Mass Construction Show

In this episode of the Mass Construction Show I speak with Brian McPherson, Executive Director at YouthBuild Boston. Brian explains what YouthBuild Boston does, the many ways the community benefits from the program, where the program sources funding, and how an individual or organization can get involved. There are four programs at YouthBuild Boston: The Building Trades Exploration (BTE) Program begins with a three-week mental toughness training to help participants show up on time, be committed, maintain a drug-free lifestyle, and work on goal setting. The Pre-Apprentice (PA) Program is the flagship of their programming. The Designery is available to some high school students to teach architectural principles they need to go into the architectural career pattern so they can be prepared for admission and participation in design schools. The Facilities Maintenance Program is an 18-month long program with no age limit. Participants work Monday through Friday in the field and spend Saturdays taking classes at Wentworth Institute of Technology where they earn an associates degree. Brian has two rules that will serve anyone well: be where you’re supposed to be, and be doing what you’re supposed to be doing. Give a listen for an important story about why he left a GC to lead YouthBuild Boston. Then, when you’re moved to act, contact him directly at Brian@YBBoston.org. Remember please, rate, review, share, and enjoy the show! Follow the Mass Construction Show here: Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook TikTok Intro music by Sound Revolution

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In this episode of the Mass Construction Show you'll ear an audio version of a section of an article about renewable energy that is on our website. I thought you might enjoy hearing some surprising statistics about China as well as some interesting tidbits about wind, hydro, solar, and a number of other things. This transfer of an article to an audio file is new for us, and the voice-over will take some getting used to, but if you do your best to adjust your ears then I think you'll enjoy the show! Remember please, rate, review, share, and enjoy the show! Follow the Mass Construction Show here: Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook TikTok Intro music by Sound Revolution

In this episode of the Mass Construction Show I take some time to consider whether union construction job sites are safer than their non-union counterparts. I ran across an article from The Construction Broadsheet based on a study headed by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute in conjunction with the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The study is rife with bias, and it's fair to say that the research methods are a little poor. However, the issue of job site safety is an important one and the union vs. non-union conversation is an interesting one to have even if it's sparked by research that's dubious at best.  Remember please, rate, review, share, and enjoy the show! Follow the Mass Construction Show here: Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook TikTok Intro music by Sound Revolution

In this episode of the Mass Construction Show I speak with Mark Schow of Elevated Design. We discuss why he started the firm, and he explains his take on nuclear energy to indulge my own interest. Then we cover some really interesting topics related to renewable energy such as electrification, heat pumps, battery storage, and cogen. Mark makes a really good point about why legislation is probably necessary to encourage energy efficiency and sustainable solutions.  Remember please, rate, review, share, and enjoy the show! Follow the Mass Construction Show here: Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook TikTok Intro music by Sound Revolution

In this episode of the Mass Construction Show I speak with Ricky McLain, Senior Technical Director at Woodworks, a national nonprofit organization that works primarily with architects, structural engineers, and developers as a resource to provide education and 1-1 project-specific design support. We go beyond aesthetics and biophilia to discuss some practical benefits of mass timber for construction managers, the implications of adopting a hybrid model to combine mass timber with steel and/or concrete, and what the current supply chain issues look like for mass timber.  Ricky provides an overview of massive timber, not as a product, rather as an umbrella term used to describe several products. He shares details about the panel construction and discusses how various products differ in how they are manufactured and used in construction. He gives great insight into the fire resistance capabilities and how mass timber can be used to accommodate the potential for fire. He covers code changes that catalyzed the growing conversation about mass timber over the last five years.  Ricky points out that there are local programs that offer funding to support the use of timber as a means for reducing embodied carbon of projects, and he also explains how working with mass timber can help companies overcome the barriers to their projects from zoning issues and constraints. Remember please, rate, review, share, and enjoy the show! Follow the Mass Construction Show here: Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook TikTok Intro music by Sound Revolution

You'll have to listen to find out what's next but for those that listened follow: Michael Yanovitch on LI @MassCon Mike on IG mike@massconstruction.org Follow the Mass Construction Show here: Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook TikTok Intro music by Sound Revolution

In this episode of the Mass Construction Show I speak with Mike Fish, President and CEO of Dellbrook|JKS and Josh Olsen, Director of Accounting at Dellbrook|JKS about the recently completed company-wide wellness challenge with Healthy Steps Nutrition. Josh explains how employees participated by tracking sleep, stress management, exercise, and nutrition as well as coming together as a community for share recipes and offer support and motivation.  Mike describes why now was the perfect time to do something like this. We address the corporate culture that contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle and share our personal stories about how and why we began to focus on wellness as well as the expected and unexpected benefits of getting healthy. Remember please, rate, review, share, and enjoy the show! Follow the Mass Construction Show here: Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook TikTok Intro music by Sound Revolution

In this episode of the Mass Construction Show I speak with Liz McEnaney, founder of the Hudson Valley Collaborative. What Liz does can most easily be described as urban design with a very heavy emphasis on architectural history and historic preservation. She works on projects engaging the public to discover how they imagine components of their own communities and neighborhoods so that those ideas can be incorporated into plans for the space. Liz explains how making a documentary got her into this field of work and describes the goal of the Hudson Valley Collaborative, which serves communities in New York that are analogous to the old mills towns we have in Massachusetts. Regular listeners will draw parallels to the conversations about resiliency that we've had with Greg Garvin. A current an ongoing project for Liz is her work with building shells in the town of Newburgh, NY. Liz talks specifically about being proactive in thinking about the promise of these communities, helping the people who live there learn how to identify when a building is at risk of becoming a shell, why it's necessary to care about that, what can be done to address it, and how to go about that work. You can find more information at https://www.thefullerton.org/projects/buildingshells Remember please, rate, review, share, and enjoy the show! Follow the Mass Construction Show here: Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook TikTok Intro music by Sound Revolution

In this episode of the Mass Construction Show Peter and I discuss Cannabis Construction. He explains what falls under the umbrella of cannabis, specifically explaining grow facilities, extraction spaces, and dispensaries, which are all analogous to other sectors that we serve in construction like manufacturing, commercial kitchens, lab space and retail. Peter describes the importance of pre-construction involvement, giving details of what to look for at the site assessment phase. When he says that a cannabis site is heavy on MEP, you might be shocked to find out just how heavy he means. He also lends some expertise in terms of what’s critical for a successful project, offering up some cool industry-specific details from how and why a grow facility is designed to respect the circadian rhythm of the plants to mitigating the threat we dare not speak of in agriculture-- mold. We close with some ideas about what the industry future looks like, and some of those ideas that may have sounded a little far fetched before the episode will probably sound a more likely than not by the end. I’d love it if you could give the podcast a rating or write a review.  These things really matter when it comes to growing the podcast and getting the kinds of guest we want to hear from. So every little bit helps! Enjoy the show! Follow the Mass Construction Show here: Linkedin Instagram Twitter Facebook TikTok Intro music by Sound Revolution