HGTV Stars Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt Unveil 2026 Smart Home Prototype in Orlando
HGTV personalities Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt designed the 2026 HGTV Smart Home in Orlando, Florida, integrating the latest home‑automation technology. The couple, however, are ineligible to enter the contest that will award the fully furnished home to a viewer.
JE Dunn Launches Offsite Manufacturing Arm
JE Dunn has created Form Off‑Site Solutions, an off‑site manufacturing subsidiary that will produce metal, wood, building‑skin, and multi‑trade assemblies. The unit offers end‑to‑end services from product planning and design through engineering, fabrication, shipping and logistics. Leveraging five years of...
New Survey Reveals Overwhelmingly Optimistic Results on the Use of AI in Construction
A CMiC‑Dodge survey of more than 6,000 construction firms found that 87% of contractors believe artificial intelligence will have a meaningful impact on the industry. Respondents expect AI to cut time on repetitive tasks (85%), improve decision‑making (over 70%) and...
UK to Require 62,000 New Rapid Chargers by 2030 to Meet EV Demand
Knight Frank’s latest report warns that the UK will need an extra 62,000 rapid EV chargers by 2030, requiring roughly 1,900 acres of land. The country’s electric‑vehicle fleet is expected to swell to 7.6 million vehicles, representing about 20% of all...
UK Real Estate Software Development Companies
The United Kingdom has emerged as Europe’s premier PropTech hub, fueled by strong venture capital, a deep talent pool, and a mature real‑estate market. London and other cities host a growing roster of startups and development firms that build digital...
Digital Realty Pledges S$7 Billion Investment in Singapore, Including New Data Centers
Digital Realty announced a near S$7 billion (US$5.48 bn) investment plan for Singapore, with more than S$4.3 billion (US$3.37 bn) earmarked for new data‑center projects. The company already operates three facilities—SIN10, SIN11 and SIN12—providing 925,000 sq ft of colocation space and 70 MW of capacity. Singapore’s long‑standing...
CMBS Delinquencies Hit 7.55% in March, Matching Pandemic Peaks
TREPP's March CMBS report shows the delinquency rate climbing to 7.55%, the highest level since COVID‑19. The surge is driven by lodging, office and multifamily loans, with $5.1 bn of new delinquencies and $2 bn concentrated in the five largest loans, underscoring...
The Housing Market Is More Fragmented Than Ever—Here’s a New Way To Understand the Data
Realtor.com unveiled the Market Clock, a visual tool that maps buyer‑seller dynamics across the United States on a 12‑hour clockface. While the national market sits at a balanced‑cooling 3 o’clock, the top 50 metros are split—26% are seller’s markets, 16% buyer’s,...
Beyond Facility Surveillance: The Rise of the AI ‘Video Supervisor’
Facility managers are shifting from passive video recording to AI‑driven “video supervisors” that can interpret visual data in real time. Advances in video language models from firms like Google and OpenAI enable cloud‑based analytics that replace costly edge hardware while...
Qonic Introduces Native Drawing Generation
Qonic’s April 2026 update adds native drawing generation to its browser‑based BIM platform, letting architects and engineers create fully annotated floor plans and sections directly from BIM or IFC models. The tool automatically adds dimensions, room tags and other annotations,...
Is PropTech The Real Solution for Housing Affordability? Insights From Tyler Ashby, Partner at GroundBreak Ventures
In this episode, hosts Aaron Cameron and Adam Pawatik interview Tyler Ashby, a partner at Groundbreak Ventures, about the role of PropTech in tackling housing affordability. Ashby explains his transition from construction engineering to venture capital, the origins and focus...
Peruvian Entrepreneur Profits From Drone Facade Cleaning
Peruvian Entrepreneur Earns Big with #Drone-Powered Building Facade Cleaning by @Arcfunmi #EmergingTech #Technology #Innovation https://t.co/H1RK3w55G5
AI Adoption in Construction: A UK Practitioner’s View
Chris Brady, a veteran construction professional, has turned AI consultancy into his core business through Metrix and related ventures. He shows that AI can accelerate tendering, quoting and reporting, allowing firms to handle more work without cutting staff. His bottom‑up...
