Brian Swanson is a Project Manager with Fidelity Roof
Company in Oakland. Fidelity offers a large variety of
roofing assemblies, including solar and green roofing for
commercial and residential properties. They also perform
maintenance, repair, waterproofing services and sheet
metal work.

Richard Margulis is the President and owner of Margulis
Construction Management Company, Inc. Mr. Margulis
is a general contractor and Project Manager specializing
in problem projects. Some of the specific areas of his work
include; fire, mold, water intrusion, faulty construction ,
foundation failure, window leaks and structural defects.

Greg Lyons is the President with W.E. Lyons Construction
Co. Since 1926 W.E. Lyons Construction has provided
new and reconstruction services for commercial, industrial
and multi-family structures. Based out of Walnut Creek,
the company specializes in destructive testing, litigation
support, expert testimony and construction cost estimating.

Karl Molineux is a founding partner with the law firm
Merrill, Nomura & Molineux, LLP located in Danville.
The firm specializes in real estate and business transactions
and litigation, with an emphasis on condemnation,
construction defect, and complex business litigation cases.

Ed Bennett, a Construction Defect Manager with Guardian
Group, Inc. is a licensed civil engineer and general
contractor with more than 30 years of design, project
management and construction experience. Mr. Bennett’s
specialties include complex construction defect litigation
for developers, general contractors, and insurance clients.
He also performs investigations including field inspection
and documentation of defects, cause and origin analysis,
cost estimating, and allocation of responsibility.

First link of Calif.’s high-speed rail
could cost nearly $14B
The estimated cost to build the first segment of California’s
high-speed rail project has risen to between $10 billion
and $13.9 billion from the 2009 estimate of $7.1 billion.
The increased cost is associated with elevating the tracks
in the Central Valley and details related to property values.
Work in the Central Valley is expected to begin in 2012.
Meanwhile, the state received an additional $179 million
from the federal government for the high-speed rail
project.

 

E2266-11
LATEST VERSION NOW AVAILABLE:
The latest version
of ASTM E2266-11

Standard Guide for Design and Construction of
Low-Rise Frame Building Wall Systems to Resist
Water Intrusion is available from ASTM at

http://www.astm.org/Standards/E2266.htm

Many Westcon members have contributed to the
development of the standard since the first edition
in 2004 and have given feedback to the ASTM Task
Group for the stucco details in the new Appendix.
Thanks to current Task Group E06.55.04 Chair,
Veronica Martin, AIA and the good folks at WJE for
doing fine CAD drawings. Finally, there is a new
reference guide of stucco details for the design
profession and construction industry. The standard
is 15 pages and the stucco detail Appendix is 25
pages. Lots of good pictures! Check it out.

September Presentation follow-up
Westcon would like to thank Pat Downey from BEI and Tim
Sinnott with Prosoco for inaugurating our first meeting at
the Berkeley Yacht Club. Pat and Tim wanted to mention
that the products they discussed meet ICC codes and will
not detract from fire rated assemblies that have already
been tested with other air barriers. For any additional
information, if you need AIA credits for attending the last
meeting, or if you would like a presentation at your firm,
you can contact Tim at tim@sincosales.com.
New Superelastic Alloy May Help Buildings

Withstand Shocks from Earthquakes
A superelastic alloy has been developed by Japanese
researchers that could potentially be applied in buildings.
The material may aid in absorbing shocks resulting
from earthquakes and help buildings to resist vibration
and stress during such events. The alloy can return to
its original shape at any temperature. The new material
has temperature insensitivity and is cheaper than other
competitive alloys. It could prove suitable for large-scale
applications and may be utilized in environments that are
continuously exposed to very high temperatures. The
applications of the ferrous alloy include controls and joints
in spacecraft, airplanes and cars.

Cameron Chai http://www.tohoku.ac.jp/english/

EcoCenter: San Francisco’s First Off-Grid Commercial
Building Up & Running
The EcoCenter, features a living roof, high recycled-content
cement flooring, walls made from structurally insulated
panels, solar panels that store surplus energy to a battery,
and a unique eco-machine that harvests rainwater for use
in plumbing and treats it using a system that’s part septic
technology and part wetlands. (Although the building does
get its potable water from the city infrastructure, the rainwater
harvesting system frees up 224,000 gallons a year of potable
water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.) The filtration system
also occupies a light- and heat-absorbing room that can be
shut off from the rest of the building in hot weather.

The EcoCenter was envisioned by Literacy for Environmental
Justice, a youth-focused organization that seeks to educate
youth in and around the troubled Bayview Hunters Point
neighborhood where the center sits about environmental
justice and to place them in paid green internships. As birders
began to notice that birds were using a wetlands that had
developed on the landfill peninsula next to a PG&E power
plant, LEJ stepped in to ensure that any designated open
space would benefit neighborhood residents as well.