Brown and Caldwell Team with AECOM for Landmark Pure Water Southern California Program
May 15, 2023 —
Brown and CaldwellLOS ANGELES, May 09, 2023 — A joint venture of AECOM and Brown and Caldwell (AECOM-BC Team) has been chosen to provide program and project management support and engineering design services for the
Pure Water Southern California program, one of the largest water reuse programs in the world.
The innovative program, being developed by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan) in partnership with the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (Sanitation Districts), will produce up to 150 million gallons of high-quality, purified water per day for up to 15 million people.
Anticipated for water delivery by 2032 and potentially earlier, the program will reuse the largest untapped wastewater source in the region that currently flows to the ocean to increase water resiliency, enhance water quality, and fuel economic growth. It will lower Southern California’s reliance on imported water supplies from the Colorado River and Sierra Nevada and replenish groundwater basins while leveraging cutting-edge research and development to increase regional water reuse.
About Brown and Caldwell
Headquartered in Walnut Creek, California, Brown and Caldwell is a full-service environmental engineering and construction services firm with 52 offices and over 1,900 professionals across North America and the Pacific. For more than 75 years, our creative solutions have helped municipalities, private industry, and government agencies successfully overcome their most challenging water and environmental obstacles. As an employee-owned company, Brown and Caldwell is passionate about exceeding our clients’ expectations and making a difference for our employees, our communities, and our environment. For more information, visit www.brownandcaldwell.com
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Designers George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg Discuss One57’s Ultra-Luxury Park Hyatt
July 30, 2014 —
Jennifer Parker – BloombergOne57 might just be the hottest -- or at least the most expensive -- address in New York City.
The $375 million skyscraper currently piercing its blue-glass presence into Manhattan's midtown skyline is home not only to 94 private condos (two of which have already sold for $90 million); it also hosts a brand new Park Hyatt hotel, which opens this August.
Eight years in the making, this Hyatt is the first ultra-luxury hotel New York has seen since the Mandarin Oriental opened in 2003. It's intended to be a New York icon. So, naturally, Hyatt hired two Canadian guys to design it.
Meet George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg, the dynamic couple who met as college students in Toronto in 1972, and decided to launch design firm YabuPushelberg. Now, they're earning millions per project to design luxury hotels, restaurants, and residences all over the world.
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Jennifer Parker, Bloomberg
Certain Private Projects Now Fall Under Prevailing Wage Laws. Is Yours One of Them?
November 21, 2022 —
Nancy Cox - Construction ExecutiveFor the last few years, New York State Labor Law has required that all contractors overseeing public development projects pay their workers the prevailing wage rate, which includes a regulated hourly rate for wage and benefits. Fast forward to 2022, the requirements of Section 224-A are extending to private projects costing more than $5 million where 30% or more of the financing for the construction costs was obtained from public sources like state or local funding.
There are a number of forms of financing that qualify as public funding, and its important for developers to understand exactly how these are defined under the new law. Public funding includes any indirect or direct payment from government authorities, savings from fees, tax credits or payments in lieu of taxes, loans from public entities and more.
In order to provide further clarity, the law also clearly defined certain project exemptions to the new rule. First, affordable housing projects will not be affected, along with historic rehabilitation projects or small renewable energy projects. Also, projects for established non-profit companies receive an exemption as long as the company reports gross annual revenues less than $5 million. Other exemptions include projects for schools under 60,000 square feet and those funded by the Urban Development Corporation’s Restore New York's Communities Initiative.
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Nancy Cox, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.
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The Right to Repair Act Means What it Says and Says What it Means
December 18, 2022 —
Garret Murai - California Construction Law BlogA rather short case for a short week.
In Gerlach v. K. Hovnanian’s Four Seasons at Beaumont, LLC, 82 Cal.App.5th 303 (2022), the 4th District Court of appeals examined provisions of the Right to Repair Act (Civ. Code §§895 et. seq), also known as “SB 800” after its original bill number, as it applies to roofs.
The Gerlach Case
Lynn Gerlach and Lola Seals are homeowners who purchased their homes in the Four Seasons at Beaumont adult community, for those 55 year old and older, located in Beaumont, California. Gerlach purchased her home when it was built in 2006. Seals purchased her home from the original owners in 2015.
In 2015 and 2016, Gerlach and Seals served the developer, K. Hovnanian’s Four Seasons at Beaumont, LLC, with claim notices under the Right to Repair Act. The Right to Repair Act, as its name implies, provides notice requirements and repair rights by developers of new single-family homes. The Right to Repair Act also includes construction standards, the violation of which, provides homeowners with a statutory basis for bringing construction defect claims.
