Structures + Buildings

CHICAGO — Halcrow Yolles has hired A.J. (Al) Baysek as principal, building structures, at the company’s Chicago office. With over 37 years of experience in the building design and construction industry, Baysek will be instrumental in the firm’s growth in the Chicago area and will make a valuable contribution to business development across the United States.

IJBRC — The International Joints & Bearings Research Council (IJBRC) has announced that it is soliciting papers for the 7th World Congress on Joints, Bearings and Seismic Systems for Concrete Structures.

DALLAS — Civil Structures, Inc., a Dallas-based bridge and highway design firm was acquired by STV. The new group, now called STV/Civil Structures will continue to operate in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and become part of STV’s Transportation & Infrastructure Division.

The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) has completed tests of a large-scale, three-story precast concrete parking structure and has begun using the results to create standards that can be incorporated into building-code requirements. The tests, completed in August at the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES)/Englekirk Structural Engineering Center in San Diego, Calif., are part of the final year’s work on a 5-year, $2-million-plus research program to improve industry standards for the design and construction of diaphragms used with precast, prestressed concrete components.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking comments on its proposed guidelines to control the discharge of pollutants from construction sites. The proposal would require all construction sites to implement erosion and sediment control best management practices to reduce pollutants in stormwater discharges. In addition, for certain large sites located in areas of the country with high rainfall intensity and soils with a high clay content, stormwater discharges from a construction site would be required to meet a numeric limit on the allowable level of turbidity.

ISO has published a new standard to help engineers, builders, and regulators to design structures that are safe and resistant to failure due to environmental and mechanical stresses, and to material degradation.

The American Concrete Institute released one of its best-selling publications, 530-08: Building Code Requirements and Specification for Masonry Structures and Related Commentaries.

Structural engineers at the University at Buffalo are conducting some of the most comprehensive experiments ever attempted to develop methods of evaluating and designing steel buildings so that they will be less vulnerable to collapse during strong earthquakes.

ASCE and ACMA signed a three-year agreement to develop a pre-standard for Load and Resistance Factor Design for Pultruded Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Structures.