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Means News

Complimentary Webcast Features Top Construction Economists

Don’t miss this complimentary webcast — “Turning Points in Construction” — hosted July 23, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. EDT. Join chief economists Jim Haughey, Reed Construction Data; Ken Simonson, AGC of America; and Kermit Baker, American Institute of Architects as they analyze the key factors affecting the recovery of the construction industry.

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Construction News

From Daily Commercial News:

Who’s in charge of the global economy?
When it comes to global economic leadership these days, who is in charge? That’s no longer clear, Reed Construction Data chief economist Alex Carrick says in his latest economic report. While the world has traditionally taken its cues from the U.S., China’s economy is experiencing an “awakening,” he says. “There is no doubt that China is positioning itself strategically.” The country is acquiring vast swathes of land around the world to safeguard against food shortages and making investments in natural resource firms.....(read more)

Provincial cabinet shuffle puts focus on HST
Premier Dalton McGuinty’s recent cabinet shuffle indicates a strong focus on the future implementation of the harmonized sales tax (HST), says the Council of Ontario Construction Associations. The shuffle has resulted in the split of the finance and revenue ministry with John Wilkinson being named revenue minister after holding the research and innovation portfolio. Dwight Duncan remains as finance minister. “The formation of the revenue ministry at this time is a clear indicator of the importance of the harmonized sales tax which.....(read more)

From Journal of Commerce:

Non-technical skills development a priority for engineers
Senior leaders in the technical world of engineering are paying greater attention to essential non-technical skills, due to changing demographics in the workforce. “Projects don’t go south for technical reasons,” said Harriet Lemer, vice president with Einblau and Associates at the Association of Canadian Engineering Companies (ACEC) 2009 summit and conference. “It happens because of people skills. Technically speaking, the human.....(read more)

Construction Forecast

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	Commercial Building & Heavy Engineering Construction Forecasts Construction Starts Costs & Materials	Economy & Finance Housing Major City Snapshots

Canada’s Falling Capacity Utilization Rates And CanaData’s Industrial Construction Forecasts
6/30/2009 – Statistics Canada’s latest readings on capacity utilization rates in the country are dismal, to say the least. The total industry rate dropped to 69.3% in first-quarter 2009 and manufacturing languished even lower at 65.9%. Among six industry aggregates, only oil and gas extraction registered an increase in capacity usage. In nine durables manufacturing sub-categories, there were no gains in plant usage. The category with the lowest.....(read more)

U.S. Residential Construction Markets Take some New Twists and Turns
6/26/2009 – Among May’s set of housing statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau, perhaps the most telling is that the number of new homes sold has stayed almost exactly flat since January 2009, at about 340,000 units. This is important because, with new home starts so low, the unsold inventory has continued to drop. The number of unsold single-family new homes in the U.S. is now well below levels much earlier in this decade, going as far back as the dot.com collapse. Given stable sales and falling stock, the number-of-months inventory, at 10.2 versus a.....(read more)

Latest Construction Cost Changes for 51 Major U.S. Cities as Calculated by RSMeans
6/26/2009 - The four graphs and single table below encapsulate some of the key results from RSMeans’ Construction Cost Index (CCI) calculations for the latest quarter ending in April, 2009. The overall CCI for the United States as a whole has slipped into decline. The quarter-to-quarter change was -2.0%, which translates to -7.9% on an annualized basis. The total index decline was all due to materials, as installation rates stayed high. Material prices were +1.6% year over year, but -4.9% quarter to quarter. The largest sub-component changes.....(read more)

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Building Reports

These are the top 3 construction projects from across Canada. These projects have been selected from 230 projects with a total value of $3,022,902,525 that RCD Building Reports reported on yesterday.

Click on the project name to see the information our project news subscribers receive about these projects every day.