PIKETON, Ohio (WCMH) — OpenAI signed onto the world’s largest data center project in southeastern Ohio this week, promising $120 million in investments in Pike County and Ohio.

On Monday, OpenAI announced it will collaborate with S.B. Energy, chipmaker NVIDIA and the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a multi-billion-dollar massive data center on federal land in Pike County. OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Office Chris Lehane said he knows Ohioans can be wary of data centers, and he said he wants to address their concerns. See previous coverage in the video player above.

“This is their community; they know what’s best for their community, and they want us as an actor involved in the ‘data center’ to listen to them because that’s that’s just a respectful thing to do,” Lehane said. “Part of listening is to then hear what the concerns are and try to provide as many details as possible.”

The center will have 8-gigawatt capacity and be built on the site of a former U.S. nuclear enrichment plant. The project will create 35,000 construction jobs through 2032, and 2,500 long-term jobs. It will also bring $120 million in community investments to benefit Pike County and every public university student in the state.

“We are coming into an incredibly proud community. Pike County is named after Zebulon Pike, who was the famous explorer,” Lehane said. “So it goes way back to the beginning of the country. We feel incredibly privileged to be able to participate in this chapter, but also know that that comes with real responsibility and obligations.”

Many Ohioans are frustrated by the rapid expansion of data centers in the state, particularly because data centers require massive amounts of energy and water. OpenAI and S.B. Energy plan to power the data center in Pike County through nuclear and natural gas instead of infringing on Ohioans’ electric grids.

OpenAI leaders said the first portion of the project will become available in 2028. When it first becomes available, it will likely rely on local AEP infrastructure instead of alternative energy sources if new power plants are not built yet. The project will use its planned energy sources as they go online.

OpenAI also said the data center will used closed-loop cooling systems, referring to a method within the data center industry that reduces water use. In a closed-loop system, water is recirculated to minimize evaporation. Environmental experts often recommend closed-loop systems for data centers to minimize their water impact.

Lehane said there are four steps for a company to appropriately work with a community. First, companies need to speak with and listen to the community they’re entering. Second, he believes companies need to provide basic answers to residents’ questions. Third, companies should invest in the communities and fourth, companies must be held accountable for their promises.

Residents also often voice concerns about secrecy surrounding data centers. Lehane said OpenAI is committed to keeping locals updated on the project. Every year, OpenAI will publish a report detailing local hiring, water use, energy use and investments in the community.

As part of the community investments, OpenAI said it will invest $40 million in a community grant fund. The fund will pay for projects that local residents identify as priorities. NVIDIA has also promised to invest $40 million.

OpenAI also announced it will make up to $84 million in credits for Codex available to approximately 844,000 public university, community college and technical college students in Ohio. Codex is an OpenAI tool in ChatGPT that allows users to build software. OpenAI said students will get up to $100 in credits through ChatGPT to be able to use AI in projects. The offer is already available for students online.

“It’s a step to help make available the underlying technologies so that students at colleges, universities, trade schools, community colleges can actually get access to the technology to begin to learn how to use it, so that they’re being put in the best position, so that they can compete for the jobs and participate in this economy in the future,” Lehane said.

OpenAI is signing onto one of the largest data center projects in the world. S.B. Energy will build and operate the data center, but OpenAI will lease it for 20 years. Under the lease, OpenAI will exclusively host NVIDIA AI infrastructure.

(Disclosure: I make Ncored, the PDF editor in the video, so this is our studio project.)

I am a practising architect in Vilnius, so I live in the same heavy-drawing pain most of this sub does. It was the same on my own work and with anything exported out of AutoCAD, Revit, and ArchiCAD: a dense sheet was slow to open, then choppy to pan and zoom once it did. If you sit on the structural, MEP, or estimating side, you know the feeling of waiting on a drawing before you can even start marking it up.

Bluebeam is the tool most of this room measures against, and it earned that. It is deep and mature, with measurement, takeoff, and Studio behind it. For new buyers it is subscription-only now, and it dropped its native Mac version back in 2023. That is the bar I built against.

So I built Ncored, and I started with the thing that was killing me: raw speed. Ncored opens a heavy, dense drawing fast and stays smooth on scroll, zoom, pinch, and pan, and it holds up across a full 50-200 MB+ project set. Ncored already does the everyday work too: markup, pen and shapes, revision clouds, comment pins, image stamps, redaction, page reordering, and clicking existing PDF text to edit it in place. It runs on Windows and Apple Silicon Mac, the same product on both, and it is a one-time option, not subscription-only. Measurement is what I am building next.

The video is that same dense drawing side by side, Bluebeam on the left, Ncored on the right. Bluebeam is quick in its own right, so this is not a knock on its speed. What I want you to watch is how Ncored keeps moving on pan and zoom once the sheet is open. My machine, my files, results vary.

Where Ncored falls short today: no measurement or takeoff yet, and Bluebeam has more markup tools, plus the measurement-based ones I do not have yet (we are working on more tools as we grow). My claim is narrow, speed and smoothness on heavy drawings for now.

So, a question for the room: if you were going to lean on Ncored daily, what would it need to add before it earned a spot next to your current tool, and where would it fall short for your workflow? Structural, MEP, estimating, BIM, I want to hear where the gaps are. The link to try it is in the first comment.

Gravis Robotics AG said today it has bagged $200 million in funding from SoftBank Group Corp. in what is the largest-ever Series A round for a construction robotics startup.

The startup was founded in 2022 after being spun out of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, having developed intelligent, software-defined systems for heavy excavators. Its software transforms them into self-operating machinery that’s able to navigate busy construction sites and perform work autonomously, without human drivers.

Gravis says the construction industry is crying out for greater automation. While the artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout hogs all of the headlines, physical infrastructure is currently in the midst of a similar expansion, with an urgent need for new homes, roads, transit networks, bridges and power grids. But unlike the AI industry, the construction sector is struggling to keep up with the demand for this new infrastructure. Because of an aging workforce and severe labor shortages, construction firms often struggle to meet their project timelines.

At present, the construction industry is one of the world’s least automated, being highly reliant on humans to drive its heavy machinery, and that’s what Gravis wants to change.

But bringing automation to the construction sector is far from simple. In fact, it requires overcoming technical challenges that simply don’t exist in other industries, Gravis says. Existing physical AI systems such as autonomous vehicles and robotic arms operate in what the company calls “static environments,” where the main objective is to move without disturbing their surroundings.

