There is no shortage of excuses not to build differently, but the current challenges we face as a building industry and society are becoming too tenuous to continue the status quo. From workforce availability and jobsite safety to housing affordability and availability, building quality and sustainability – we need solutions.

With national housing costs rising 52 percent from 2017 to 2022, off-site construction offers an affordable solution, capable of curbing construction timelines and reducing costs. Off-site construction can deliver projects 20 percent to 50 percent faster than traditional methods, which can provide cost savings of up to 20 percent. However, off-site construction makes up only a small proportion of construction activity.

This session will explore some of the challenges to the widespread deployment of off-site construction and how off-site construction leaders are working to overcome these challenges. Specific attention will be paid to the critical importance of aligning design, manufacture, finance and regulations to deliver successful projects. From barriers and best practices to finance and regulation, this session will discuss why off-site construction is a solution to drive innovation and sustainability.

Presentation Slides

Digital twins – detailed digital replicas of physical buildings – are recognized for enhancing design, management, and operational processes.

This session will present the fundamentals of digital twin technology, its integration with building information modeling (BIM), and the creation of interactive, real-time building models. It will highlight the technology’s role in optimizing various stages of a building's lifecycle, from planning to operation.

Attendees will learn about the application of digital twins in the building sector through case studies. These examples will demonstrate the technology's impact on occupant health, environmental sustainability, and operational efficiency. The presentation also will address challenges in adopting digital twins, including industry standardization, setup costs, data privacy, skill requirements, and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration.

Mass timber structural systems are gaining popularity in U.S. construction of multi-unit residential buildings and office buildings for a number of reasons. Mass timber is well suited for prefabrication and reduced construction schedules, has low embodied carbon, can be exposed aesthetically, and can be built taller than traditional light-framed wood construction.

Because modern uses for mass timber are relatively recent, practitioners are still learning about mass timber system selection, relevant design provisions for mass timber structures, and design decisions’ effects on final design performance. Many guides and tools for mass timber structural design exist; however, these resources offer limited guidance during the early design stage when key decisions are made. Further, the available resources do not typically link multiple design goals to each other to understand how early-stage design decisions affect multiple project goals.

Based on the parametric modeling of mass timber floor structures, this presentation discusses design guidance for early decision-making related to the following performance goals: embodied carbon, fire design, structural depth, floor mass, and acoustic insulation. The discussed guidance and related parametric model data will be included in a free design guide to be released at the end of the year as part of the AIA Upjohn Research Initiative.

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Join us for another thought-provoking Women Executives in Building Symposium. This event is focused on women's leadership in the built environment. The symposium is designed to empower and inspire women in the industry to reach new heights in their careers. From interactive discussions to networking opportunities, attendees will gain valuable insights and strategies for success in a male-dominated industry. NIBS, with the help of our partners, are thrilled to offer this transformative experience and opportunity to connect with like-minded professionals. Reach out to Jennifer Hitzke, jhitzke@nibs.org, if you are interested in attending this invitation only event.

If you’re interested in learning about our exclusive sponsorship opportunities, please view the prospectus here.

The built environment consumes 40% of all resources globally, generally following the take-make-waste linear economy.

By contrast, the circular economy in the built environment is a systems-based industrial framework designed to tackle global sustainability challenges, such as climate change, waste, and biodiversity loss. In a circular economy, products and materials are reused, repaired, recycled, or repurposed to create new products, contributing to a more sustainable and resource-efficient economy.

A circular economy is a crucial component of the pathway to net zero. It’s being used by several companies, including Desso, Interface Carpet, IKEA, and Patagonia. It’s also been a long-standing pathway for William McDonough’s Cradle to Cradle concept for architectural design.

Further, the latest U.S. Acts (IRA, CHIPS, and IIJA) include circular economy goals as a way forward to:

• recirculating critical materials
• federal buy clean initiative
• extending product lifecycles
• reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• creating new industries and jobs
• avoiding unnecessary disposal of products and materials to mitigate emissions associated with embodied carbon

In this webinar, attendees will learn about the elements of the circular economy and why it is a resilient and timely system that is good for business, people, and the environment.

