CEOs Announce Commitment to Promote Resilient Planning and Building Materials

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Washington, D.C. – May 15, 2014 – (RealEstateRama) — Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) joined leaders of America’s design and construction industry – along with building owners and operators – today in pledging to promote resilience in contemporary planning, building materials, design, construction and operational techniques as the solution to making the nation’s aging infrastructure more safe and secure.

CEOs of almost two-dozen leading design and construction industry associations with more than 700,000 members generating almost $1 trillion in GDP today used the occasion of “Building Safety Month” to issue a joint statement on resilience, which can be found here. The statement was unveiled at a press conference at the National Building Museum, where a major exhibition titled Designing for Disaster presents design and building solutions for disaster mitigation, opened May 11.

“We recognize that natural and manmade hazards pose an increasing threat to the safety of the public and the vitality of our nation,” reads the statement, in part. “We further recognize that contemporary planning, building materials, design, construction and operational techniques can make our communities more resilient to these threats.”

The CEOs committed their design and construction sector organizations to significantly improve the resilience of the nation’s entire built environment through research into new materials, construction procedures and other methods to improve the standard of practice. Among other things, they also committed the industry to educating itself through continuous learning; to advocating for effective land use policies; to responding to disasters alongside first responders; and to planning for future events, with a strategy for fast recovery.

In addition to ABC, here is a list of organizations signing onto the joint statement on resilience:

American Council of Engineering Companies
American Planning Association
American Society of Civil Engineers
American Society of Interior Designers
American Society of Landscape Architects
American Society of Plumbing Engineers
ASHRAE
Associated General Contractors of America
Building Owners and Managers Association
International Code Council
International Interior Design Association
Lean Construction Institute
National Association of Home Builders
National Institute of Building Sciences International Facility Management Association
National Society of Professional Engineers
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
Urban Land Institute
U.S. Green Building Council

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Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national construction industry trade association representing nearly 21,000 chapter members. Founded on the merit shop philosophy, ABC and its 70 chapters help members develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically, profitably and for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work.

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