This week, the AIA announced the nine recipients of the 2010 AIA Young Architects Award. The prize recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the profession early in their careers.

The New York Times is reporting that Testwell Laboratories owner and CEO V. Reddy Kancharla tried to commit suicide last week, two days after being convicted of falsifying concrete mix reports and filing them with the city.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom this week laid out a local stimulus plan that, if approved by the always unstable board of supervisors, would speed up four pending residential construction projects that have been held up due to the economy and city regulations.

The value of new construction starts slipped 1% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $419.3 billion, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $405.0 billion, new construction starts in November dropped 9% from the previous month, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

New York, N.Y. – November 20, 2009 – The value of new construction starts climbed 12% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $447.6 billion, it was reported by McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies. The upward push came from double-digit gains for nonresidential building and nonbuilding construction (public works and electric utilities). At the same time, residential building in October was unchanged from its September pace. Through the first ten months of 2009, total construction on an unadjusted basis came in at $350.1 billion, down 29% from the same period a year ago.