"Contractors that were involved in construction at the LNG terminal in Saint John are engaged in a legal battle over alleged unpaid bills that total an estimated $8.6 million...."

"SNC-SNAM hired Opron to install ventilation systems, glass, roofing and other materials in buildings that are not involved with processing natural gas...."

"...Opron accuses SNC-SNAM of negligence in preparing specifications for the project, scheduling the work, coordinating sub-trades and 'determining, scheduling, approving and making payments for the appropriate changes to the project.'"

"The $550 million hotel...would have almost 1,200 rooms for convention-goers....The project was scheduled to break ground as early as October, and big conventions began bookings for late 2013, when the hotel was expected to open...."

"...one of the region's largest real estate developers filed a lawsuit against the city alleging favoritism, threatening to unravel the deal with what could be years of legal delays...."

"The suit seeks to halt construction and require[s] that the city solicit new bids for the project...."

"The week-long federal arbitration hearing on how much FEMA owes Louisiana for damage done to Charity Hospital by Hurricane Katrina ended at midday [January 15]."

"FEMA's last, best offer to the state was that it would pay $150 million toward the repair of the iconic hospital, which has been closed since Katrina hit...."

"LSU, which ran the hospital, and the state contend that they are due the full replacement value of Charity of $491,884,000. The state is depending on that money to help pay to build a new, state-of-the-art hospital to replace Charity."

"A dispute between Shapir Engineering and the government over a project to upgrade part of the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway is to go to arbitration...."

"The new lane had been supposed to open in April 2010, after 30 months under construction."

"Government officials said a week ago that they were canceling another contract with Shapir....They said the reason was that Shapir failed to close financing for the projects on schedule and did not submit its engineering plans on time."

"An independent engineering study conducted for the University of New Mexico found that the Albuquerque school's steel and fabric facility could be subjected to unforeseen pressure if hit by a major wind storm...."

"The facility was designed and built by Summit Structures LLC of Allentown, Pa., which also constructed the failed Cowboys' building...."

"The...report...states that the 24,600-square-metre structure was designed as an enclosed building when it's only partially so. The report says wind could flow through four louvres that are part of the ventilation system without adequate avenues for escape."

"'We expect to start commercial operations toward the end of the first quarter,'....'That means actually shipping oil on the pipeline to make deliveries.'"

"...significant procedural progress is also expected this year on a second petroleum pipeline, Keystone XL, that TransCanada wants to build from the same origination point to Gulf of Mexico refineries."

"Also in 2010, TransCanada will pick up on construction about two miles inside Nebraska's border with Kansas and construct a southern leg of Keystone to Cushing, Okla."

"...the DOT agreed to let trains occupy the express lanes, in exchange for $153 million that Sound Transit is spending to add carpool lanes and ramps to the main east- and westbound freeway sections...."

"Opponents have a lawsuit pending in state court challenging the attempt to convert interstate highway lanes, funded mainly by gas taxes, into a rail corridor."

"This would be the world's first rail line on a floating bridge - a plan that requires engineers to design unique rail joints so that trains can move between the fixed and floating bridge sections without going off track...."

"...a project financing vehicle comprised of 15 partners...will raise capital according to the amount of their shares. Nearly 3 trillion won ($2.67 billion) will be injected into the project. The initial capital investment will be about 400 billion won."

"...the Korean park will be designed as a multi-resort complex consisting of a theme park, city walk, water park, premium retail outlet, golf course, theme hotels, as well as condominiums."

"...the Universal Studios resort to be built in Korea...will be Asia's largest....and roughly twice the size of the resort in Orlando...."

"If the Dallas City Council wants the new downtown rail line to run by the convention center hotel, it might have to help Dallas Area Rapid Transit pay for the $824 million project, DART leaders say."

"The second downtown line, scheduled to open in 2016, has long been planned as a necessary expansion for DART...."

"The DART board will decide this spring which route to endorse and will submit a federal grant application that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars."

"...architects and federal officials plan one of the world's most extensive vertical gardens in downtown Portland - what amounts to a series of 250-foot-tall trellises designed to shade the west side of an 18-story office building."

"The architects' plans call for seven vertical 'vegetated fins' to jut at acute angles. The fins would be the metal framework for planters and the greenery sprouting from them."

"The work is part of a $135 million remodeling, with most of the money from federal stimulus funds. It is the largest single stimulus project announced so far in Oregon. The U.S. General Services Administration says its goal is to create a 'landmark high-performance building.'"

"...these architects focus on process rather than looks. They want to use their creativity to invent cheaper, greener ways to build."

"Their aim is to reduce costs by doing more construction off-site with the help of digital software. Three of the firms have already experimented with assembling buildings in factories, while the fourth...is achieving dramatic savings by making contractors part of the design team."

"....[Architect Tim] McDonald said....The future involves 'transforming the building industry into the manufacturing industry.'"

Haiti Quake Devastation Exposes Deficient Construction Practices

Since the magnitude 7.0 earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince on January 12, Haiti has penetrated both news headlines and our hearts. Allegations of deficient or unenforced building codes as well as substandard designs, construction management, and materials are surfacing. Read on to learn what engineers and other experts are saying as they assess the damage, investigate failed structures, and make plans for reconstruction.

"The catastrophic quake that struck Haiti...involved a collision of lethal circumstances: a massive, shallow eruption below a densely populated city with few, if any, building codes."

"...engineers and others well versed in the strict guidelines that California, Japan and other quake-prone zones mandate....blame the high numbers of earthquake fatalities in developing countries on poor building construction and rapid urban growth."

"...the quake in Haiti demonstrates 'the same bad history, the nightmare, being repeated over and over again.'"

"Civil engineering professor...has been studying pictures from the earthquake zone, where she says masonry, concrete frame, and adobe construction dominates."

"Engineers normally plan buildings mainly for what they call the static load....But an earthquake adds additional forces - back and forth shaking - and the building has to be designed to withstand it."

"'Reinforced concrete is an excellent material for earthquakes....The problem is when you leave out the details,'...."

"...the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere does not have nearly enough insurance to cover the breadth of destruction from the Jan. [12] earthquake."

"Rebuilding Haiti's infrastructure is expected to cost upward of $3 billion, but in a country with no building code, few have any insurance at all....there are only eight functioning insurance companies in the country...."

"In Haiti, 'insured losses will be minimal, despite the severity of the event,' because 'Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, with very little private insurance,'...."

"...Haiti had some of the worst buildings in [the] world. There are building codes, but...enforcement is lax at best. The concrete blocks used to construct buildings in the capital are often handmade, and are of wildly varying quality...."

"...the immediate need is for structural engineers to examine damaged buildings that are still left standing and determine whether they're safe for habitation...."

"...the recovery effort will need to provide Haitians with houses, hospitals and offices that can at least resist mid-power quakes...and which could provide protection from...floods, hurricanes and mud slides. And it has to be affordable...."

"The international effort to rebuild Port-au-Prince will be the biggest civil engineering project in the Caribbean for the next decade....only a full-scale reconstruction of the city, to robust quake-proof standards, will prevent future catastrophes."

"...some key ideas are being discussed: ensuring a strip of land 30m-40m wide is kept clear of buildings on both sides of the...fault; preventing construction on hilly ground...and not using land prone to water-logging...."

"Special care should be taken with the construction of government buildings such as hospitals, police stations and army barracks...."