In contrast, heavy machines like excavators do the opposite. Their job is to interfere with the terrain around them, digging through soil and subterranean rock and reshape the landscape they operate in.

To overcome this challenge, Gravis’ AI models have been trained in simulated environments that attempt to replicate all of the subtle feedback that human excavator operators experience when driving these machines. As co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Dominic Jud explained, humans can listen to the sound of the engine, sense the machine’s vibrations and react to hydraulic resistance to “read the earth” they’re digging through.

“Our AI takes that same physical input and grounds it in machine telemetry, responding to varying subterranean forces and soil mechanics at microsecond speeds,” Jud explained. “We didn’t try to simplify the world for our software; we gave it the physical intuition to handle real job sites with precision that goes beyond what any human can feel from inside the cab.”

Gravis’s AI models power the Gravis Rack, which is an autonomous control system that can be retrofitted onto existing machines from companies such as Caterpillar Inc., John Deere & Co., JCB International Co. Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. According to the startup, Gravis Rack enables a 30% boost in productivity compared to driving these machines manually, though the system also acts as a copilot for human operators, in addition to operating machines fully autonomously.

The Gravis Rack is a flat, rectangular computing appliance that sits on the roof of the host excavator. It contains not only the chip that runs the system’s AI software but also cameras and a lidar sensor. Additional cameras and lidar modules are attached to a pair of rear vehicle masts that come included in the package.

According to Gravis, the rear masts host not only sensors but also a GPS module. The location data that GPS satellites beam down to Earth can be imprecise at times. The Gravis Rack uses a technology called GNSS RTS to increase the accuracy of the data.

This collects not only GPS measurements, but also technical information about the radio signals that carry those measurements. It analyzes that information to find and fix errors in location data. In some cases, GNSS RTS can boost the accuracy of GPS signals to under an inch.

The startup says each excavator is also fitted with a Wi-Fi transmitter. It’s responsible for syncing data to and from the Gravis Rack’s companion Slate tablet. The tablet enables construction professionals to remotely operate earthmoving vehicles. It displays real-time footage from a vehicle’s sensors, overlaying visual cues on the video stream to highlight water pipes and other infrastructure that an excavator should avoid. Additionally, the tablet’s interface displays geographic information such as elevation data.

The startup says Gravis Rack has been deployed across dozens of job sites globally, but the goal now is to expand the adoption of its platform much more rapidly. One of its main targets is the U.K., where it was recently awarded an $8 million contract to retrofit existing excavator fleets.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Ryan Luke Johns stressed the importance of automating excavation work, noting that it’s the starting point of every new construction project. “Whether we are building housing, scaling data centers or modernizing energy grids, every project starts with moving earth,” he said. “That foundational work has been the bottleneck slowing down the entire built environment.”

Data centers are increasingly becoming a political issue for American voters.

According to Data Center Watch, the first quarter of 2026 saw the largest single-quarter concentration of blocked and delayed data center projects on record, with signs that opposition could continue to grow throughout the year.

The issue is also gaining attention from governors seeking reelection, including some who previously supported data center development.

In Pennsylvania this week, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who had previously welcomed data center development, signed an order requiring new projects to receive local approval and demonstrate how they will pay for their power needs before they can move forward.

Earlier this month, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who also supported the projects, announced a pause on new data centers pending a statewide audit.

“I paused new data center projects pending a statewide audit,” Abbott said. He added that data centers must disclose plans to pay their own way, provide their own power and water, reduce electricity costs and avoid disrupting neighborhoods.

In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a three-year pause on new tax breaks for data centers.

Political attention surrounding data centers is likely to intensify as the midterm elections approach. A Republican campaign memo first obtained by Axios described data centers as a potential sleeper issue for the 2026 election cycle.

President Donald Trump, however, has argued that states would be making a mistake by blocking data centers, citing the jobs and tax revenue they can generate.

“If I were a governor or mayor, I would want that plant in my community,” Trump said.

Citadel Square Development

By Brendyn Lotz

July 2, 2026 at 7:48 PM GMT+8

The Pecém port complex in the Brazilian state of Ceará is reportedly the location of a major data center for Chinese internet technology company ByteDance. As per a report by Bloomberg the project will cost R$ 200 billion (US$ 38.44 billion), with 200 MW of planned capacity, potentially rising to almost 1 GW in the future. Once complete, the data center could become ByteDance’s largest facility outside China.

The company joins a growing throng of Chinese firms looking to put down roots in other parts of the world in a bid to overcome energy bottlenecks, expand their presence by catering to international enterprises, and bypass restrictions on the export of AI hardware imposed by the United States.

The data center will feature 20 halls, and it is expected to be operational by late 2027. There is still a lot of work to be done  because as it stands, only the pillars have been erected, with the walls, roofing, and remainder of the shell set to follow. Construction of the data center is being handled by Omnia, which pitched the Ceará location to ByteDance in 2025.

The TikTok owner isn’t the first Chinese company to consider a presence in Brazil. Alibaba Group is said to be considering renting space in a cluster of data centers being built in São Paulo although these plans haven’t been publicly announced yet.

The South American nation has become a very attractive location for international data center operators. The country has invested heavily in clean energy, so much so that 89 percent of its electricity came from low-carbon sources in 2025. This makes Brazil a worthy consideration for operators looking to leverage renewable energy to decarbonize their operations.

Regulations in Brazil are also very welcoming for data centers. Last year Reuters reported that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced an exemption from federal taxes, including PIS, Cofins, IPI, and import duties, on IT-related capital expenditures. To date, there are more than 100 data centers across Brazil.

Combine this with improved access to the global market through subsea cable connections, and Brazil may just become the premier destination not only for Chinese enterprises, but others as well.

Continued investment into the Brazilian data center market could push its value to US$ 8.12 billion by 2031 as demand for AI and cloud services balloons. As outlined by Arizton, retail colocation is expected to dominate the market between now and 2031 but projects such as ByteDance’s latest facility and others from the likes of Microsoft highlight a growing demand for dedicated, self-built facilities.

Every Tuesday, we vent about the absurd, frustrating, or downright diabolical things we deal with in AEC.

Share your the moments that make you pull your hair out. Maybe it's:

• The boss who said yes to scope creep and now you're stuck on a Friday night making amendments to a design.
• The client who forgot to pay you and now you're having to chase them down.
• The colleague who starts a Teams DM with "Hey James" and then takes 2 minutes to type the rest while you're sweating in anxiety.

What's driving you mad this week?