AI Impersonation Is Exposing a Regulatory Gap in Real Estate Platforms
Proptech platforms have accelerated digital real‑estate transactions, but they expose a regulatory blind spot as AI‑driven impersonation scams become more convincing. Cybercriminals use generative AI to forge emails, documents, and voice messages that appear to come from trusted brokers, lawyers,...
First-of-Its-Kind 24/7 Robotic Kitchen Doubles Peak Dining Capacity at WellSpan York Hospital in Just 400sf
WellSpan Health has launched Fresh Take Eatery, a 400‑sq‑ft AI‑driven robotic kitchen at its York Hospital. The system, built with RoboEatz and ABB Robotics, can operate 24/7, store 80 fresh ingredients and prepare hundreds of customized meals on demand. By...
ICON Deploys Titan 3D Printer for Multi‑Story Construction, Offering $20/Sq Ft Walls
ICON unveiled its Titan 3D printer, capable of printing walls up to 27 feet high at roughly $20 per square foot, and opened the system to external builders. The move could slash wall‑construction costs by 40% and deliver a 2,500‑sq‑ft home...
New Link-Up Aims to Streamline Lettings – Here’s How
HomeLet and Let Alliance have linked their Vision+ tenancy management platform with the Street.co.uk CRM, enabling letting agents to share property, landlord and tenant data across both systems. The integration eliminates manual data entry, cuts error risk, and allows agents...
Rightmove Updates Tools for Letting Agents Ahead of Renters’ Rights Act
Rightmove is upgrading its Tenancy Manager and the Rightmove Plus dashboard to help letting agents meet the new Renters’ Rights Act requirements. The Tenancy Manager now produces compliant tenancy agreements, notifies existing tenants of changes, and updates referencing criteria after the...
Thailand: Smart Structural Innovations for Earthquake Resilience
Thailand is accelerating smart‑disaster initiatives after a 7.7‑magnitude quake rattled Bangkok and caused a high‑rise collapse. The Structural Engineers Association of Thailand (ASETDA) partnered with government and private firms to launch an Earthquake Monitoring and Building Occupant Alert System that...
Small Business Builders Scale
Peggy Smedley interviews Steve Yates, CEO of Buildxact, about the fast‑changing construction sector and how small‑business builders can scale with limited resources. Yates highlights cloud‑based software that streamlines estimating, quoting, and project tracking, turning data into actionable insights. He also...
Bobyard AI Revolutionizes Construction Productivity and Trade Support
Michael is building Bobyard, one of my favorite AI platforms and new high-growth companies. Really cool to see what’s now possible to support the trades, and increase productivity in construction.
Recycling Heat In Data Centers
Data center workloads are surging, tripling U.S. power demand over the past decade and set to double or triple again by 2028. The resulting thermal output, especially from AI‑driven, high‑density racks, is prompting facility leaders to shift from merely rejecting...
Homeowners Prioritize Functionality, Multigenerational Spaces and AI in 2026 Renovations
Block Renovation’s How America Renovates 2026 report finds 42% of homeowners say the economy influences their plans, yet 38% will absorb higher costs and continue. The study highlights a shift toward functional, multigenerational homes and a surge in AI‑assisted design.
Proof's Trust Ledger Processes Over $643 B in Real‑Estate Deals, $151 B in 2025 Alone
Proof announced that its blockchain‑based Trust Ledger has secured more than $643 billion in real‑estate transactions, including $151 billion in 2025. The surge reflects growing demand for AI‑resistant identity verification as fraudsters target high‑value property deals.
Startups Are Everywhere in Construction. Builders Want Them to Meet the Moment.
Construction productivity has lagged far behind other sectors, with McKinsey reporting only 0.4% annual gains from 2000‑2022. Builders are now adopting technologies—AI, autonomous equipment, and digital invoicing—to close the gap, and many are partnering with later‑stage startups to customize solutions....
