Wood Works! B.C. has announced the winners of its ninth annual design awards.

Hundreds of construction industry members attended the gala early this month, honouring provincial projects at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Montréal-based Lemay & Associés has been selected to design the Algerian town of Bourouag.

Valued at close to $1 billion, the mixed commercial, institutional, and residential project will become a suburb of Constantine, an historic city in the country. The firm has already been awarded a contract for the city of El-Ménia’s $2.4 billion design and construction.

Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens transformation has earned a World Architecture News (WAN) Retail and Leisure Interior award.

The WAN awards accept global nominations and recognize the best in international design.

Construction Resource Initiatives Council (CRI Council) officially launched Mission 2030, its first major program, in Toronto last month.

The Ottawa-based organization’s Mission 2030 is a global ‘call to action’ for the construction industry. Its aim is to significantly reduce renovation, construction, and demolition waste sent to landfills by the year 2030.

An ASTM International standard has been proposed for the process of reusing returned, new concrete.

ASTM WK39876, Specification for Returned Fresh Concrete for Use in a New Batch of Ready-mixed Concrete, is currently being established by Subcommittee C09.40.

The Canadian Institute of Steel Construction (CISC) has announced the finalists for the 2013 Alberta Steel Design Awards.

Submissions were received from architects, engineers, and CISC members. The winners will be chosen in architectural, engineering, industrial, sustainability, and steel edge categories.

International engineering graduates coming to Canada can now access a one-stop resource for information on becoming licensed in the country.

Engineers Canada, an organization of 12 nationwide associations regulating practice and licensing in the country, has launched Roadmap to Engineering in Canada to assist immigrants seeking engineering licensing and industry information.

According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), 2013 has seen a lower number of housing starts across the country compared to last year.

The decline is attributied to a reported moderation in economic and employment growth throughout the second half of 2012. However, CMHC predicts higher numbers throughout 2014, with increases through the latter half of this year.

Financial plans for Ottawa’s light-rail transit (LRT) line have been finalized, and construction has begun.

The $2.1-billion Confederation Line project is the largest infrastructure undertaking in the city’s history. It includes the construction of 12.5 km (7.7 mi) of track, 13 new transit stations, and a 2.5-km (1.5-mi) long underground tunnel.

American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has proposed changes to its 90.1-2010, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-rise Residential Buildings, regarding automatic lighting controls.

The need to re-evaluate changes to the standard came from design industry members requesting a tabular structure for specifying control requirements.