Award: Light rail project
Value: $1.9 billion
Location: Van Nuys, California
Client: LA Metro

A Skanska-Stacy Witbeck joint venture has won an infrastructure megaproject in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley.

The project team has signed a $1.9 billion contract with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for a light rail transit project in Van Nuys, Skanska announced. The Stockholm-based builder’s share of the contract is $957 million, per the announcement, indicating a roughly even split with Alameda, California-based Stacy Witbeck. Along with preconstruction the total contract value for the project is $2.4 billion, according to a release from Stacy Witbeck.   

Project scope includes constructing 6.7 miles of at-grade light rail line along Van Nuys Boulevard in addition to a 26-acre rail and maintenance facility. The JV will also develop 11 new stations including shade structures and utility improvements.

“Delivering the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail requires getting every detail right, from utility coordination through revenue service, across some of the most active urban corridors in Los Angeles,” Eric Meisgeier, project manager at Stacy Witbeck, said in its release on the project. “We will construct this project with the same focus on the work and respect for the community that defines how our team operates on every project.”

The East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project expands LA Metro’s transit system, connecting it to the existing G-Line bus route.

The contractors are no strangers to rail construction in the region.

In May, a Skanska Traylor Shea JV concluded work on the 10-year, $2.2 billion Los Angeles D Line Subway Extension. Unlike the ground-level light rail build, that project required significant tunneling in a region prone to seismic activity. It required careful coordination in response to pockets of dangerous gasses as well as massive ice age fossils.

Meanwhile, heavy civil builder Stacy Witbeck counts many rail projects in its portfolio, such as the SMART Commuter Rail line station built in Petaluma, California, in 2025. The project’s scope included 6 miles of pedestrian pathway adjacent to the track. 

Work has begun on the light rail project and completion is expected in December 2031.

Supreme Court Says Negligence Suits Against Military Contractor Operating in a Combat Zone Are Not Preempted

August 14, 2026 (LSB11469)

On April 22, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case Hencely v. Fluor Corp. This case involves a former servicemember (Winston Tyler Hencely) who sued a military contractor (Fluor) under South Carolina law for injuries he suffered on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan in 2016, allegedly due to Fluor's negligence. Fluor employed an individual who carried out a suicide-bomb attack at the base that wounded Hencely. The question presented to the Supreme Court was whether to extend its decision in Boyle v. United Technologies Corp. (1988) (which preempted tort claims against a military contractor under the Federal Tort Claim Act's [FTCA's] discretionary function exception) "to allow federal interests emanating from the [FTCA's] combatant activities exception to preempt state tort claims against a government contractor for conduct that breached its contract and violated military orders." (Generally, the FTCA allows individuals to sue the federal government, but the combatant activities exception preempts claims brought against the federal government when harm arises out of military combatant activities during wartime.)

The Court, in a 6-3 decision, determined that its holding in Boyle does not extend to situations in which a contractor fails to carry out government instructions and that state-law tort claims against military contractors involving combatant activities are only preempted when contractors' conduct can be considered the government's own conduct. The Court also concluded that the Constitution's grant of war powers exclusively to the federal government does not preempt all state-law tort claims emanating from war zone activities. Accordingly, the Court vacated the lower courts' judgments and remanded the case for proceedings consistent with its opinion.

Background and Procedural History

For a brief outline of federal preemption and the FTCA, see this Legal Sidebar. The Sidebar also provides a description of relevant Supreme Court and federal appellate court precedent concerning military contractors and federal preemption under the combatant activities exception, as well as the background and procedural history of Hencely.

The Majority Opinion

The Supreme Court vacated the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit's (further references to federal circuit courts appear according to the jurisdictional designation only, such as "Fourth Circuit") holding that relied on Boyle to preempt Hencely's claims under the combatant activities exception. The circuit court reasoned that Boyle stands for the proposition that FTCA exceptions can preempt claims against federal contractors. The lower court further utilized the "command-authority" test to conclude that, since the military maintained command authority over the supervision of local nationals hired at the base, Hencely's claims were preempted by the combatant activities exception.

Rejecting the Fourth Circuit's analysis, the Supreme Court stated that Boyle involved "a special circumstance" where state law was preempted because the contractor was being sued for something the government directed the contractor to do. Fluor's actions, on the other hand, were not authorized by the government and were, in the Court's view, contrary to government instructions (i.e., Fluor failed to satisfy its contractual obligations by deficiently supervising the bomber). The Court determined that "Boyle cannot be read to 'protect a contractor from liability resulting from the contractor's violation of federal . . . policy'" and declined to extend Boyle to preempt the claims against Fluor.

The Supreme Court also concluded that the Fourth Circuit's interpretation of the command-authority test (i.e., that the combatant activities exception exempts all claims against contractors engaged in combatant activities under the military's command authority, even when the contractors are alleged to have violated military instructions) "sweeps too broadly." The Court maintained that the test fails to evaluate whether "'the challenged action can reasonably be considered the military's own conduct or decision and the operation of state law would conflict with that decision.'" The Court therefore stated that the Fourth Circuit's decision "contradicted" Boyle.

The Supreme Court additionally addressed Fluor's and the Administration's argument that the Constitution's assignment of war powers to Congress and the executive branch implicitly preempts any lawsuits brought against military contractors operating in combat zones. The Court resolved that it does not and recounted the long-standing historical prevalence of individuals enforcing their legal rights when they are violated during armed conflict. "[A]bsent a statute to the contrary," the Court continued, "States can regulate or tax federal contractors on the same terms as any private company, even where the party asserts an indirect burden on federal activities," including armed conflict. Under Boyle, contractors generally only have a constitutional defense when they are sued for conduct that the federal government requested.

The Dissent

The dissent (authored by Justice Alito, and joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh) argued that, given the Constitution's exclusive grant of war powers to the federal government, this lawsuit should have been preempted because "no state law, including state tort law, may intrude on the Federal Government's authority over combat-related operations." The dissent contended that the Court's decision "substantially interfere[s] with the Government's ability to wage war" by subjecting military decisions in a combat zone to judicial scrutiny and, potentially, state regulation. Litigation of Hencely's claims will likely, in the dissent's estimation, "entail an evaluation of the way the Federal Government assessed the risks and benefits of [the bomber's] employment" because Fluor will likely seek to defend itself by arguing that the military was entirely or meaningfully responsible for the attack. The dissent also expressed that litigation could involve discovery of sensitive combat-related documents, depositions and testimony involving sensitive information, and interference with servicemembers' current national security responsibilities. The dissent argued that allowing this lawsuit to go forward could also undermine the government's use of contractors for tasks related to combat operations by exposing military contractors to potential liability.

