On site: Digging into National Geographic’s museum build

HITT Contracting leaned heavily on design-assist and digital modeling to integrate systems across four historic buildings for the Museum of Exploration.

School facility governance standard aims to improve fairness, boost rental revenue

An executive with rental platform Facilitron says some larger districts forgo millions through outdated, inconsistently enforced policies.

Axiom Cloud touts integrations to boost refrigerant leak management tech

A new web portal aims to break down walls between refrigerant tracking and maintenance systems with AI to help operators streamline work order management and meet compliance.

Healthy buildings offer bottom-line benefits to building owners, report finds

Improved ventilation, lighting and thermal comfort can provide more than $50 per square foot in productivity gains and support rent premiums, the International WELL Building Institute says. 

How better workflow helped FM get ahead of maintenance

By automating routine work and giving each technician visibility into project status, the facilities chief for a 13,000-student school district has been able to keep older equipment running smoothly.

Clean energy jobs grew in 2024 but face policy threats: E2

Clean energy job growth outpaced overall employment growth and the rest of the energy sector in 2024.

Using CMMS to get ahead of Legionella risk

By tracking changes in bacteria levels before they reach critical levels, facility managers can reduce exposure, a facility software executive says.

Trane AI tools aim to address outdated systems, labor shortage

AI Control and ARIA can reduce heating and cooling energy use up to 25% and carbon emissions up to 40% while making it easier for operators to troubleshoot maintenance issues, the company says.

Facility managers on front lines amid rise in building-control cyber threats

Bad actors are targeting weak links, such as third-party vendors, to get into operational systems. Building operators can reduce vulnerability by working in concert with security teams, a tech specialist says.

Schneider co-develops 2 reference designs to optimize ‘AI factories’

The designs build on Schneider’s investments in liquid cooling infrastructure and previous work with NVIDIA on data center design and digital-twin simulations.

All-electric firehouse and net-zero police station help Charlotte, N.C., meet climate goals

The city invested $36 million to build the facilities, which align emergency response with an ambitious strategic energy initiative.

Plan for lower water temperatures when replacing traditional HVAC systems with heat pumps

Fossil fuel-based systems supply water at higher temperatures than heat pumps. Operators that want to electrify their systems must look at coil sizes, piping and other elements, specialists say.

How FMs can more accurately report ESG-friendly furniture decommissions

EPA’s waste reduction model understates emissions reductions from furniture reuse. To show a more meaningful value, facility managers should request lifecycle assessments from suppliers.

As workplace incidents rise, so do panic button laws

A security CEO touts the versatility and privacy protections that can be part of an alert system.

Buildings are key to resilient cooling strategy, report says

Reducing building reliance on high-emissions energy sources is one part of cities’ ability to address extreme heat and rising energy costs, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

Johnson Controls launches scalable coolant distribution unit for data centers

The platform stems from a collaboration with partners in the hyperscale, colocation and semiconductor industries, a company executive said last week.

CenterPoint Energy courts Minnesota communities for networked geothermal pilot

The utility is hoping to prove to local governments that such decarbonization efforts can meet residents’ energy needs in a cold-weather climate.

California lawmakers pass bill to expand manufacturing decarbonization projects

The bill would make thermal energy storage and industrial heat pumps eligible for financial incentives under various state programs.

AI can aid building energy retrofit decisions, but faces limitations: study

Large language models can deliver results in technical optimization tasks but struggle with payback optimization, researchers at Michigan State University say.

What it takes for a mall to be ‘evergreen’

Do enclosed mid-tier malls need expensive renovations — or do they just have to be good enough?

San Francisco reform seeks an end to building project ‘death by a thousand cuts’

Mayor Daniel Lurie’s latest permitting reform package loosens restrictions on historic buildings, reduces fees and clears the path for accessory dwelling units in the city.

Life sciences markets hit vacancy rate highs, deflating rents

Landlords are offering concessions like free rent and improvement allowances as rents fall, but the space still commands a premium over office space, Cushman & Wakefield says.

AI-assisted camera data hovers at the edge of biometric privacy

Capturing security images isn’t the same as capturing people’s biometric data but a risk manager thinks it’s close enough that disclosing what you’re doing is a good idea.

Energy prices are soaring. Better buildings can help.

Cutting off clean energy sources while demand for AI skyrockets will spike energy prices. Energy efficiency is a solution for reducing grid loads while reducing the need for expensive infrastructure investment.

DOL moves to repeal independent contractor rule

A recently released agenda flags the removal of the Biden-era regulation, itself a replacement for guidance from the first Trump administration.