For years now, we’ve been hearing about the shrinking numbers of skilled craftsmen and construction superintendents as many age out of the workforce and younger folks aren’t coming in the replace them. Sometimes hard problems require creative solutions, and I’m glad to share what I think is a dynamic and viable model. Stewart/Perry is proud …
The U.S. Secretary of Transportation was in Birmingham recently for several reasons, but one that caught my attention was an initiative for changing one-way streets to two-ways. I’ve done some research since that visit, and it seems this makes a lot of sense. One-way streets were created to assist traffic flow, which has obvious benefits, …
A couple of years ago, I mentioned a measurement standard that was new at the time called ESG.This stands for Environmental, Social and Governance, and it considers impacts way beyond just the financial factors. What repercussions might the project or business activities have on the environment? Is it good for the community? And is the …
Last weekend, I saw a 60 Minutes segment featuring MASS Design Group, a non-profit architecture firm with a focus on communities and wholistic design, who gained international notoriety for their work in Rwanda. Their name is familiar to us, as we have been working with them on the initial planning phase of a new project …
Serving on the board of DesignAlabama for the last few years has been a great privilege. The organization is all about purposeful design, making wise choices and thus creating better communities. Each year, we host the Alabama Mayor’s Design Summit, where mayors from 5 moderate size towns or cities come together to discuss a design …
Switch on the tv, and you’ll hear an almost endless stream of negativity. “Our nation has never been more divided,” they say. I have never felt this way about most of the towns and cities where we build, as the changes I’ve seen have been mostly positive. It turns out that there’s whole movement of …
For me, April means two things: The Masters and Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, both extraordinary events started by men with a passion for doing something worthwhile and best in class. (Bobby Jones/Clifford Roberts for the Masters and George Barber for the Indy car event.) My spring is off to a good start because both …
You can hold onto family heirlooms and look through old photo albums, but there might be something about hearing a family voice that really makes memories come alive. Last weekend, my daughter Chappell and I participated in a 40-minute recorded interview hosted by our public radio station. If you’re not familiar with NPR’s Story Corps, the …
This week, I attended the annual year-end dinner and board meeting of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank. The Surgeon General of the U.S., along with the president of the sixth district, spoke about a range of common threads affecting both. Poor health leads to poor economics and good health can lead to good economics. I …
To me, Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) may have a first cousin in the younger generation managers coming online today. These are people who care about ethical framework and community involvement on a deeper level. Gratefully, that’s been part of our corporate culture in different ways over time, and we’ve recently made our efforts more official. …
Over the last few years, we’ve had a number of interns from the Auburn University Urban Studio, and have had success channeling their talent while they hopefully learn a few things along the way. This past year, we decided to up our commitment, and are now involved with the Auburn University CADC Co-Op Program. It’s our …
I recently attended an interesting dinner hosted by Five Loaves as a pop-up at a local bike and coffee shop near by, Woodlawn Cycle Cafe. The food was great and I enjoyed nice conversation with folks I would have probably never met otherwise. Five Loaves is a part of the Urban Avenues initiative, a group here in Birmingham that …