In Conversation with Rudolf Erasmus
Rudolf Erasmus, Hardware Manager at Reliable Controls, highlighted the company’s push into millimeter‑wave occupancy detection and single‑pair Ethernet for long‑range, high‑speed building automation. He emphasized the RC‑FLEX controller line’s ability to log every object, unlocking deeper analytics, early‑issue detection, and...
Conxai Secures €5M to Deploy Agentic No‑Code AI Across Construction Projects
Conxai, the Munich‑based construction‑AI startup, announced a €5 million funding round led by Earlybird, Pi Labs, noa and Zacua Ventures. The capital will expand its no‑code, agentic AI platform that automates reporting, document processing and site‑level monitoring for architecture, engineering and...
Most Owners Willing to Insure Less of Their Property to Cut Costs: Nationwide
Nationwide’s 2026 survey of commercial‑real‑estate owners reveals a growing willingness to trim coverage in order to curb soaring insurance premiums. More than half of respondents said they would consider insuring less of their property, up 13 points from the previous...
Finova Broker Payments Partners with MBT for Brokers
Finova Broker Payments, the mortgage club known for competitive procuration fees, announced a partnership with Mortgage Broker Tools (MBT). The agreement grants Finova members an exclusive 20% discount on MBT’s affordability and criteria research platform. MBT currently serves more than...
A New Model Lets Real Estate Professionals Own a Stake in AI Disruption
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the $600 trillion global real‑estate ecosystem, automating valuation, deal sourcing, tenant screening and market analysis. Miami‑based World Property Ventures (WPV) is launching a venture‑studio model that builds, funds, scales and fully owns AI‑driven platforms ranging from...
Planon Lists Its IWMS in AWS Marketplace, for Centralized Procurement with Full Control of Security
Planon announced that its Integrated Workplace Management Solution (IWMS) is now listed on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace, allowing organizations to purchase and renew the software directly through the cloud marketplace. The move offers centralized procurement, the ability to...
3,100 Petitioners Oppose American Tower’s Charlotte Data Center
"American Tower is trying to rezone 58 acres it owns in east Charlotte, North Carolina, to build a data center. Over 3,100 people have signed a petition to stop it." https://t.co/gnUaNeJvX7 via @steelintheair
HGTV Rolls Out $1.3 Million Orlando Smart Home, Launches Nationwide Sweepstake
HGTV announced the 2026 Smart Home, a 3,000‑sq‑ft resort‑style property in Orlando valued at over $1.3 million. The sweepstakes, running April 21‑June 19, offers the winner the home plus $100,000 in cash, positioning the network at the forefront of smart‑home trends.
ServiceChannel Unveils AI‑First Operating System for Facilities Management
ServiceChannel has launched ServiceChannel AI, an AI‑first operating system that embeds artificial intelligence into its core facilities‑management platform. The tool automates work‑order routing, blocks escalations and promises faster issue resolution for retail, hospitality and other enterprise‑scale portfolios.
Digible Teams with Engrain to Bring All‑In Pricing to Multifamily Ads
Digible, a leading multifamily marketing agency, and Engrain, a data‑visualization platform, announced an integration that feeds all‑in rent and fee data into paid media. The move gives renters clearer cost information and helps operators meet emerging transparency rules while preserving...
Construction Has a Data-to-Decision Problem
New research by Newcastle University’s DICE Lab, based on interviews with 14 leading UK contractors, finds that despite widespread adoption of digital twins and dashboards, construction firms still make decisions at the project level rather than enterprise‑wide. The study identifies...
How Getting Landlords Into (Heat Pump) Hot Water Can Get Tenants Out of High Gas Bills
The article proposes a budget‑time lever that would let Australian landlords claim an instant, full depreciation on heat‑pump hot‑water systems, replacing gas units. Gas‑tank hot water costs roughly AU$600 (≈US$396) per year, while an instant‑gas system runs about AU$400 (≈US$264);...
Barratt Redrow Targets Circularity Boost with Materials Exchange
Barratt Redrow, the UK’s largest housebuilder, has rolled out the Nexus ReGen materials‑exchange platform across its national portfolio. The system’s Project DataPoint feature will capture heavy‑construction material data, enabling consistent reuse, waste reduction, and compliance reporting. Deployment begins this month, with...
