GroundBreak Carolinas News - November 29, 2017

As an academic Department Chair in Construction Management, one of the most frequent comments I receive from industry supporters is that students need more practical, hands-on experience before they graduate and enter the workforce. I agree. In fact, my experience tells me that experiential learning is becoming increasingly more important in the construction industry due to the expanding knowledge base necessary for success in this field. The idea of experiential learning in higher education is definitely not new.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) released its annual update to “Building America: The Merit Shop Scorecard,” which takes stock of state policies that influence the success or failure of a free enterprise-based environment for construction companies. The scorecard highlights states where merit shop contractors are well positioned to succeed and calls attention to states where strategic improvements need to be made based on their policies on prevailing wage, project labor agreement (PLA) mandates and Right to Work status, as well as, their commitment to developing a well-trained workforce, career and technical education (CTE) opportunities and results, and use of public-private partnerships (P3s).

After a stand-alone month of contracting demand for design services, there was a modest uptick in the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) for October. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the October ABI score was 51.7, up from a score of 49.1 in the previous month. This score reflects an increase in design services provided by U.S. architecture firms (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 60.2, up from a reading of 59.0 the previous month, while the new design contracts index eased slightly from 52.9 to 52.8.

Survey statistics in the just-released eBook, “Information Management for Facilities and Operations” show that building managers and their facilities teams aren’t as prepared for the next catastrophe as they’d like to be. Released by AIIM Market Research and ARC Document Solutions, the eBook highlights trends in facilities management on preparedness and recovery, including cloud storage and accessibility of building information, the ability to respond to emergencies, and succession planning to preserve knowledge and information.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper challenged business and workforce development leaders to increase the number of work-based learning opportunities across the state, part of a broader initiative to help North Carolinians become more job-ready. Governor Cooper offered his challenge at a meeting of the NCWorks Commission, along with a call for the commissioners to provide him firm recommendations at the Commission’s next meeting for further action to advance the state’s workforce development agenda.

Before Go Build was launched in 2010, the organizers looked at the multitude of approaches that industry organizations and associations had taken over the years in an attempt to address the continued labor crisis and communicate with young people about the trades. The Go Build Team quickly realized – just as those groups did – that the results of those short-term marketing blitzes, one-off campaigns, grassroots events, and sponsorships were often immeasurable and their impact was minimal.