Newsworthy

Science Center of Iowa Engages and Inspires

Four-times larger than the previous building it occupied, the new Science Center of Iowa was designed to engage visitors in scientific discovery and serve as a cultural icon for Des Moines, IA. The Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership’s architectural expression in the building includes the use of strong color and a sense of transparency achieved by exposing indoor activities to outside passersby. A 220-seat IMAX® Dome Theater, a 175-seat Science Adventure Theater, and a 50-foot domed Star Theater are highlighted in black and blue tones, evoking sky and water. To complement neighboring red-brick buildings in its urban neighborhood, the Science Center uses a combination of red/orange terra cotta panels, polished stainless-steel panels, glass, and contrasting yellow brick.

IREM Releases Latest Income/Expense Analysis® Reports

The 2006 Income/Expense Analysis reports for key property sectors reveal 2005 vs. 2004 operating data and cost comparisons. Published by the Chicago-based Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM®), the annual study is used to help property owners and managers benchmark property performance.

Office Buildings

• Vacancy levels for suburban office properties rose 2 percent in 2005 to a total of 5 percent. Those for downtown properties increased 3 percent to a total of 7 percent.
  

Shopping Centers

• The national occupancy level for open shopping centers in 2005 was 96 percent, a decline of 1 percent from 2004.

Conventional Apartments

• In 2005, total expenses for low-rise buildings with 12 to 24 units rose 4 percent; low-rise buildings with 25-plus units increased 2.9 percent; garden apartments rose 1.8 percent; and elevator buildings increased 0.7 percent.

Federally Assisted Multi-Family Housing

• Operating expenses for all but three types of federally subsidized multi-family housing increased in 2005 from 2004 levels, with increases ranging from 8 cents to 70 cents per square foot of rentable area.

Condos

• Annual operating expenses for all condominium property types increased 1.4 percent in 2005 to $1,938.51 per unit.

ASHE Commits to Energy Efficiency

The Chicago-based American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) has made a public commitment to improve energy efficiency in hospitals by 10 percent, joining the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR® Challenge. In the first year of the campaign, ASHE estimates that members will save more than $65 million in energy costs and prevent nearly 3 million pounds of greenhouse-gas emissions. ASHE will take the following actions:

• Identify hospitals with successful energy programs.
• Develop case studies highlighting energy-management methods.
• Produce an energy-efficiency section on its website (www.ashe.org).
• Develop a chapter-focused energy program.
• Recognize members for energy-efficiency improvements of 10 percent or more.
  

NIST Releases Report on Progressive Collapse

The Washington, D.C.-based National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) worked with experts in the design, construction, and operation of buildings to prepare Best Practices for Reducing the Potential for Progressive Collapse in Buildings. Progressive collapse, brought to the forefront in the 1995 collapse of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, is the spread of an initial local failure in a structure until it results in the collapse of the entire building or a disproportionately large part of it. The report responds to one of the 30 recommendations for improvements to building codes, standards, and practices in the final report of NIST’s investigation into the World Trade Center disaster.

Items featured in the document include an acceptable-risk approach to progressive collapse, a review of design methods used to enhance a building’s resistance to progressive collapse, a look at progressive-collapse provisions in building standards around the world, and case studies of progressive-collapse events triggered by abnormal loading (where building integrity is compromised by unexpected hazards from explosions, aircraft or vehicle impacts, foundation failures, construction errors, etc.).

Survey Reveals Gaps in Disaster Preparedness

The National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center (NERRTC), a division of The Texas A&M University System’s Texas Engineering Extension Service in College Station, TX, commissioned a survey to discover trends in disaster-preparation efforts at large companies in six industries: commercial real estate, healthcare, energy, chemical, entertainment, and transportation. According to the survey, the commercial real estate industry is the least prepared in terms of response planning, training, and conducting exercises. Key findings of the survey include:

• Within the past year, 77 percent of respondents across all six industries have updated disaster-response and recovery plans.
• Although most commercial real estate professionals feel prepared for disaster, 40 percent have never conducted exercises to test their disaster plans.
• More than one-quarter (28 percent) of those who responded from the commercial real estate industry do not train employees on disaster-preparedness plans.
• In the entertainment industry, 37 percent reported they have never conducted disaster exercises.
• The energy industry appears most prepared, according to the survey. Only 19 percent of respondents said that their companies have not conducted disaster exercises in the past year.

• Employees at large companies (those with 10,000-plus employees) were most satisfied with their plans (44 percent).

New Insurance Products Good for Environment & Owners

A report from the Boston-based Ceres investor coalition, From Risk to Opportunity: How Insurers Can Proactively and Profitably Manage Climate Change, identifies new insurance products that give building owners credits and incentives for building green. Following the disastrous hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005, some insurance companies are making a connection between global warming and the intensity of extreme weather events. The 190 products and services highlighted in the report cover climate-change solutions including energy efficiency, green-building design, and carbon-emissions trading.

AAMA to Develop Voluntary Standards for Window/Door Performance

A Schaumburg, IL-based American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) task group is evaluating the testing of window and door performance in wind-driven rain conditions to develop a voluntary standard specification for more reliable performance. Recognizing that a limited amount of water infiltration through a window or door must be anticipated in hurricane conditions, AAMA’s goal is to balance performance requirements with realistic design considerations and manufacturing costs.