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Garret Murai, Nomos LLPMr. Murai may be contacted at
gmurai@nomosllp.com
Couple Sues Attorney over Construction Defect Case, Loses
June 10, 2011 —
CDJ STAFFThe California Court of Appeals has ruled against a couple who sued their lawyer, after they were unhappy with the results of a construction defect case. Craig and Jeanne Petrik sued Mahaffey and Associates for legal malpractice and breach of contract. Their lawyer, Douglas L. Mahaffey, had settled their case for $400,000. The Petricks claimed Mahaffey did not have the authority make an offer to compromise.
In the original case, Mahaffey held back the $400,000 awarded in the settlement until he and the Petricks came to terms on how much of that was owed to Mahaffey. The lower court concluded that the Petricks were due $146,323,18. The jury did not agree with the Petrik’s claim that conditions had been met in which Mahaffey would not be charging them costs.
Judges O’Leary and Ikola wrote the opinion, with the third judge on the panel, Judge Bedworth offering a dissent only on their view of the cost waiver clause.
Read the court’s opinion
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Giving Insurance Carrier Prompt Notice of Claim to Avoid “Untimely Notice” Defense
June 12, 2023 —
David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal UpdatesWhen it comes to giving your insurance carrier notice of claim, I am an advocate of providing that notice as soon as possible, i.e., prompt notice. The reason is to take away the carrier’s argument to deny coverage because you, as the insured, failed to provide it with prompt notice—the “untimely notice” defense. It doesn’t matter whether it is a first party property insurance claim or third-party liability policy claim, provide notice as soon as reasonably possible to take away that “untimely notice” defense.
The “untimely notice” defense was the issue in Benson v. Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange, 48 Fla.L.Weekly D1085a (Fla. 6th DCA 2023) dealing with a first party property insurance policy. In this case, eighteen months after Hurricane Irma, the plaintiff noticed a smell and observed brown stains on walls and ceiling in his home. The plaintiff called roofing companies to inspect the damage and perform certain repairs. However, the plaintiff still noticed the smell so he called a company to test and remediate mold. The plaintiff, then, contacted his property insurer with numerous claims relative to the leaks and damage. Although there was an initial property insurance payment made, the carrier ultimately denied coverage for subsequent claims stating that “the late notice of the claim and the prior repairs to the roof substantially prejudiced its ability to complete an inspection of [plaintiff’s] property to evaluate the claim.” Benson, supra.
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David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at
dma@kirwinnorris.com
GSA Releases Updated Standards to Accelerate Federal Buildings Toward Zero Emissions
August 12, 2024 —
The U.S. General Services AdministrationWASHINGTON — The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is advancing progress toward the Biden-Harris Administration's federal sustainability goals by releasing updated standards for federal buildings. P100 Facilities Standards for the Public Buildings Service establish mandatory design and construction standards and performance criteria for 300,000 federal buildings nationwide. The updated standards will help advance the adoption of cleaner, more efficient technologies for buildings; lead the way towards realizing the goals of the Federal Sustainability Plan to achieve net-zero emissions from all federal buildings by 2045; and promote the use of American-made, low carbon construction materials.
P100 requires that facilities adopt advanced energy conservation strategies and eliminate on-site fossil fuel use, directives that align with federal sustainability goals and will accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. The industry-leading standard calls for grid-interactive efficient buildings, leverages innovative technologies through GSA's Green Proving Ground, requires the use of low-embodied carbon materials, and directs potable water reuse. These comprehensive measures ensure that new and renovated federal facilities achieve peak performance while minimizing environmental impact.
The 2024 P100 establishes exceptional benchmarks for:
- Electrification: New standards for building equipment and systems to be powered by clean energy sources.
- Embodied Carbon: Requirement to utilize low-embodied carbon materials, including salvaged, reused, regenerative, and biomimetic options.
- Energy Efficiency: Enhanced building envelope performance to minimize energy loss and improve overall efficiency.
- Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings: New measures to support a more resilient, responsive grid.
- Water Reuse: Mandating that buildings have a 15% potable water reuse rate.
- Construction Decarbonization: Ground breaking new low-carbon methods for constructing federal buildings including clean energy operations, material salvage, and offsite assemblage.
- Labor Practices: New standards protecting workers from unfair or unsafe labor practices, ensuring supply chains are free from child and forced labor and that workers are protected from the impacts of extreme heat.
P100 is updated and published every three years. For more detailed information on the 2024 P100 and other GSA initiatives, visit www.gsa.gov/p100.
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Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (1/30/24) – Life Science Construction to Increase, Overall Homeownership Is Majority Female, and Senators Urge Fed Chair to Lower Interest Rates
February 26, 2024 —
Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law BlogIn our latest roundup, hospitality and real estate companies create living options, SEC questions some financial institutions on exposure to risks from CRE, renting shows signs of overtaking buying in the housing market, and more!
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Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team
