Last Thursday evening, my colleagues and I had the great honor to attend the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s 27th annual Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards, otherwise known as the “Oscars” of preservation. This year, the ceremony and reception were held…
In September, the NYC Department of Buildings rolled out a new electronic filing system called DOB NOW, which requires building owners and representatives to register with the DOB’s eFiling portal and to file their Facade Inspection Safety Program (Local Law 11/98) reports online.…
Leaks, drafty windows, cracked balconies, loose floorboards, and mold are not things you would expect to see in a newly constructed or newly converted building. Unfortunately, they’re not uncommon in the wake of the country’s building boom over the last…
Before I started at RAND as an intern on the Facade & Roofing Team this summer, I had no idea what a FISP was, or for that matter, half of the things an engineering and architecture firm does. I’m glad…
Over the years, various boards of directors at Parkside Assocation, located at 549 41st Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, resolved to replace the leaky roof of the 89-year-old building. But best intentions aside, they managed only temporary fixes and patchwork repairs.…
A moldy basement, leaking roofs, and oatmeal-like mortar are scary things no one should ever encounter in a newly renovated building. Unfortunately for one cooperative in Harlem, a less than stellar gut renovation, which included a new roof, windows, and joist…
It’s been nearly one year since the 8th Cycle of New York City’s Facade Inspection Safety Program (FISP, formerly called Local Law 11/98) began, and buildings with block numbers ending in 4, 5, 6, or 9 (Subcycle 8A) now have one…
Last month, my colleagues from the Buildings and Construction Authority of Singapore (BCA) and I visited New York City to learn more about the city’s Facade Inspection Safety Program (FISP, formerly known as Local Law 11/98) and to keep abreast…
Most New York City property owners and managers know that NYC Local Law 11/98, now called the Facade Inspection Safety Program (FISP), requires an inspection of a building’s facades every five years. The many aspects of the program, however, are…
Those of us in the engineering and architecture industry in New York City are fully familiar with the Facade Inspection and Safety Program (FISP), formerly known as Local Law 11/98 and in its original form, Local Law 10 But while…
Short-term fixes rarely bring long-term relief, especially when it comes to building maintenance. Case in point: the Kensington House, a 195-unit co-op at 200 West 20th Street in Manhattan, which had been doing patchwork repairs for years in a futile…
Water is a formidable foe, and keeping it from infiltrating a building is a constant battle, as one New Jersey cooperative knows all too well. RAND recently completed a major exterior repair program at Northbridge Park, a 14-story residential co-op…