee and weaken it, Charnisky said.
Trinity Products Inc. built the pond to hold rainwater runoff from its 45-acre plant site in St. Charles, just east of the Lakeside 370 levee.
Trinity's owner, Robert Griggs, said Friday that the pond had been built to proper specifications, adding that the project was under way months before levee construction began last year.
Steve McClaren has abandoned plans to undertake a fact-finding mission to the Seattle Seahawks NFL franchise next week in the wake of Wednesday's defeat in Zagreb. It was judged that the PR damage that would flow from McClaren studying American football after his team had demonstrated a lack of familiarity with the basics of the English version outweighed the benefits of the trip. He will instead spend the week watching candidates for his next squad for the friendly against Holland on November 15. .
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