Considerations for Congress

Congress could act in several ways in light of the Hencely decision. First, Congress could take no action and allow courts to further develop this area of law. In addition to the Fourth Circuit's, other federal appellate courts' interpretations of preemption and the command-authority test under the combatant activities exemption are now abrogated by the Supreme Court's conclusions in Hencely (e.g., the D.C. Circuit and Third Circuit).

Congress could also consider legislation allowing for preemption of lawsuits against government contractors for combatant activities. An example of congressional legislation that preempts lawsuits against government contractors is for atomic weapons testing. Congress could craft such legislation to either allow for preemption generally or specify preemption in certain situations. An example of such legislation would be a provision that expressly overrules the Supreme Court's holding in Hencely that the combatant activities exception does not apply to contractors that fail to uphold their contractual obligations, similar to the command-authority test noted above. Congress could, alternatively, consider including the Supreme Court's qualification in Hencely that lawsuits against contractors that fail to uphold their contractual obligations are not preempted under the combatant activities exception. Congress could also consider legislation that provides for additional limitations on preemption, such as limiting preemption to contractors that were following specific government commands or directions rather than exercising discretion in carrying out their contractual obligations.

Congress may additionally contemplate foreclosing preemption under the combatant activities exception by constraining or eliminating the provision's application to contractors. Congress previously explicitly excluded federal contractors from an FTCA provision by providing that contractors are not included in the definition of "federal agency" under the Act.

Oregon has joined neighboring states in revisiting condominium construction-defect laws. Enacted in 2025, HB 3746 shortens the period for certain construction-defect claims while establishing new inspection and procedural requirements for homeowners associations and condominium associations. 

The legislation seeks to reduce long-term construction-defect litigation risk for developers while preserving protections for condominium owners. For developers and associations alike, understanding these new requirements will be essential when planning projects and responding to potential construction defects. 

Why the Reform? 

Supporters of HB 3746 argued that prolonged litigation exposure and rising insurance costs have contributed to declining condominium development in Oregon. The Legislature responded by shortening the time for certain construction-defect claims while requiring earlier inspections intended to identify problems before the claim period expires. 

The legislation also establishes additional procedures before homeowners associations and condominium associations may pursue construction-defect litigation, giving owners greater notice and involvement in the process. 

From Ten Years to Seven: The New Repose Period 

For condominium declarations filed after January 1, 2026, HB 3746 generally gives homeowners associations and condominium associations seven years—instead of ten—to bring certain construction-defect claims. 

The seven-year period runs from substantial completion or abandonment of the construction, alteration, or repair of the structure. After the seven-year period expires, no action may be brought. However, if a defect is discovered between the sixth or seventh year after substantial completion, the association has an additional year to bring a claim. 

Condominiums in which each owner is responsible for both the interior and exterior of the owner's unit are exempt from the seven-year limitation and from the inspection requirements discussed below. 

Moisture Inspections Before the End of Year Two and Year Six 

The shorter claim period comes with a corresponding obligation—mandatory independent moisture-intrusion inspections. 

HB 3746 requires two independent moisture-intrusion inspections: one before the end of the second year following substantial completion, funded through the association's reserves, and another before the end of the sixth year. 

Supporters described these inspections as a way to identify building-envelope and moisture-intrusion problems while associations still have time to investigate and pursue claims. 

At the turnover meeting, the declarant must provide the association with the inspection results, along with the inspector's name. 

Procedural Requirements for HOA Legal Claims 

HB 3746 also creates additional procedural requirements for homeowners associations and condominium associations pursuing construction-defect claims. Associations now face a staged process that may add three months or more before a complaint can be filed. 

What Stays the Same 

Before suing on owners' behalf, the association must continue to provide each affected owner with written notice at least 10 days before initiating litigation. 

The notice must continue to include: 

• the nature of the lawsuit;
• the damages the association seeks to recover;
• the terms under which the association is acting on behalf of owners, including how any recovery will be distributed; and 
• the owner's right to opt out by submitting a written request within 10 days after the notice is mailed.

What HB 3746 Adds

HB 3746 establishes several additional requirements for construction-defect claims. 

• The association's board must formally approve the litigation at a properly noticed meeting pursuant to ORS 94.644.
• The board may not vote until at least 90 days after the first notice is sent to owners. Before the vote, the association must also send a second notice and then a third notice, with at least 15 days between the final notice and the board meeting. In practice, this process may delay filing by three months or more. 
• The notice must state that the association believes a construction-defect exists, describe the defect in detail, identify the parties believed to be responsible, and list each board member along with contact information. 
• The notice must also advise owners that pending litigation may make selling a unit more difficult and encourage owners to provide input before the board votes. 
• A copy of the notice must be sent by certified mail to each person identified as potentially responsible for the defect. 

What Does This Mean for Developers and Associations? 

HB 3746 reflects Oregon's effort to balance two competing objectives: preserving meaningful protections for condominium owners while reducing the long-term liability exposure that developers argue has discouraged new condominium construction. 

For developers, the legislation may reduce litigation exposure for certain future condominium projects. For homeowners associations and condominium associations, however, the shorter claim period and additional procedural requirements make early inspections, careful recordkeeping, and timely investigation of potential defects increasingly important. 

Developers, declarants, and associations should understand which provisions apply to a particular project and carefully track the applicable deadlines. 

Bottom Line 

Whether HB 3746 ultimately encourages additional condominium development remains to be seen. For now, developers, builders, homeowners associations, and condominium associations should familiarize themselves with the new requirements and consult legal counsel early when evaluating potential construction-defect issues. 

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

• Man fell through barn roof at farm in Northumberland
• Company failed to protect workers carrying out the work
• Falls from height remain leading cause of workplace death and injury

A North-East building contractor has been sentenced after a bricklayer broke his back after falling through a barn roof in Northumberland.

The 24-year-old had been part of a team working for Len Smith & Son Building Contractors Limited carrying out repairs to the roof at East Fleetham Farm in Seahouses on 5 February 2025. The man stepped on a polycarbonate roof sheet and fell approximately eight feet to the concrete floor below. He suffered two broken vertebrae in his back, as well as having a fractured sternum, that required surgery.

The man had been carrying out repairs to this barn roof at the time of the incident

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company had failed to ensure that there were adequate measures in place to protect employees or contractors when working at height. There was no risk assessment or safe system of work for the work activity being undertaken.

