- The National Center for Construction Education and Research will release a Careers in Construction Guide that showcases available opportunities to high school students and anyone interested in pursuing a construction career. The guide includes a variety of illustrations as it reviews the pride and excitement of a construction career, while assessing the qualities of a good candidate. Readers take a tour of several work sites, learning about individual trades and the importance of teamwork. For more information call 888/NCCER-20 or visit www.nccer.org
- Anvil International in August announced a $10,000 contribution to the Mechanical Contracting Education & Research Foundation. Anvil has given a total of $1.16 million in cash and in-kind support since 1992. MCERF President Bob FitzGerald thanked Anvil and John Martin, vice president/national sales accounts, for the contribution. For more information about MCERF, contact Dennis Langley at [email protected]
- Sloan Valve Co.'s Uppercut dual-flush flushometer has been chosen as one of the top 10 green building products for 2006 in Sustainable Industries Journal. It offers users the option of a lower-volume flush to remove liquid waste that can save as much as .5 gal. of water per flush. A retrofit kit is available for use with the company's manual flushomters.
- Ken Simonson, chief economist of Associated General Contractors of America, has reported that construction materials costs continue to heat up. "In July, the Producer Price Index for finished goods slowed to a 0.1% increase, seasonally adjusted, down from 0.5% in June," he said. "But the PPI for materials and components for construction accelerated to a 0.7% rise from 0.3% in June. Since July 2005, the overall PPI has risen 4.2%, while the construction materials index climbed twice as fast, rising 8.3%."
- FMI Corp. has released its program calendar for the 2006-07 season. Among the new program offerings is the Mergers and Acquisitions Forum, a conference offered by the FMI Investment Banking Group, designed to help owners and management of construction industry firms better understand their exit options for the sale of the company, either internally or to a third party. The calendar is available at www.fminet.com/conferences_events or by calling 800/877-1364.
A new technical research group focusing on sustainable building guidance and metrics has been created by ASHRAE. The group will develop design guidance, performance metrics and rating systems to integrate indoor environmental quality, energy efficiency and other aspects of sustainable building performance. Those interested in joining the new group can e-mail [email protected] for further details.