With affordable housing availability a problem in Hawaii, the state is incentivizing developers to tackle the issue. Hawaii’s cost of electricity for the residential sector is the highest in the nation—currently 2.5 times the national average—so it can be heavy burden on households that are already struggling.When developer Timothy Yi, President of Samkoo Pacific & Samkoo Hawaii, set out to build the 45-story Kapiolani Residence in Honolulu, Hawaii, he wanted to provide an affordable housing option with enhanced functionality and modern design. And part of its affordability had to be keeping utility costs low for residents as well.

In record time, Stantec and Walsh Construction delivered 300 beds for low-acuity patients and moderate-acuity COVID-19 patients to relieve capacity in the City of Chicago’s hospital system. Directed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in association with The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, Environmental Systems Design was brought in for the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, medical cases and fire protection, and Thornton Tomasetti took care of the structural design.Fortunately, the convention center’s large open halls and regularly spaced in-floor utilities—power, data, water and drains—were ideal for setting up bays of patient spaces. Further, in the low

Providing more than 200 beds in less than a month’s time, the two design-build projects involved the renovation of two floors at St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo for non-acute patients and a three-story tower for acute and non-acute patients at St. Anthony’s North in Westminster.“Both projects required a highly responsive, collaborative approach and the commitment of all stakeholders, and design and trade partners to successfully execute in a condensed time frame,” reports Keegan Snow, design phase manager, Mortenson, Denver.To keep pace, the project teams worked to quickly disseminate information to enable efficient design making and worked around the clock w