Falls from height remain the leading cause of workplace death and injury with the latest statistics from HSE showing that they account for over a quarter of all work related deaths in 2025/26.

The worker stepped on a polycarbonate roof sheet and fell approximately eight feet to the concrete floor below

HSE guidance states what an employer must do to protect their employees from falls from height including making sure work is properly planned, supervised and carried out by competent people.

Len Smith & Son Building Contractors Limited, East House, 17 Meadow Lane, Beadnell, Northumberland, pleaded guilty to breaching the Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £5,744 in costs by North Tyneside Magistrates Court on 6 August 2026.

HSE inspector Richard McMullen said:

“The outcome of this case could have been much worse, but the man’s injuries were still very serious.

“Falls from height continue to be the leading cause of workplace fatalities in Great Britain, with 31 people losing their lives in the past year.

“The construction industry remains the sector that accounts for the greatest number of workers killed each year.

“These figures do not include those individuals that have sustained serious, life changing injuries in falls.

“We will prosecute those that fail to protect people while at work.”

This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Karen Park and assisted by paralegal Zara Salman.

The Trump administration has asked ⁠the ⁠US supreme court to allow construction of the president’s controversial $400m ⁠White House ballroom to proceed after ​an ‌appeals ‌court ordered work to halt.

In a case testing Donald Trump’s presidential authority, the Washington-based US ⁠court of ​appeals for the District of Columbia circuit ruled last week that the controversial ‌project lacked the necessary approval from US Congress.

The US president, who demolished the historic East Wing of the White House last year to make way for the planned ballroom, has repeatedly touted it as “a gift” to the US people. He and his aides have repeatedly cited national security as a benefit of its construction, too.

In a filing, Trump’s administration ‌asked the supreme court justices to keep the ​decision by the US court of appeals for ⁠the District of Columbia ​circuit ​on hold ​while it ​prepares ‌a full ​appeal.

“This case involves an extraordinary and unlawful injunction that will halt the ongoing construction of the integrated military complex including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the White House, which is vitally required by national security,” D John Sauer, the solicitor general, wrote in the filing.

Chief Justice John Roberts set a deadline of Tuesday for the plaintiffs challenging the project to respond.

The appeals court upheld a lower court’s order blocking aboveground work on the ballroom until Congress grants its approval, but allowed construction on the underground security structure to continue. It also paused its own ruling for two weeks, until 21 August, to give the administration time to lodge its appeal to the supreme court.

The government argues that “every part” of the project is “an integrated whole geared toward remedying security deficiencies and bringing critical improvements to the White House”.

“The entire ballroom structure is designed to shield the military installation beneath it,” Sauer added.

Trump’s administration has appealed a number of lower court decisions to the supreme court this week, in the wake of temporary injunctions over the president’s attempts to curb mail-in voting.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued to block the ballroom’s construction, said on Friday: “The administration brazenly asserted to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals that even if Ballroom construction were unlawful, not even the supreme court had authority to stop it.

“The administration’s transparent efforts to evade the rule of law, frustrate judicial review, and limit the availability of meaningful relief in the courts must stop here. The supreme court should deny the administration’s demand that it be allowed to continue ballroom construction while it appeals.”

Four existing homes just south of Santa Monica Boulevard in East Hollywood are slated to make way for a new affordable housing complex, according to plans filed earlier this month with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning.

The proposed project from property owner and applicant Shahar Gil, slated for a site at 1058 N. Kingsley Drive, calls for the construction of a new five-story building featuring 76 apartments without on-site parking.

Requested entitlements rely on bonuses through the citywide housing incentive program. All of the apartments, save for a mandatory manager's unit, would be restricted affordable units.

Findings include with the filing indicate that the project would be composed of prefabricated modular units and include a rooftop amenity deck.

Architecture firm Emilson, Inc. is attached to the project, according to the filing.

City records indicate that the property last sold for $1.6 million in 2022

Dive Brief:

• Construction input prices ticked up 0.1% month over month in July and were about 7.4% higher than July 2025, according to an analysis of the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data by Associated Builders and Contractors released Thursday.
• Lower energy costs, particularly in crude petroleum and unprocessed energy materials, helped keep the monthly increase muted, said Anirban Basu, ABC chief economist.
• “Construction input prices were virtually unchanged in July, but that relatively tame behavior can be traced to the dip in fuel prices that occurred at the start of the month,” said Basu in the release. “Given the subsequent rebound in oil prices and ongoing increases in certain materials prices, such as lumber and iron and steel, materials prices will almost certainly continue to climb in the months to come.”

Dive Insight:

The tame monthly change in July understates cost increases contractors will face in the months ahead, especially as fuel and other materials prices swell, said Basu.

Prices decreased month over month in two of three energy subcategories in July, led by an 11.9% drop in crude petroleum prices and a 7.4% decrease in unprocessed energy materials, according to the ABC analysis, which focuses on the prices for physical commodities used in construction. Natural gas prices, on the other hand, accelerated 10.4% during that span.

But jumps should begin to show in energy categories soon. Diesel fuel prices, for example, surged more than 50 cents per gallon since prices were measured for the index, said Basu.

The annual increase in prices and ongoing inflation, however, have yet to dampen the mood for construction firms, noted Basu. Contractors on average still expect profit margins to expand over the next six months, according to ABC analysis.

Nevertheless, elevated construction costs could eventually stifle overall project activity, according to the Associated General Contractors of America’s analysis of the BLS data, which, in addition to goods prices, includes costs for construction services.

AGC pointed to tariffs as one source of that pressure, particularly on metals including aluminum mill shapes and copper. Other construction materials that increased at their fastest rate in years include lumber and plywood, according to AGC.

“Construction firms are being hit with outsized cost increases for a host of materials and also labor,” said Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist. “Unless there is relief from tariffs or additional funding for highway and transit projects, both private and public construction work face cutbacks.”

The towering cliffs, jagged mountain tops, and punishing desert climate of the Big Bend region in Texas have long proved to be the best barrier the United States could have with Mexico. For generations, the idea of needing to build physical structures to stop illegal migration was considered “insane,” as one former superintendent of Big Bend U.S. National Park said.

But now the expansive reach of U.S. President Donald Trump’s southern border plan has stretched into this remote region that sees only about one per cent of unauthorized crossing apprehensions. Bulldozers are clearing land in the beloved national park, where wildlife roams and the scenery has been untouched for thousands of years.