Mappedin Secures $24.5 Million Series B to Scale City‑Wide Indoor Mapping
Kitchener‑Waterloo‑based Mappedin announced a $24.5 million Series B on April 7, 2026, led by Edison Partners and Betatron Venture Group. The funding, which closed in December 2025, is earmarked for city‑scale indoor mapping and deeper integration with safety and public‑venue platforms. The...
MultiTech Ships a Niagara Driver to Bring LoRaWAN Sensor Onboarding Into Building Automation Workflows
MultiTech unveiled a Tridium Niagara driver that lets building teams add and manage LoRaWAN sensors from within the Niagara Framework. The driver bypasses traditional middleware, custom APIs, and MQTT pipelines by delivering sensor data as normalized points ready for control...
Arcol Helps SERA Architects Boost Collaboration
SERA Architects adopted Arcol, a cloud‑based BIM 2.0 platform, to streamline its 80‑acre mixed‑use master planning project. The firm replaced a fragmented workflow that relied on SketchUp, Rhino, Revit, spreadsheets, and static PDFs with a single, real‑time, multi‑user environment. Designers...
This Program Pays Nonprofits to Take the Time to Consider Solar
The Solar Upgrading Nonprofits (SUN) program, backed by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and Resonant Energy, offers nonprofits financial stipends and technical assistance to evaluate solar projects before the federal Investment Tax Credit expires. In its first 2025 round, SUN...
Earthquake‑ and Hurricane‑Proof Micro Home with AI & Solar
#WhatsNext? This micro home is earthquake and hurricane proof. Comes with an #AI assistant and solar panel if you wish. (GigGadgets) #Innovation https://t.co/1a2sJDwbku
Renters’ Rights Act: Tech Steps up to Help Agents Adapt and Comply
The UK Renters’ Rights Act will overhaul tenancy structures, rent‑review rules and tenant‑request processes across the private rented sector. MRI Software is rolling out platform upgrades—including bulk conversion to periodic tenancies, a centralised rent‑review dashboard, digital pet‑request workflows, and timestamped...
Housing the Bay Summit 2026
The Terner Center and ULI San Francisco are hosting the Housing the Bay Summit on April 15, 2026, from 12:30‑6:00 pm PT in San Francisco. The event will examine how technology influences construction costs, the role of homeownership in building generational...
Fast-Growing European PropTech Eyes UK Estate Agency Market
European PropTech firm Nodalview is launching in the UK, opening a London office to serve the country’s more than 20,000 estate‑agency branches. The Belgian‑founded company, which has raised over €10 million (about $11 million) from investors such as PROfounders Capital, offers AI‑powered...
Real Estate Agents Will Pay You $3,000/Month for A.I Systems (And Thank You For It)
Real‑estate agents in the U.S. number about 1.6 million, each closing roughly ten deals a year and earning $49,000 on average. They spend 40% of their time on administrative tasks, which slows lead response and reduces sales. A subscription‑based AI platform...
Low-TFA Refrigerants: A Future-Ready Solution for Chillers and Heat Pumps
Facility owners are confronting tighter carbon‑emission and PFAS regulations, prompting a shift toward low‑TFA refrigerants. R‑444A, a composite blend of R‑1234ze, R‑32 and R‑152a, delivers negligible trifluoroacetic acid formation and a GWP below 150, satisfying emerging policy thresholds. Performance tests...
AI Will Not Save Your Hotel, But It Will Decide What Hospitality Means Next
Hospitality’s long‑running digital transformation has optimized processes but failed to reshape guest experience. AI is now forcing hotels to question why existing workflows exist, shifting focus from efficiency to anticipatory service. Early adopters like Hilton and Marriott use AI to...
Smart Cooling Solutions: Air Conditioning Installation London for Modern Living
London is experiencing hotter summers and more frequent heatwaves, turning air‑conditioning from a luxury into a necessity for homes and businesses. Professional installation is critical to maintain system efficiency, avoid higher energy bills, and comply with UK safety regulations. Modern...