All Facilities & Grounds Articles
  • Successful leaders in real estate and development embrace these soft skills

    Catherine Iste Construction & Building Materials

    Real estate development and construction project managers excel at multitasking. Impeccable attention to detail, budget adherence and the ability to manage multiple timelines are all fundamental aspects of the job. However, to continue to advance in their fields, real estate leaders need to embrace soft skills as well. Interpersonal and communication skills are essential for successful leaders. In the case of real estate development, what often got us here — the ability to make and implement tough decisions — is not enough to advance.

  • Tips for developing an active shooter response program

    Scott E. Rupp Facilities & Grounds

    "Active shooter on premises" are words that instill terror. However, these incidents seem to permeate the American psyche. Even with seemingly endless reports of these attacks on organizations, many leaders do not organize a plan for how to respond should they be faced with such an event. The most likely reason for this is fear. Even preparing to mitigate against such an event is scary. Unfortunately, active shootings are a reality that organizational leaders and facility managers must prepare for. Individuals must be prepared to manage such an event before law enforcement personnel arrive on the scene.

  • Amazon set to descend on Lakeland, Florida, bringing jobs and planes

    Matt Falcus Transportation Technology & Automotive

    Lakeland’s Linder Airport in central Florida will soon be the focus of large cargo jets and thousands of extra workers after a deal to bring a new Amazon air cargo facility was approved. While the roar of the Blue Eagles and historic piston aircraft at this year’s Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In and Expo were still entertaining the crowds at the airport, the deal to bring Amazon in was entering its final stages.

  • What’s your office’s air pollution level?

    Lisa Mulcahy Facilities & Grounds

    You probably figure you don't need to worry about air pollution unless you're sitting in traffic. Think again — the way you go about daily tasks in your office can actually create unhealthy levels of harmful air, putting you and your team at risk for respiratory diseases and other health issues. What can you do to stop the problem?

  • Travel2020: Puerto Rico welcomes rising wave of tourism 2 years after Hurricane…

    Lark Gould Travel, Hospitality & Event Management

    Puerto Rico is on the rebound. Discover Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico's first-ever Destination Marketing Organization (DMO), recently announced that 2019 Q1 lodging demand is now on par with 2017 Q1 levels just 14 months after Hurricane Maria, signaling an unprecedented pace of recovery for a destination. Discover Puerto Rico set a short-term goal to drive a record pace for recovery and reach pre-Maria levels by the hurricane's two-year anniversary. Based on the 2019 Q1 results, Discover Puerto Rico has achieved this goal much sooner than anticipated, proving itself as one of the Island's first successes of privatization.

  • New York-area pipeline halted, Keystone XL persists

    Michelle R. Matisons Waste Management & Environmental

    Pipelines have become one of the biggest issues in U.S. environmental politics since the 2016 Standing Rock protests against Energy Transfer's Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The main issues opponents raise are groundwater contamination and spills. These concerns can be found across the country, as pipeline opponents in the Northeast recently defeated a 37-mile, $1 billion natural gas project, the Williams Companies’ proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Pipeline. Intended to connect natural gas fields from Pennsylvania through New Jersey to New York, the pipeline application has been rejected on a technicality, citing potential copper and mercury contamination in water.

  • Security cameras in classrooms: The debate continues

    Brian Stack Education

    My suburban New Hampshire high school, home to some 800 students and staff, is not unlike many a high school from coast to coast that has received a variety of security upgrades, including the expansion of our video surveillance network. What once was a limited system with just 10 cameras pointed in the most high-traffic parts of the campus is now a system approaching 100 individual cameras that record and save footage for nearly two months. As expansive as our security camera network is, we have drawn a line in the sand in terms of what footage we record.

  • Before you plan your next trip, take a look at Mobility-as-a-Service

    Bambi Majumdar Transportation Technology & Automotive

    We can't think of life without Netflix. What if there was a Netflix of transportation to change the way we travel? As fantastic as that may sound, it's already happening and we should get ready to sit back and enjoy the ride. A new McKinsey & Company report states that the future of U.S. urban transportation lies in Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). Rapid population growth and expanding urban spaces are leading to increased pollution and road congestion. New-age mobility possibilities can provide some solutions to combat these issues by offering means of alternative transportation.

  • How will US manufacturing be affected by the trade war with China?

    Michelle R. Matisons Manufacturing

    The U.S. trade war with China has heated up, and now there is much speculation about daily life for American manufacturers and their employees. The logic is that higher tariffs on Chinese goods will increase trading with non-tariffed countries, and even better is Trump’s "best idea" of higher tariffs resulting in a logical move to buy American. We are quickly reminded that it’s not so simple to do that. Why not? For one, it’s difficult to find products made with solely U.S. parts.

  • Frankfurt Terminal 3 construction begins with dedicated low-cost carrier…

    Matt Falcus Transportation Technology & Automotive

    Construction has begun on the first phase of the next major expansion at Germany’s largest airport in Frankfurt, which will dramatically increase the airport's capacity, create thousands of new jobs, and a bring boost to the national and regional economies. Terminal 3 has been in the preparation stage for a number of years, with the airside apron and the building’s basement level works already completed. Now, the cornerstone of the above-ground works have been laid by Fraport AG, the airport's operator, and it hopes to have the terminal's first pier in operation within two years.