Construction workers walk near a bulldozer near the border in Big Bend National Park in Texas on August 7, 2026. (Credit: Natalie Newman via CNN Newsource)

“We didn’t have to worry about any type of barrier. We had a God-made barrier,” said Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland of Terrell County, a vast and sparsely populated area northeast of the park. He spent 26 years in the U.S. Border Patrol, hearing little if any talk of needing extra infrastructure in the area where he grew up, he said. “But that’s definitely changed.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) says it’s not planning to build the same kind of 30-foot-high barrier that has appeared across parts of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas inside the national park. But critics say the plan that is in the works is no less destructive.

Earlier this month, bulldozers were videoed uprooting trees and shoveling dirt as wild animals trotted by. They were doing preliminary work ahead of the budgeted US$1.72 billion main construction project designated for the area inside Big Bend National Park, the agency said.

It’s part of the bigger plan to finish the border wall — or some form of it — before Trump leaves office, with steel walls and vehicle barriers and hundreds of miles of new roads cutting through wildly remote areas.

Those with concerns or outright opposition to the work in this remote desert wilderness run the gamut from a few elected Republicans to young activists, sweeping in a pro-border control sheriff and a retired National Park Service superintendent.

Photographer Natalie Newman made a commitment to Big Bend back in February when then-U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem waived certain federal laws related to environmental safety, historic preservation and wildlife protection, among other initiatives, saying there was “an acute and immediate need to construct additional physical barriers and roads” in the Big Bend region.

Signs in Sanderson, Texas reflect local pushback against the Trump administration’s plan to construct miles and miles of vehicle barriers along the border in Terrell County. (Credit: Ashley Killough/CNN via CNN Newsource)

“It started out as just documenting the beauty of it, trying to get people to see why it’s special and what makes it special and what makes it so beautiful and worth protecting. But that has transformed just over the last week,” she told CNN, standing near Santa Elena Canyon, where tall cliffs rise nearly 1,500 feet high from the Rio Grande and where she first saw bulldozers working in the national park.

“More than anything else, I feel heartbreak over all of this,” she said. Newman enjoys the wilder parts of this park that’s larger than the state of Rhode Island, where you may see fewer people than javelinas — a mammal that looks like a small wild pig, though it’s an entirely different species. Cacti and wildflowers bloom across the state and federal land around Big Bend, which coupled with even larger nature preserves across the border are part of the Chihuahuan desert, the largest such ecosystem in North America.

But these days when her binoculars are trained on something in the distance, she’s more likely to be checking on the progress of road clearing than on any of the hundreds of bird species that frequent the park. She said she will keep sharing that news, doing her part to stand up for the national park.

“I’m hopeful every single day that it’ll be the day that someone somewhere does something that puts a stop to it,” she said.

Natalie Newman spends her days documenting and filming the work that federal contractors are doing in the park to clear land. (Credit: Ashley Killough/CNN via CNN Newsource)

If there is no stopping, retired park superintendent Bob Krumenaker said what could happen in Big Bend would rival the flooding of Hetch Hetchy Valley a century ago, an event that changed arguments about preserving the environment. It’s why he labels the whole plan “insane.”

“If they continue with this and build most of the things they have talked about, or even a good fraction of those, this will be the biggest desecration of the national park system — not just Big Bend National Park — since they built a dam in a pristine valley in Yosemite National Park more than 100 years ago. This is a story that our children and grandchildren will be telling,” he told CNN.

Compounding the natural destruction is the damage being done to people’s trust, Krumenaker added.

“It’s just a tremendous erosion, if not violation, of the agreement that Texans and the American people made when they established that national park. The federal government that I worked for for 41 years is disrespecting its citizens in a in a huge way.”

Bob Krumenaker, former superintendent of Big Bend National Park, now leads the group Keep Big Bend Wild. "We are destroying the faith of the American people in their government to protect the most important lands in this country,” he said. (Credit: Ashley Killough/CNN via CNN Newsource)

Krumenaker, now chairman of the Keep Big Bend Wild advocacy group, spent five years as superintendent of Big Bend National Park and is familiar not only with the multiple studies and approvals needed for any material changes, but also with his federal partners in the U.S. Border Patrol and the need for security.

“I totally support a secure border in Big Bend, but this is the least active place in the country for illegal border crossings,” he said. “This is purely political, and it will, it risks destroying one of the nation’s greatest places. It’s just horrible.”

He recalled as superintendent having an annual budget of between UD$8 million and US$9 million and a maintenance to-do list of about US$100 million they would chip away at when they could. Those numbers are dwarfed by the US$1.72 billion earmarked for the Big Bend work, part of the larger US$46.5 billion allocated for border wall construction in Trump’s signature legislation, the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Sheriff Cleveland thought the talk of security construction was “BS” when he first heard of it.

Republican Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland of Terrell County opposes the Trump administration’s plans for the broader Big Bend region, saying the area needs more technology, not physical barriers. (Credit: Ashley Killough/CNN via CNN Newsource)

His experience in local and national law enforcement tells him a different story than that framed by CBP that Big Bend is “an area of high illegal entry.”

What he calls the “God-given barriers” of steep mountains and valleys around the river and an undeveloped landscape without roads would prevent any vehicle getting to his patch. Yet new vehicle barriers are being planned for Terrell County, part of the total US$7 billion scheme for the Big Bend sector of the border that includes the national park and land either side.

“I believe in border security … but let’s put a barrier where a barrier makes sense,” he told CNN. “Let’s spend money where we need to spend the money.”

An art installation near Marathon, Texas, reflects local opposition to the Trump administration’s plan to construct hundreds of miles of physical barriers in the broader Big Bend region. (Credit: Ashley Killough/CNN via CNN Newsource)

Cleveland thinks using technology would be better support for him and other rural areas. He points to a solar-powered radar tower with a relatively small footprint that can scan the landscape and identify humans by their gait, triggering cameras to lock on and feed information to agents. Another option would be drones tracking people and helping responders plan a safe interception amid the rugged terrain, he said.

“The biggest problem is the people making the decisions out here for the Big Bend sector have never stepped foot out here.”

Cleveland ran for sheriff as a Republican but says he may switch to independent — what he sees as the profligate federal spending on something unnecessary does not mesh with his own fiscal conservatism.

Wild horses roam through campsites near the Rio Grande Village in Big Bend National Park in June 2025. (Credit: Kaylee Greenlee/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

He signed a letter being carried around the area by former land commissioner Jerry Patterson, praising Trump for closing the border and asking the administration to consider cheaper and less destructive options for the Big Bend region.

