April might be one of the shortest months of the year when we compare actual working days, but there was no lack of construction news circling the web. From suspended skyscrapers to Australia’s fastest selling suburbs, here’s our round-up of top articles on what’s been happening in our industry:
It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s…Out Of This World
A New York architecture firm has unveiled plans for Analemma Tower, which would become the world’s tallest building ever by suspending from an orbiting asteroid some 50,000 km above the Earth.
By placing a large asteroid into orbit over earth, a high strength cable can be lowered towards the surface of earth from which a super tall tower can be suspended, according to the designers, Clouds Architecture Office.
Since this new tower typology is suspended in the air, it can be constructed anywhere in the world and transported to its final location.
John Holland Wins $5.5bn Project That Will Create 6000 New Jobs In Melbourne’s West
John Holland has been chosen as preferred contractor to deliver Victoria’s West Gate Tunnel Project in a 50:50 joint venture with CPB Contractors.
The project involves widening the West Gate Freeway from eight to 12 lanes between the M80 Ring Toad and Williamstown Road, plus; building a 2.8km eastbound tunnel and a 4km westbound tunnel under Yarraville, constructing a bridge over the Maribyrnong River providing an alternative to the West Gate Bridge, constructing an elevated road along Footscray Road to the Port of Melbourne and major new cycling and pedestrian paths.
Where is Australia’s Construction Strategy?
We all know that the Australian construction industry’s efficiency in delivering our much needed infrastructure is absolutely central to Australia’s future economic prosperity.
Since the Australian construction industry directly employs over 1.1 million people and since every $1 million invested creates about nine jobs in the construction industry and 37 jobs in the economy as a whole, it is also critical to Australia’s social fabric and well-being.
Yet, other than a long-term pre-occupation with industrial relations reform which has left our industry bitterly divided and distracted, the Australian construction industry has no clear strategy to take advantage of these enormous opportunities…
Construction and Blockchain: How Can It Help the Industry?
Paying attention to what’s hot in the construction industry just makes business sense when it comes time to determine where you’re going to focus your resources in the long term. One trend in particular has earned quite a bit of buzz recently because of just how huge it could be in the next five years: the blockchain.
Never heard of it? Don’t worry, you’re far from alone.
Temporary Work Visa Abolished: What Does This Mean For Industry?
On 18 April 2017, the Government announced that the Temporary Work visa (subclass 457 visa) will be abolished and replaced with the completely new Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa in March 2018.
Questions have now been raised regarding how the development industry will be affected, as the time and finance required to obtain and pay skilled Australian construction workers may see a drop in growth due to the amount of visas granted in this sector.
The State of Construction In Melbourne – Mid April 2017
With over three hundred projects on the Urban Melbourne database currently under construction, there’s a lot of cranes, pits, core boxes and new facades appearing all over the city.
Here is a selection images posted originally on the forum by Urban Melbourne users and staff. Under each image is a link back to the forum thread where the image was originally posted – and there’s plenty more images to view in each thread.
CoreLogic: Australia’s Fastest Selling Suburbs – Where Are They?
Low interest rates coupled with higher levels of demand for housing has seen property sales in some areas take off faster than in others.
The conclusion was discovered in CoreLogic’s most recent Property Pulse, which investigated 10 suburbs in each Australian state with the shortest median selling time for houses and units over the 12 months to January 2017.
CoreLogic Research Analyst Cameron Kusher said that given mortgage rates have fallen over recent years, certain cities, namely Sydney and Melbourne, have seen heightened demand and a rapid rate of sale for properties.
Tick Tock: Let’s Get Melton Upgraded and The Airport Rail Link Built At The Same Time
The clock keeps ticking. And it’s not going away anytime soon. I’m of course talking about land transport to and from Melbourne Airport, or more to the point our over-reliance on the road network to transport both passengers and employees to and from the airport terminals and the many businesses located nearby.
In either reporting or an op-ed form, there’s a vast array of published public advocacy for a Melbourne rail link both here on UM and elsewhere, and when Spring Street is asked to comment, this article in The Age from December 2016 illustrates the government’s consistent response: yes, but not now.
The Smart Hob system is a pre-fabricated formwork alternative to conventional timber construction. As we are always striving to be at the forefront of the fast moving prefab industry, our team closely follow the latest construction technology and news – this post was put together as we thought you might also be interested in the top articles that we found.