John McCarthy’s Post

Growing labor shortages continue to plague the construction industry, while trade schools and job training programs report their current enrollment won’t make up for a wave of retiring skilled workers. Robotic solutions to repetitive, labor-intensive tasks on construction sites are already available, but a new generation of robots aims to boost workforce efficiency by tackling the tedious and dangerous tasks that plague general and specialty contractors.

Some girls never consider construction as a potential career option, so Transportation & Construction Girl offers education and hands-on experience to change perspectives and open doors.

The American building industry has thrived in recent years while growth has eluded contractors in many other countries. Here’s why.

New York City’s largest geothermal development has just opened on Coney Island. 1515 Surf is located just off the neighborhood’s famous boardwalk. The apartment building is expected to reduce its carbon emissions by 60% and slash utility costs by up to 30%.

After several months of cooling, which experts speculate was mostly confined to the residential sector, unfilled positions increased by 138,000 in August.

Last month, Suffolk was proud to celebrate the graduation of our Career Start 2022 Cohort, made up of 44 ambitious young professionals from all of our regions. This group successfully completed the two-year Career Start program, which consists of estimating, project management, and field operations rotations geared at mastering the fundamentals of construction. All 44 graduates are taking the next step in their professional development in project management, field operations, digital engineering, planning and other disciplines. Career Start is a vital part of Suffolk's talent pipeline - some of our most accomplished leaders are alumni of the program - so each graduating cohort is truly a cause for celebration. Congratulations to the 2022 Cohort!

It's not every day you get to make a dream come true. Suffolk Southeast was honored to partner with Delta Air Lines and The Children's Dream Fund to support 11-year-old Joey's dreams of becoming a pilot. Our Tampa Airport Airsides A & E project teams welcomed Joey and his brother on site for a full-day experience, complete with a behind-the-scenes airport tour and even a ride on an airplane. The Children's Dream Fund makes dreams come true for children with life-threatening illnesses living throughout West Central Florida.

Extended Reality (XR) has the potential to revolutionize the construction industry by integrating virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies to enhance efficiency and accuracy on job sites. Unlike VR and AR, XR applications often use tablets or smartphones instead of headsets, making it more practical for construction environments. Despite initial challenges with AR headset adoption, companies like Autodesk and Microsoft are investing in XR to provide innovative tools for designers and engineers, aiming to eventually equip workers with robust, user-friendly XR tech to streamline large-scale projects.

One of the most important aspects of being a leader is the team you surround yourself with. Suffolk's Lessons in Leadership podcast delves into this topic in episode three, Leading the Mission: Building a Great Team. Suffolk's National President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Stroud and Suffolk Technologies Vice President of Platform Parker Mundt join podcast host and Suffolk EVP & General Counsel Jay Tangney to discuss team building in complex, challenging environments and the importance of active listening when evaluating differing opinions, among many other topics. Later, Boris Groysberg, a professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School, discusses a simulation exercise from a recent immersive Suffolk leadership retreat and what he took away from the results. For audio, tune in here: https://lnkd.in/eY6PTa44 For video, tune in here: https://lnkd.in/eGFn7sPp

Owners and developers added more projects to the queue in August, expecting stronger market conditions next year, per Dodge Construction Network.