The amount of information an owner, agent, or engineer/architect may need to know about a building can be extensive. Fortunately a number of websites and online databases makes it much easier to find property data than it was just a few years ago. For instance, to find a building's block and lot number you once had [...]
February is right around the corner, and in addition to Groundhog's Day, Valentine's Day, President's Day, and this year, Leap Day, add one more date to the calendar: February 21. That's the day of the first filing deadline for the 7th Cycle of Local Law 11/98 (now known as the Facade Inspection and Safety Program, [...]
New York City has nearly one million buildings (975,000 by the DOB’s count), many of them prewar constructions with historic features that require regular maintenance and repair to guard against the ravages of time and weather. Yet for New York City teens and young adults, there are few opportunities to learn the skills necessary for [...]
Rand was recently hired to oversee an exterior restoration and roof replacement program at 901 Broadway, which the New York Observer called “one of the most architecturally unique buildings still standing in Manhattan.” Built in 1870, the five-story building—the first iron-framed building in New York City—has an ornate cast-iron facade, a turret, and a slate [...]
New PEs: Dave Brijlall, James Kelley We are happy to announce that two more of our staff members are joining the ranks of Professional Engineers. Dave Brijlall, a project engineer on Rand’s Mechanical team, and James Kelley, a senior structural design engineer on our Structural team, recently passed their Professional Engineering exams and will soon [...]
Crain's New York Business recently announced its top 50 Best Places to Work in New York City, and as the President of Rand, I'm happy to say we came in at number 11. We've made the list four years in a row now, so we're pretty sure it's not a fluke. Rand was also the [...]
Before you and your building settle in for a long winter's nap, be sure you've submitted your property's benchmarking report. Quick refresher: Under New York City's Local Law 84/09, owners of properties larger than 50,000 square feet are required to submit their building's energy use (electricity, gas, and fuel oil or steam) every year. The [...]
I recently had the pleasure of visiting a fifth-grade class at the Bloomingdale School (P.S. 145) on West 105th Street in Manhattan and talking to the students about what it's like to be a "real life architect." The students participate in Keeping the Past for the Future, an architecture and preservation appreciation course offered at [...]
As the wife of Rand's president, I have been around building construction in New York City for more than 25 years and appreciate the energy and vitality of urban revitalization. So when our new neighbors decided to gut renovate the dilapidated brownstone next door, I was thrilled. Since I work at home, I volunteered to [...]
With the recent storms and heavy rains, my Rand coworkers and I have been extra busy conducting leakage evaluations. To assist us in our investigations, we've been incorporating infrared technology. An infrared camera has a sensor that detects temperature differences in the area being photographed and shows them as different colors. When water evaporates it [...]