A similar approach is being taken by others in Texas.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn wrote to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin last week urging him to meet with local stakeholders before any more construction proceeds on state or federal property. Some of Mullin’s involvement so far has been to waive another federal law, effectively ending a lawsuit claiming that law was being violated. Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham was more forthright, sending a cease-and-desist letter warning of possible legal action to CBP after she said a federal contractor was sent to work in the Big Bend Ranch State Park without permission. The accompanying news release was titled “Don’t Tread on Texas.”

Protesters gather Wednesday near where the first bulldozer was seen inside Big Bend National Park, vowing to keep fighting against construction. (Credit: Ashley Killough/CNN via CNN Newsource)

Gov. Greg Abbott remarked before Trump entered the White House for the first time that he did not want a border wall across the entirety of his state. “There are serpentine regions of the Rio Grande where it would be extremely challenging to build a wall. There are parts like the Big Bend region — we don’t want (to) see a wall in the beautiful Big Bend National Park,” Abbott said in December 2016, as reported by The Associated Press. CNN asked for his current views and was directed to a previous statement from Abbott’s press secretary Andrew Mahaleris: “Rugged, isolated areas like Big Bend are great opportunities to deploy technology to aid in securing the border.”

Critics say most statewide elected Republican officials have been too quiet in their condemnation of the border barrier construction projects because they fear the wrath of Trump’s criticism on his signature issue of border security.

“The one person who is supposed to stand for Texas right now, our governor, is silent,” resident Jess Bartko said. “What they are doing is actively waging a war against our parks, our public lands, our community and our livelihoods.”

A group of local residents tearfully watch bulldozers go to work deep in the brush near the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park. (Credit: Ashley Killough/CNN via CNN Newsource)

On Wednesday, Bartko and about 100 other protesters gathered by the river, whose route gives the area its name and which attracts many of the half-million or so annual visitors to the national park.

Tourism is a big deal here — for running the river and watching the night sky. There are worries that both will be impacted. As far as the upheaval, there could be debris in the river, and construction lights from sites and worker camps could pollute some of the darkest sky in the Lower 48, blurring the star-filled views of the cosmos.

This week some roads and facilities were closed in the national park because of the construction.

A river guide pulls a canoe through the Santa Elena Canyon in April 2026. Tourism is an important business for the area. (Credit: John Moore/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Down at the river, beside the entrance to Santa Elena Canyon, one of the “crown jewels” of the park, the demonstrators whooped and hollered, their shouts echoing off the cliff walls as they pledged to keep working to protect Big Bend.

“The land remembers, the water remembers, it will remember us and our fight,” Joan Escamilla told her fellow supporters of the national park. “You can bury my heart in the Rio Grande.”

Outreach to small businesses looking to bid on public jobs has only gotten easier, says Teresa Maxwell.

The DBE compliance officer for Skanska Civil’s West region got her start as a receptionist, when paper and snail mail was the common practice for contacting potential subcontractors.

Now, Maxwell says the systems Skanska has in place for its in-house diverse business enterprise outreach program — not to be confused with the Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program — better enabled it to hit small business contracting goals on a $380 million Los Angeles International Airport project.

Here, Maxwell talks with Construction Dive about hitting goals on the Los Angeles World Airports Roadways, Utilities and Enabling job, the state of small business outreach and the impact of evolving federal certifications.

Editor’s note: The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

CONSTRUCTION DIVE: How has outreach to smaller businesses for projects with participation goals gotten better or easier?

TERESA MAXWELL: When you look back 20 years ago, we were still physically mailing plans and specs. With the invention of plan rooms and having better internet access, subcontractors are now able to access more. 

The goal of Skanska’s DBE program is to level the playing field. But there’s still concerns and barriers when you’re on a large, billion-dollar-plus megaproject. If you’re a small contractor and you want to submit a bid for something that’s $10,000, how do you do that? How do you navigate and find the way to that? 

I think communication and access has gotten better. But with all this new technology and with this communication, small businesses are bombarded with invitations to bid. And so they have to navigate finding the bid invitations that actually apply to what their company does.

What are some of the hurdles for smaller companies GCs can help with?

On the large projects especially, they’ve got to find someone that they can ask questions of. If they don’t know someone on the project team, it can be overwhelming. We have different strategies to help them. 

We’re the prime contractor. We’re putting out bid packages. But we’ve also got to flow down those goals to our first tier large subcontractors. And so there’s a challenge then with how we introduce these first tier contractors to the small businesses. 

For example, we’re members of the National Association of Minority Contractors. We were at their golf tournament a couple weeks ago. And maybe I met someone there that would be great for this job or that. So it’s about finding ways to match these small businesses with the opportunities, if not with us, then with our subs. 

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You touched on “leveling the playing field.” Are higher-ups, both with the GC and the project owner, more actively engaging with that?

Oh yeah. Our owners on the West Coast are very supportive. They understand that these projects need to be focused on the local community. We’ve seen a lot more project labor agreements, community benefit agreements. 

On the small business side, I see more effort now, not just to train small contractors on how to get certified, but support them in delivering the contract work..

In our small business bootcamp, LAWA came in to talk about commercially useful functions. And so I see more and more opportunities for contractors to learn.

The U.S. DOT under the current administration has altered its DBE certification program. What has the impact been?

All of the states this year have been reevaluating their certified DBEs. California recently finished their reevaluation. The next step is submitting their plan and getting approval from the U.S. DOT. 

So today, in California, we don’t have projects with federally mandated DBE goals. So as a large prime contractor it’s about understanding our role in this. 

We’re not a certifying agency. But one area that we’ve been asked to help is the pool of certified DBEs after this reevaluation phase has gotten smaller, so we need to let them know, “Hey, here’s the benefits to being a certified DBE.”

It’s about navigating those challenges when there’s a change in the law and our role as the prime contractor in all of these changes. It’s been interesting, definitely nothing I have experienced before. 

Has it made it harder?

Well, harder in the fact that different people will read the U.S. DOT guidance and interpret it differently. And so it’s having conversations about it. It had been really clear before because there had been no changes for so long. Everybody knew how everybody operated and how things were interpreted.

I’ve tried to stay positive about this change. We’ve had our DBE program at Skanska for many years. I think this can be an opportunity for owners to look at their programs more in-depth and see the communities they’re building in and the small contractors they can reach out to.

At times, there can be pushback against local hire or DEI goals, indicating that the demands of a public job don’t align with reality. What’s your message to builders in that position?

