E on Grand in LA – Residential and Retail 7 story building

E on Grand in LA – Residential and Retail 7 story building

E. ON GRAND: 

Framing and roofing on the seven-story E. on Grand are now complete, said David Pourbaba, CEO of West Hollywood-based 4D Development. The $30 million effort at 1249 S. Grand Ave., at the northwest corner of Pico Boulevard and Grand Avenue, will have 115 studio to two-bedroom units. Residences will average 700 square feet and each will have a glass balcony. Rents will be approximately $3.50 per square foot, said Pourbaba.

Architecture firm AFCO Design is orchestrating the articulated facade that will feature colored accent panels. Amenities will include a pool, deck, recreation room, gym and two levels of underground parking, as well as 5,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Negotiations are ongoing with a coffee shop and a supermarket, said Pourbaba. 4D expects to open E. on Grand next January.

Photo by Gary Leonard

Colorado Springs Airport Fire Cause

Colorado Springs Airport Fire Cause

Nearly three months later, the fire at the Colorado Springs Airport has been ruled accidental.

Investigators say a construction crew working on the roof started it. They were using propane torches to apply tar and the roof caught fire.

With heightened security at airports worldwide, the fire department says this investigation needed the extra time.

“That’s why it takes longer than a typical we figure it was a cigarette and it burned up the side of the house. This is something that is on the mind of people in our country and around the world. So it’s important and make sure there is no investigation or criminal act,” CSFD Capt. Brian Vaughan said.

Repairs are expected to be finished in time for the busy Thanksgiving travel weekend. The repairs were expected to cost $5.6 million dollars. CSFD firefighters responded to a three-alarm fire at the Colorado Springs Airport overnight. Photo from KKTV.

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Beacon Tower – Equity Residential

Beacon Tower – Equity Residential

BEACON TOWER: 

Equity Residential is still seeking permits for a high-rise project at the northeast corner of Fourth and Hill Streets. The developer acquired the one-acre site at 343 S. Hill St. in 2014. Designs by TCA Architects show a 33-story tower with 428 studio to two-bedroom apartments, with 22 of the residences set aside for very low-income housing.

The 10-story podium at the project known as the Beacon Tower would hold 433 parking stalls. Equity Residential said the goal is to break ground by the end of the year, with construction lasting two years. The work would also involve updating the Pershing Square Metro station, which is across the street from the proposed building. Some nearby property owners and business leaders have protested the design of the Beacon Tower, claiming it is out of character with nearby buildings and too tall for the neighborhood.

Photo by Equity Residential

Dubai’s Torch Tower catches fire for second time in two years

Dubai’s Torch Tower catches fire

Last year a large blaze has ripped through one of the largest residential buildings in the world, the Torch Tower in Dubai. Flames shot up the side of the skyscraper, sending debris tumbling from the 337m (1,106 ft) structure.

By daybreak, the building had been left badly damaged and vehicles in the vicinity destroyed. The government media office said “cooling operations were under way”.

The Torch Tower was damaged by an earlier blaze in 2015, which resulted in the evacuation of hundreds of people. That fire, and other recent blazes in the city, spread quickly because of external cladding, according to fire engineering consultancy Tenable Dubai.

But they did not result in fatalities because the design and construction of the buildings allowed firefighters to battle the blaze and residents to evacuate via smoke-free, fire-free safety zones, the group says.

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Arts District development schedule for a late 2018 opening

Arts District development schedule for a late 2018 opening

950 E. THIRD ST.: 

The Arts District development broke ground in March and is on schedule for a late 2018 opening. A project from Fairfield Residential and Legendary Development, the six-acre site will include five six-story buildings holding a total of 472 studio to two-bedroom apartments. According to Dilip Bhavnani, a principal with Legendary, the complex will also have rooftop decks, a courtyard and 22,000 square feet of retail space. Kava Massih Architects is designing the project.

Photo by Gary Leonard

Grenfell Tower: Revisiting Residential Highrise Fire Safety by CTIF Dennis Davis

high rise fire

The fire occurred in Grenfell Tower, Kensington, North London, on the 14 June 2017 with London Fire Brigade recording a call at 00:54 and being in attendance 6 minutes later.

The 24 storey building (23 stories above ground) was public housing apartments with some other non-residential accommodation.

200+ firefighters with 40+ appliances attended and carried out multiple rescues of 60+ persons.

Conditions were described as extremely arduous with heavy smoke and heat restricting attempts to proceed upwards in the single staircase building.

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Nvidia Steel Megaframe with triangles everywhere

Nvidia Steel Megaframe with triangles everywhere

Devcon Construction has built some of Silicon Valley’s most innovative structures, but its work extends far beyond the tech industry, with a diverse portfolio of nonprofit, institutional and large-scale development projects.

One of Devcon’s most exciting current projects is the $800-million Nvidia corporate campus in Santa Clara, Calif. For the first phase of this project, which was completed in September, Devcon built a complicated, triangular-shaped structure with 500,000 sq ft of below-grade parking and 500,000 sq ft of above-grade office space.

“Normally we build typical rectangular office buildings, but this is a big triangular structure, with a heart shape in the middle and hard cladding that is solid aluminum with perforated panels over a huge, steel megaframe with triangles everywhere,” says Daisy Pereira, Devcon project manager for Nvidia. She says they used Trimble software and BIM extensively to accurately construct the myriad angles on the design-build job.

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Reduce Smoke Inhalation in Hospital Fires

Reduce Smoke Inhalation in Hospital Fires

The leading cause of fire fatalities is the inhalation of smoke rather than the fire itself. Fire rated smoke curtains are an excellent way of controlling smoke.

Fire and smoke-rated curtains block smoke from entering hospital rooms by deploying automatically during a fire. Also adding smoke curtains in front of elevators are critical because elevator shafts cause a natural chimney effect, drawing smoke to other floors of the hospital. Therefore a smoke curtain with a 2 hr fire rated elevator door will help create an impenetrable solution.

Helping more patients get the care they need and remain in the hospital instead of being evacuated due to smoke on floors where there is no fire and making the building safer, is one of the key factors of installing fire and smoke rated curtains.

Construction Boom in California

Construction Boom in California

As construction activity in California continues to rise, contractors are riding a tidal wave of plans and projects. The state’s top 75 contractors tallied $36.55 billion of work during 2017, and the top 10 companies alone posted $16.8 billion, a more than 8 increase over the top 10 in the previous year.

“The construction market in California continues to be white hot and extremely active in multiple sectors,” says Rich Henry, president of the Northern Pacific region for McCarthy Building Cos. “The availability of money and the need for investment in infrastructure is still servicing our building boom throughout the state.”

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The Importance of Fire Curtains in Schools

The Importance of Fire Curtains in Schools

Schools are usually designed to have large, open areas like gymnasiums and cafeterias, which makes protecting the school space difficult. Using fire curtains schools can easily create a safe area within large, open rooms that will create safe passages out of the building for occupants without exposure to fire, smoke, or heat.

Although fire curtains can be placed in a number of different areas, there is a few places within a school that are perfect for durable fire curtains.

The ability to integrate smoke & fire curtains into a school’s fire or smoke alarm system is a huge advantage. Our curtains deploy as soon as smoke sensors are triggered, enabling immediate protection of students and staff, without the chance of human error for releasing the fire curtains manually.

The curtains will still deploy, even during a power outage, due to the backup battery power.

Fire or smoke curtains are some of the most effective means of compartmentalizing an open space.