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In a time characterized by rising climate extremes, this session underscores the significance of bridging the gap between the public and private sectors to effectively prepare for climate challenges. Led by experts from Arcadis, the session will delve into two key aspects of climate action: climate mitigation, which focuses on energy conservation and sustainable operational practices, and climate adaptation, which emphasizes readiness for extreme weather.

The evolving regulatory environment, exemplified by measures like Local Law 97, now positions decarbonization of the built environment as a necessity rather than a choice.

Speakers will share case studies of successful responses to risks following extreme weather events over the past decade and long-term public initiatives. By demonstrating the long-term cost savings for private owners through reduced insurance claims and damages and to public cities/agencies by preventing or reducing future hazard response and recovery costs, the discussion will underscore the benefits of public-private collaboration in working toward adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change.

Arcadis, renowned for its expertise in sustainable development and resilience, will moderate the panel discussion. Through Arcadis’ Dutch roots and metropolitan clients such as the city of Rotterdam, New York City and Miami, there is tremendous potential to re-evaluate urban areas in a way that they are climate resilient and include other measures to mitigate the effects of climate change.

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The building industry is striving to adopt green solutions to make infrastructure more energy efficient to meet the 2050 net-zero climate goals.

Planning requires reliable environmental datasets that are crucial in designing, building, and maintaining the global built environment, as well as other energy-related processes and investments. NASA’s Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) Project informs decision-making and development for sustainable building design and operations by enabling public open discovery, efficient access, and convenient distribution of NASA’s Earth Observations and atmospheric model datasets to support three focus areas: 1) renewable energy deployment and management, 2) sustainable infrastructure, and 3) agroclimatology applications.

To this end, solar data from several NASA projects and meteorological data from NASA assimilation models have already been reformatted and disseminated to the public via a user-friendly web GIS-enabled based data portal through the POWER platform.

The POWER Data Access Viewer (DAV) also features data consistent with ASHRAE Climate Design Conditions and has developed web image services showing building climate zones and their variability. Through those tools, the data can be downloaded into multiple formats that support the infrastructure community, including CSV, Geo-JSON, and Energy Plus Weather (EPW).

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Buildings are built using a variety of construction types, methods, and materials. There are many risks to property and occupants, including fire, water, intrusion, extreme weather, and other natural disasters.

Developers and owners of multifamily buildings must insure these buildings during construction and occupancy over the building lifetime against these risks. Fire, however, continues to result in more fatalities in the United States than all other disasters combined.

Jeff Benson will present on the current state of the construction insurance marketplace, focusing on underwriting issues related to the increasing wildfire exposures around the country and how construction materials affect availability and cost of insurance for projects under construction.

Shamim Rashid-Sumar will provide an overview of the 2024 survey of insurance costs for multifamily buildings constructed with wood-frame and concrete, quantifying differences in costs to insure buildings of combustible versus non-combustible construction.

Dr. Anne Cope will discuss the ongoing wind and wildfire research of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). Dr. Cope will provide insights on how the findings lead to actionable resiliency guides and voluntary designation programs.

Join us for an insightful webinar focused on the integration of BIM and Digital Twin technologies in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) industry. This session, based on a newly released position paper developed by the National Institute of Building Sciences and written by leading AEC practitioners, educators, consultants, and technology leaders, will dive into the innovations and efficiencies that these technologies bring.

The webinar will not only demystify technical capabilities and promote efficiency but also highlight the availability and key insights of this comprehensive position paper. Attendees will gain an understanding of the distinct yet complementary roles of BIM and Digital Twins and learn how the position paper will help with integrations and streamlining practices.

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This event serves as a catalyst for innovators and newcomers from all facets of the built environment to converge and explore one key aspect of digital transformation and how it enhances accuracy, efficiency, and sustainability in design, construction, and management of assets.

The event will showcase technological advances, applications and case studies, challenges and solutions, and future trends of digital twins. Connect with other thought leaders and practitioners to learn more about the transformative and integrative impact digital twins have on design, engineering, construction, operations management, and hazard mitigation.

We invite building owners, government representatives, and members of the building trades to join the conversation. This event will feature panel discussions and speakers from the public and private sectors as well as interactive workshops and networking opportunities