The Construction Record Podcast – Episode 310 – Building Transformations president Thomas Strong

On this episode of The Construction Record Podcast™, digital media editor Warren Frey speaks with Thomas Strong, the president and CEO of Building Transformations, about the organization's upcoming industry summit focused on sustainability and ESG, as well as the challenges of getting to net-zero and the opportunities digital technology offers to reach sustainability goals. Strong said energy consumption, emission reduction and on-site power generation have to be addressed and that digital technologies can help improve adoption and accelerate innovation. He added COVID-19's net effect is that more people will work from home which will mean less consumption on site, but already-built assets can also be retrofit and repurposed as residential, vertical farms, data centers and other uses. He said the upcoming summit at the University of British Columbia campus on Oct 11-12 will bring together architects, engineers, builders and developers to examine how to improve building efficiencies. Additionally a closed-door session involving government, industry and other stakeholders looking at how to make meaningful change at present. We also have the latest headlines from the Daily Commercial News and the Journal of Commerce, including a look at TimberFever, the annual design-build competition in Toronto that teams up architectural and civil engineering students from various universities. It celebrated its ninth edition with the project theme of an accessible transit shelter connected to a protected bicycle storage space. Daily Commercial News staff writer Angela Gismondi also has a story about how structural steel reuse is assisting with sustainability for the massive Centre Block rehab project, including taking steel from demolished structures and implementing it the new structure in order to take advantage of embodied carbon. From the west, Manitoba made history on Oct. 3 as it elected provincial NDP leader Wab Kinew as the first First Nations premier in Canada's history. Digital media editor Warren Frey also has a story about how an uptick in mental health and diabetes is driving benefits costs up featuring an interview with Independent Contractors and Businesses Association president Chris Gardner. You can listen to The Construction Record on the Daily Commercial News and Journal of Commerce websites as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music's podcast section. Our previous interview with Dr. Guido Wimmers, the new dean of the British Columbia Institute of Technology's School of Construction and the Environment is here. Thanks for listening. DCN-JOC News Services Building Transformations: Reenvisioning Commercial Real Estate for a Net Zero Future TimberFever competition challenges students with transit shelter projects New funding supports Hamilton energy-efficiency studies Centre Block rehab a prime example of structural steel reuse Manitoba NDP to form majority government in historic win for First Nations premier ICBA warns mental health and diabetes crises driving benefits costs up