Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert Directory

Just When You Thought the Green Building Risk Discussion Was Over. . .

May 25, 2020 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
As a reader of Construction Law Musings, you no doubt realize that I am a big proponent of “green” or sustainable building. I have also been known to sound a bit like Eeyore when discussing the charge into the breach of green building without considering the potential risks. Thankfully, and despite some of the risk predictions made here (and elsewhere for that matter) there have not been but so many major court cases relating to these risks. However, as a recent article in ENR Magazine warns, this lack of litigation does not mean that you should let your guard down. Just because the economy, warnings by attorneys and others, and possible lack of financial incentive to sue have kept the litigation numbers down does not mean that the risks have gone away. LEED requirements, time horizons and other risks that have become evident during the process of vetting green building contracts and practices still must be dealt with in contracts and insurance policies. These risks are well laid out in the ENR article and in other places here at Musings so I won’t outline them in detail here. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

Tidal Lagoon Plans Marine Project to Power Every Home in Wales

March 05, 2015 — Louise Downing – Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- Tidal Lagoon Power Ltd., a U.K. marine-energy developer, is planning its second project, a 2.8-gigawatt power plant that will use the tides to generate enough electricity for every home in Wales. The company submitted an environmental impact assessment for the marine power plant that would use 90 turbines installed between Cardiff and Newport, according to an e-mailed statement Monday. The closely held company expects to submit a full planning application in 2017 and the project may go into operation in 2022. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Louise Downing, Bloomberg
Ms. Downing may be contacted at ldowning4@bloomberg.net

Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (6/4/24) – New CRE Litmus Tests, Tech Integration in Real Estate and a Jump in Investor Home Purchases

July 02, 2024 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
In our latest roundup, big bank exposure to CRE lending grows, concerns for the construction industry abound, U.S. hotel securitized loans come due, and more!

At some of the world’s biggest banks, loans to commercial real estate face new litmus tests that promise to shape the sector’s access to financing. (Frances Schwartzkopff and Gautam Naik, Bloomberg)
Big banks’ exposure to CRE lending grows by about 40% when indirect lending to REITs is added. (Todd Gillespiev, Bloomberg)
Cybersecurity threats, cost overruns, high interest rates, labor shortages and an economic downturn dominate the concerns of the construction industry. (Sebastian Obando, Construction Dive)

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Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

Insurer Must Defend Claims of Negligence and Private Nuisance

July 10, 2018 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The court determined there was a duty to defend negligence and private nuisance claims for dumping materials on the plaintiffs' property. Peters Heavy Construction, Inc. v. X-Pert One Tracking Corp., 2018 Wisc. App. LEXIS 358 (Wis. Ct. App. March 29, 2018). Peters Heavy Construction sued X-Pert One for negligently depositing shingle materials, tires, and other solid materials on Peters' property, causing damage to Peters, including loss of use of portions of the property. Peters also alleged that X-Pert One's actions negligently created a private nuisance causing harm to Peters' property. X-Pert One's insurer, Northfield Insurance Company, was also sued. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Insurance Law Hawaii
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

Solar Power Inc. to Build 30-Megawatt Project in Inner Mongolia

October 15, 2014 — Justin Doom – Bloomberg
Solar Power Inc. (SOPW), a renewable-energy developer backed by China’s LDK Solar Co., has agreed to build a solar farm with 30 megawatts of capacity in Inner Mongolia. Solar Power’s Xinyu Xinwei New Energy unit signed a construction agreement with Alxa League ZhiWei PV Power Co., the Roseville, California-based company said today in a statement. The project is expected to connect to the power grid by the end of March. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. It’s Solar Power’s second accord this month to build a project in China’s Inner Mongolia Region. Solar Power also is building a 20-megawatt power plant in Wulaichabu City. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Justin Doom, Bloomberg
Mr. Doom may be contacted at jdoom1@bloomberg.net

Locating Construction Equipment with IoT and Mobile Technology

May 13, 2019 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
It can take hours, or even days, to find a specific scissor lift on a large construction site – multiply that with hundreds of machines on the site and, then, you grasp the scale of the dilemma. Three companies joined forces to test an IoT solution that could fix the problem, cost-efficiently. Ramirent is a construction equipment rental and service firm that operates in nine European countries. It uses digital tools and services to add value to its customers and improve the efficiency of construction operations. In November 2018, Ramirent, SRV, and Kaltiot completed a test on promising technology that is used to locate construction equipment indoors. The experiment took place in Helsinki and was partly funded by the national KIRA-digi digitalization project. Setting up the Test Tomi Anttila, Development Manager at Ramirent Finland Oy, explained that they chose scissor lifts as a test subject for a particular reason: “They are an essential tool in construction. Whenever you have to work flexibly above the floor level – doing HVACE installations, for example – you need a movable lift. On our test site, REDI, there were over 150 lifts at any moment.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

BIM Meets Reality on the Construction Site

September 25, 2018 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
BIM models are mostly used by foremen on construction sites. But what if they could be made available for workers at the press of a button? This question was what the Finnish government-funded KIRA pilot project set out to answer. As a by-product, the project also produced augmented reality (AR) solutions for construction sites. The research project was called ”Digitalization of a construction project based on role and location information” (RoPa). It was conducted by construction company Fira and engineering consultancy Sweco. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

When Is an Arbitration Clause Unconscionable? Not Often

April 05, 2021 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
Here at Construction Law Musings, I have discussed the pros and cons of various forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), including arbitration. I am a fan of most ADR, but less of one for arbitration than for mediation. However, where the arbitration can be done under a good set of cost-containing rules and with an arbitrator that is experienced in construction, arbitration can help with the resolution of construction claims. Of course, arbitration provisions in construction contracts are routinely upheld by the courts of Virginia with limited exceptions. One of these exceptions is where the arbitration clause is unconscionable and therefore unenforceable. A recent case out of the Western District of Virginia, Marroquin v. Dan Ryan Builders Mid-Atlantic LLC, shows how high a hurdle it is to get a court to invalidate an arbitration provision. In this case, the Marroquins purchased a new construction home from the Defendants. As is often the case in such purchase transactions, Defendant provided a limited warranty agreement (in this case provided by Quality Builders Warranty Corporation (“QBW”)) that along with the sales contract contained a mandatory arbitration provision. The parties executed the limited warranty and the sale proceeded with the Marroquins taking possession. Over the next year or so, the County inspector’s office issued several correction orders to Defendant, and the Marroquins, through counsel, identified numerous defects in construction, many of which they alleged to remain unremedied. Needless to say, they sued for breach of statutory warranty and for breach of the limited warranty. Defendant removed the case to Federal District Court and then moved to compel arbitration. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

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