Experts

Brief ACI offers guidance on how to place concrete in hot weather, cold weather and windy conditions. Concrete can set faster in hot weather, but care should be taken to avoid placing concrete directly on frozen ground or during high winds.   Insight According to...

Brief  The drive to reduce the carbon footprint of construction is getting a helping hand from trees. A number of projects, including a 25-story high-rise in Milwaukee, are using mass timber to reduce construction traffic, on-site workers and construction time, by...

Brief  Drones help concrete contractors foster jobsite safety through remote inspections, images of site progress and information not visible at ground level, writes J.P. Giometti from Heavy Construction Systems Specialists. Contractors can also use drone imagery to...

Brief  The concrete industry could look very different in a decade thanks to the advent of 3D concrete printing and more research into the sustainability of concrete, writes Jonathan Kozlowski. Another innovation that could be on the horizon is turning concrete...

Brief  Choosing an appropriate concrete vibrator depends on many factors, including the concrete mix and job specifications. Other considerations include if there is electricity available, the amount of reinforcing steel and how the concrete will be used.  ...

Brief  The Senate's $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill presents an unprecedented opportunity to test smart city technology, says Sanjeet Pandit, global head of smart cities and digital transformation at Qualcomm. Cities are advised to begin considering which...

Brief  Agora has raised an additional $33 million to develop a digital platform designed to expedite purchase orders in construction and materials management in the field. The technology processes more than $140 million in materials orders annually.   Insight The...

Brief Concrete-AI, a startup developed by engineering professors at the University of California at Los Angeles, is using artificial intelligence to predict the performance of concrete based on factors such as mixture proportion, type of coarse and fine aggregate,...

Brief  In this column, James Hardie, a manufacturer of high-performance fiber cement products, outlines the benefits of fiber cement siding as well as installation advice. Fiber cement siding offers superior weather resistance and will not rot when wet, Hardie says....