The Power of People & Positivity in Construction

With all the negative news out there, we thought it’d be refreshing to focus on all the positives in construction today – and there’s a lot of it. Specifically, the people behind the projects are what give our industry its power. Here’s a roundup of some cool stories in metal fabrication, structural engineering and other areas of construction that speak to the influence of working together toward progress and brighter days.

Buildings That Heal

Medical facilities are some of the most important construction projects out there. Recently, the $160 million New Patient Facility at the Hawaii State Hospital was built at the base of the Ko’olau Mountain Range. A secured psychiatric facility on an existing psychiatric hospital campus, it was built to serve high-risk forensic patients with the care they need. The structure includes patient care units, a rehabilitation mall, multiple office spaces, a standalone central utility plant, a separate gymnasium for recreational therapy and a site elevator with a walkway bridge structure. There were some challenges along the way but also great opportunities to bring innovation to life.

Another medical facility recently constructed highlighted the value of working together to create stellar outcomes. Built on a hyper-fast schedule, the Pavilion at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania required excellent communication and teamwork between all stakeholders. A $1.6 billion state-of-the-art hospital with inpatient care for a cancer center, heart and vascular medicine and surgery, neurology, neurosurgery and an emergency department, the hospital is a beacon of hope for patients and an exemplar for the future of hospital design.

Taking Care of our Workforce

For Construction Pros magazine shared an article recently about how to change the conversation around labor to better attract talent today. It’s important that we all look for ways to improve our treatment of the folks who provide the backbone of our great industry, and this is a valuable place to start.

There was another article on Construction Dive’s website recently about incorporating mental health awareness into jobsite safety. In the piece, they discuss important topics about educating workers and management about the warning signs, and about proactively creating safe spaces for their teams. We all have a long way to go in prioritizing mental health in our country, but it’s a step in the right direction that people in our industry are talking about it and trying to create positive change.

Just for Fun (& Representation)

LEGO IDEAS are themed contests held by LEGO, which invite fans to submit designs and ideas for new LEGO sets. Recently, German artist MOCingbird submitted a design called “The World of Civil Engineering: Types of Bridges.” While this is neat for the civil engineering industry in particular, it’s also great for the construction world at large as the design was intended to recognize the contributions to society made by architecture, engineering and construction.

The kit also includes both male and female figures to demonstrate diversity in the field. In June, this was in first place in the “Most Popular” category, with all 10,000 votes necessary to be considered for production, and has been chosen as a staff pick. It is now one of the models having the chance of becoming an official LEGO set. Results for the respective review round are expected in February 2023.

There’s always a lot going on in the construction, metal fabrication and structural engineering fields, and a lot of it is actually quite positive. We think it’s pretty nice to focus on that sometimes.

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