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The sixth edition of the National Center for Construction Education and Research’s General Carpentry curriculum is now available as the first level leading to a two-pronged course path. In response to customer usage and market demand, the new program will include career paths for carpentry for building construction and form carpentry, as well as interim credentials for each.

SmithGroup, one of the nation’s leading integrated design firms, has opened its first office in the southeastern United States in Atlanta. The office in the Midtown neighborhood of the city is the firm’s 19th location worldwide, expanding the company’s already extensive footprint in the Higher Education and Health Care markets.

The American Society of Interior Designers has named the honorees of its annual Outcome of Design Awards. Celebrating the impact of design, the awards use metric-driven criteria to recognize projects that place occupants at the center of their innovation.

In celebration of National Tradesmen Day (September 16) and National Construction Appreciation Week (September 19 – 23), the Carpenter Contractor Trust is highlighting four union tradespeople who have dedicated their lives to building (quite literally) a better future for the United States. Michael Conner, Lauren LaForge, Layla Bibi and Abbey Agius all come from vastly different backgrounds and represent several generations of U.S. trade union builders.

Eleven families who lost their homes during last year’s tornadoes in western Kentucky were presented new transitional housing today, thanks to the efforts of the local construction industry and other community groups. Construction firms belonging to the Associated General Contractors of Western Kentucky, as well as the Bread of Life Humanitarian Effort, helped construct, furnish and supply the new housing.

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the infrastructure engineering software company, announced on Sept. 6 that Michael Campbell has been appointed chief product officer and will lead more than 1,500 colleagues in the company’s product advancement group. Campbell joins Bentley from product engineering software leader PTC Inc., where he has spent his whole career since earning his mechanical engineering degree from Boston University in 1995.

The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry announced the results of a three-year survey on the polyurethanes industry in the United States, Canada and Mexico on Sept. 6. The 2021 End-Use Market Survey on the Polyurethanes Industry in the United States, Canada and Mexico shows that polyurethane production rose to over 9.4 million pounds.

Construction firms added 16,000 jobs in August, according to an analysis of federal employment data released on Sept. 2 by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said their newly released survey, conducted with Autodesk, showed contractors are eager to hire more employees but are being stymied by a dearth of qualified workers.

On Sept. 2, the General Services Administration published a direct final rule amending the Federal Management Regulation to revise the ban on soliciting employees of contractors in GSA-controlled buildings so that union organizers can access these workers. The rule is effective immediately while open to a 60-day comment period that ends Nov. 1.

Total construction spending decreased by 0.4% in July as spending on new houses and apartments tumbled, overshadowing a pickup in private nonresidential and public construction, according to an analysis the Associated General Contractors of America released on Sept. 1 of federal spending data.