UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State will host two concurrent conferences as part of the 2016 Industry Education Week March 1-3 at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel.
The 24th annual Housing and Land Development Conference is a two-day event that provides information and updates on issues of interest to the residential construction industry.
Wednesday (March 2) will focus on issues related to housing structures and their systems. Participants can choose from one of three tracks: design, construction or building codes. These sessions are intended for builders, remodelers, code officials, design professionals, educators and factory-built housing manufacturers.
The keynote speaker is Tim McDonald, president of Onion Flats, an architectural firm based in Philadelphia.
Thursday (March 3) will focus on land development, water management and site design via two tracks: construction and design, followed by a plenary session. Thursday’s sessions are geared toward builders, contractors, design professionals, developers, engineers, planners and regulatory officials.
The keynote speaker is Jennifer Orr from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Participants may attend one or both days of the conference and all training qualifies for continuing education. Groups of eight or more receive a special rate.
The third biennial Residential Building Design and Construction Conference (RBDCC) provides a forum for builders, design professionals, educators, manufacturers and researchers to discuss their research findings and state-of-the-art and innovative projects related to residential buildings, and to share the latest advancements in the field. This conference will focus on various types of residential buildings including single- and multi-family dwellings, mid-rise and high-rise residential buildings, factory-built and modular housing, dormitories and hotels/motels.
Conference presentations are based on submitted abstracts and peer-reviewed papers.
The RBDCC will have two keynote speakers.
Tedd Benson, author and founder of Bensonwood, a sustainable custom builder based in Walpole, New Hampshire, will present “The 21st Century Craft of Sustainable Homebuilding: Culture, Technology and Methods Toward a Better Way to Design and Build.”
John Straube, a principal of Building Science Laboratories/Building Science Consulting Inc. and a professor of building science in the School of Architecture and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo, will present “Building Science: The Foundation of Future Residential Building Design and Practice.”
Industry Education Week is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center, and supported by the Pennsylvania Builders Association, the Builders Association of Central Pennsylvania, PABCO, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and the Pennsylvania Construction Codes Academy.
For more information or to register for either conference, visit http://www.phrc.psu.edu/Conferences/2016-PHRC-Industry-Education-Week-General-Info.