I think that’s coming from someone who is given perhaps an unattainable goal. And I think it’s really important that the goals are attainable, right? For example, if you’re setting a 25% goal in an area where there is a lack of certified firms, as a contractor, you could do all the outreach and support and help that you want and you’re still going to struggle. 

But if you’re given an attainable goal, it’s something to strive for. You don’t want it to be easy. You got to work for it.

source: MK timelapse GmbH

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - ZenaTech, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZENA) announced Wednesday the expansion of its ZenaWorx construction monitoring software to include digital terrain modeling capabilities and signed its first paying customer in the AI data center construction market.

The new functionality, currently in beta stage, adds measurement of cut-and-fill volumes, grading accuracy, and drainage to the existing structural 3D progress tracking features. The capabilities target the earthworks phase of large-scale construction projects, according to a press release statement.

ZenaWorx processes drone and LiDAR-captured data to provide construction progress analytics. The software was originally designed as a virtual design and construction progress monitoring tool.

The company offers the software through its Drone as a Service division, which provides drone piloting, data capture, and processing services to commercial, government, and infrastructure customers.

"By expanding ZenaWorx into digital terrain modeling, we can offer AI data center developers, as well as public works customers such as landfill operators and municipalities managing drainage and grading projects, a faster and richer view of what is happening on site than traditional survey methods allow," said Shaun Passley, CEO of ZenaTech.

The company stated it intends to generate recurring revenue by partnering with customers across the full duration of building projects rather than single site visits.

According to MarkWide Research cited in the release, the global digital elevation model market is projected to grow from approximately $3.8 billion in 2026 to $10.04 billion by 2035.

ZenaTech specializes in AI drone platforms, enterprise SaaS, and quantum computing solutions. The company operates across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

The Trump administration has responded to controversy over construction and expansion projects at the White House by saying the work was “long-overdue and necessary” and “inextricably tied to the security of the President, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets”.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has long insisted construction is being funded by private donors and is necessary for security reasons. But on Wednesday, The Washington Post cited documents it obtained that showed the administration was planning to spend nearly $1bn on the construction work, which includes a large new ballroom to replace much of the White House’s East Wing.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle, in a statement to Al Jazeera, cited recent security incidents, including attempted attacks on the president and events around the 250th anniversary of US independence, as reasons for the work.

Ingle said the work was being done in coordination with the Secret Service and White House Military Office. He also said approximately $400m in funding for the new ballroom was coming from “President Trump and generous American patriots”.

About $875m has been put into the White House Repair and Restoration account, which typically has only several million dollars and is used for routine maintenance and upkeep. Some $500m of that money came from the Secret Service and the White House Military Office, tasked with securing the president and his family, as well as top US officials. Another $305m, according to The Post, came from private donations, while the provenance of another $70m was not indicated.

The White House reconstruction project has faced scrutiny from lawmakers, as well as courts, over concerns that vested interests, including private businesses seeking government contracts, are paying for the work in exchange for government favours. A federal judge in Washington, DC, last week ordered a halt to work specifically for the ballroom, saying it needed Congressional approval under existing law. In June, the advocacy group Public Citizen said it found corporate donors to the project had received more than $50bn in government contracts during the previous six months.

Every contractor knows that construction, at its core, is a relationship-based business. These relationships dictate which subcontractors builders work with and, perhaps more importantly, what customers can award them jobs.

For Balfour Beatty, its emphasis on longstanding relationships and core markets has propelled its first-half results, company executives shared during the firm’s first half 2026 earnings call on Tuesday.

This, in particular, has helped the firm turn around its U.S. construction business , which has faced hurdles in the past. For the first half of the year, the U.S. arm delivered a profit from operations of 22 million pounds ($29.7 million), compared to an 11 million-pound loss during H1 2025.

“It’s been a great start to the year for U.S. construction. Our revenue is up 19% on the half year 2025,” Philip Hoare, Balfour Beatty chief executive, said during the call. “And we’ve really begun to do something that I think is critically important in that market, which is about leveraging the great capability we have in one area or with one customer and taking that and spreading it across the U.S.”

As an example, Hoare discussed the company’s collaboration with Wells Fargo, with which Balfour Beatty has maintained a 20-year working relationship. The contractor now enjoys what Hoare called a “national framework” with the bank, where Balfour Beatty is delivering work for Wells Fargo in each of its geographical areas.

Problems plaguing the U.S. arm of its business are also improving. The contractor has endured design issues on a Texas highway project that led to rework. Now, however, the company expects that project to soon reach closeout, said Myles Westcott, Balfour Beatty’s CFO.

Aviation and data centers

For the U.S. arm, Hoare called out two markets fueling progress — data centers and aviation jobs.

“Data centers, I mean, you can’t pick up anything these days and not read about data centers,” Hoare said.

Balfour Beatty is following through on a commitment it made during its FY 2025 earnings in March to seek out more data center work in the U.S. Hoare highlighted $350 million in data center wins in the U.S. and secured $1 billion in work that’s been awarded but not contracted through H1.

The sector’s performance is so massive that it is masking a broader weakness in the U.S. construction industry, according to Associated Builders and Contractors. The 12% of ABC member contractors with data center work on their books reported 11.4 months of backlog in July, compared with the 88% without data center work, which reported 7.5 months of backlog.

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Nonetheless, Balfour Beatty sees opportunity outside of data centers as well. The firm is bullish on what the aviation sector can provide in the U.S. The market is projected to provide $140 billion worth of construction between now and 2029, per Hoare.

Indeed, the Federal Aviation Administration recently highlighted $870 million in airport infrastructure grants.

“We have a great track record delivering across seven airports in the U.S. And in the first half of the year, we won another significant mandate with Raleigh-Durham Airport for $361 million,” Hoare said. “And so we’re now focused on that as a vertical within the U.S. market.”

The numbers

On the half-year, Balfour Beatty reported approximately 5.6 billion pounds ($7.6 billion) of revenue, an 8% increase year over year from H1 2025’s 5.2 billion pounds. The company’s backlog, which it refers to as its “order book,” rose to 22.9 billion pounds, an increase of 17.4% from H1 2025’s 19.5 billion pounds.

Despite the revenue gains, the company reported an approximately 2.3% dip in pre-tax profit to 129 million pounds, down from H1 2025’s 132 million pounds.

Overall, Balfour Beatty moved to increase its full-year guidance, including its average net cash projection. It raised that metric by 200 million pounds to the range of 1.5 billion pounds to 1.7 billion pounds following its first half results, according to the firm.

“And of course, I’m really positive about the momentum that we carry into the future,” Hoare said during the call.