The Future of Construction and Energy Compliance - Arizona and Nevada
Arizona and Nevada are among the states with the nation’s highest growth percentage of construction jobs. Arizona’s construction industry was amongst one of the highest growing jobs since 2018. Some notable projects underway in the Grand Canyon State include the LGE Design Build headquarters in Phoenix, Orbital and Intel campuses in Chandler and the Azure Mesa memory care facility. Year-to-year, the construction industry added 14,800 jobs, or about 10.2%, to the jobs market, which is tops in the nation based on a percentage increase.
One of the biggest projects to hit Arizona of this year in construction has been for Intel. Equipment showed up and prepared a site for two new chip factories at the end of 2021, Intel Fab 52 and Fab 62, at Intel Corp.’s Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona. The project’s $20-billion price tag is the largest private-sector investment to date in Arizona history. As a building’s environmental impact is largely determined by upfront decisions, energy codes present a unique opportunity to assure savings through efficient building design, technologies, and construction practices. Once a building is constructed, it is significantly more expensive to retrofit and achieve higher efficiency levels. Energy codes ensure that a building’s energy use is included as a fundamental part of the design and construction process and making this early investment in energy efficiency pay dividends to owners and occupants for years to come.
Construction is proving to be a reliable source of employment growth in every state, and contractors are eager to hire even more workers. Finding employees has proven to be a challenge for some companies and according to the AGC, Arizona has gained more construction jobs than any other state as far as percentages go. Nevada is fourth in percentages increase over the same time. New Mexico also posted a strong year-to-year percentage gain, ranking No. 11 in the nation. In spite of the pandemic, the construction industry in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico strengthened in 2021 and the total pandemic-impact for 2020 still brought in $5.19 billion. Alot of their success is directed to the Governor [Doug] Ducey, he declared the construction industry as essential during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the public and private clients took this momentum into 2021, which was also an excellent year for all sectors of the industry.
What about Nevada? In terms of utilizing renewable energy, Nevada is on board, they adopted the new renewables energy standard back in 2018 and construction employment has been up, due to manufacturing increases in Nevada year-over-year, 6,400 jobs, or 7.2%. The percentage increase is fourth in the nation, trailing only Arizona, Georgia and Michigan. The Silver State is experiencing a boom in major sporting, transportation, casino and commerce projects, including in its biggest city: Las Vegas Raiders Stadium, Las Vegas Convention Center expansion project, Resorts World International and a Sephora Warehouse. Even the iconic 'Welcome To Las Vegas' sign built in 1959, has been powered by solar energy since 2014.
Up north in Reno, developers are working on the park Lane project, which will feature residential living, retail, and a boutique hotel. Park Lane is officially no longer the developer of the large, multi-use development and is changing the project’s name to the Reno Experience District. Lyon Living, which partnered with Reno Land Inc. on the project, changed the name last year, probably for a fresh start.
Despite the name change, Suryan says his company is honoring Park Lane’s legacy by building a project that the community will be proud of. The master-planned development will offer a mix of housing, office, and retail spaces. They are using all energy-efficient windows and doors in the 1,300 luxury apartments, a 170-key hotel, more than 70,000 square feet (about 1.66 acres) of retail space, a market hall with a coworking loft, a tech campus that spans 382,000 square feet and a 2-acre park for recreation and fun.
