May constructsteel newsletter

In a memorandum published by the White House, projects that are funded by the US$1.2 trillion infrastructure package are only permitted to use iron and steel produced in the US. Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the requirement dictates that all manufacturing processes for iron and steel must be completed in the US starting from 14 May. The clampdown on imported iron and steel comes after the United Nations COMTRADE database reported that imports into the US reached about US$38.9 billion last year, its highest level since tracking began in the early 1990s.

Europe faces a looming “critical shortfall” of key energy transition materials that could threaten the EU’s green plans. Soaring need for materials such as copper, lithium and cobalt for use in a wide range of clean energy generation and storage technology applications threatens to leave the continent scrabbling to meet demand by tapping unreliable or carbon-intensive supply sources.

The persistent shortage of materials in Germany’s petrochemical-intensive construction industry has worsened considerably recently. During March, more than 37% of companies in the building construction sector – business and residential spaces – reported disruptions in their supply chains, up sharply from February’s 23.5%. Overall inflation in Germany stood at 7.6% in March as energy prices shot up more than 40% during the month.

China is about to embark on a new infrastructure spending spree in a bid to fix an economy nearing breaking point because of Covid lockdowns. President Xi Jinping announced that efforts must be made to boost construction to increase domestic demand and promote growth. But Covid lockdowns have brought the world’s second biggest economy “near breaking point”. Tough restrictions in Shanghai and other major Chinese cities are just the latest blow while China was already feeling the impact of a real estate slump and a crackdown on private enterprise. Unemployment hit a 21-month high in March

The world’s most expensive cities to build in have been revealed, with Europe and North America taking all of the top five places and making up the majority of the top ten. According to the latest International Construction Costs report, published by Arcadis, London ranked as the world’s most expensive city followed by Geneva in Switzerland and Oslo in Norway. New York City in the US was fourth most expensive, with Denmark’s capital city of Copenhagen rounding out the top five.

Construction output in South America is due to grow 5% in 2022, reaching $546bn, up from $519bn 2021, according to economic analyst GlobalData. The rise will follow a dip of 13% last year, which was due to the impact of Covid-19. Argentina, Brazil and Peru’s economies surpassed pre-pandemic output levels in 2021, and Mexico is due to reach pre-pandemic levels by 2025.

Construction technology firms, including high-profile companies such as Elon Musk’s The Boring Co., have pulled in millions of USD over the past four months through venture capital funding. In the meantime, contech companies’ revenue boomed amid pandemic and supply chain issues. Firms of all sizes have prospered since COVID-19 challenges pushed contractors toward wider tech adoption – industry leaders like Procore, Autodesk, Timble saw a double-digit revenue growth in 2021 compared to the 2020 numbers.

California-based contech firm Procore has released a carbon calculator tool to help firms mitigate the massive cost construction incurs against the environment, according to a press release. Procore has partnered with construction nonprofit Building Transparency to establish an integration with the organization’s Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator. The calculator, co-conceived and developed by Skanska and C Change Labs, contains a database of materials and their embodied carbon amounts which allows the user to compare the impacts of alternative products for their builds.

With consumers prioritizing environmental sustainability, Amazon and Target unveiled stores that aim to use less energy than they produce, the retailers announced last week. Target’s first net zero energy store is located in Vista, California, and the new Amazon Fresh store, which is pursuing net zero carbon certification, is located in Seattle. The new Amazon Fresh Seattle location features a CO2- based refrigeration system, steel byproducts to reduce embodied carbon and electricity sourced from the company’s renewable energy projects. Target’s store has solar carports, an electric HVAC system, CO2 refrigeration and LED lighting.

Housebuilder Alquist 3D is planning a 200-home development in the US state of Virginia that it says will be the world’s largest 3D-printed construction project. Alquist 3D says the exterior of a three-bed, two-bath home can be created in about 22 hours, compared with up to three weeks in a standard construction schedule. It adds that costs are around 15% less, and require less lumber – one of the commodities hit by the US’ present inflationary surge.

Jacobs Engineering has set out new climate commitments in its updated Climate Action Plan – the company hopes to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2040, and to maintain carbon neutrality status and 100% low carbon electricity for operations. The company recently became the first professional consultancy and one of the world’s first companies with net-zero targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.

Cemex Ventures – the corporate venture capital division of Cemex – has invested in a start-up company that specialises in carbon utilisation technologies for the cement industry.
Canada-based Carbon Upcycling Technologies has developed a new way of converting industrial residues, such as fly ash, crushed glass, steel slag and graphite, into usable solid products.

Bechtel, a global leader in engineering, construction, and project management, announced the formation of its new Manufacturing and Technology business to address growing customer and market demands for engineering, procurement, and construction services in the semiconductor, electric vehicle, synthetic materials, and data center sectors.

Caterpillar has reported a 14% increase in first quarter sales to US$13.6 billion, driven by healthy growth in its resource, construction and energy/ transport divisions. Sales at the construction division were up 12% year on year, led by a 28% rise in North America, +60% in Latin America and +18% in EAME. Lower demand in China led to a 21% reduction in revenues for Asia Pacific, although there was growth in most other Asian markets. Link Falling sales in China has seen Volvo Construction Equipment report a drop of 9% in overall global sales for the first quarter of 2022 compared to Q1 2021.