GMS Inc., a leading North American specialty building products distributor, announced today that Leigh Dobbs has been named Chief Human Resources Officer for GMS, effective Sept. 6.

The Fire Protection Research Foundation, the research affiliate of the National Fire Protection Association, is hosting a free “Fire Protection Research Foundation 40th Anniversary Webinar Series” in support of its four decades of facilitating research in support of the fire and life safety community. The two-day series will be held Aug. 24 – 25.

Educating the next generation of designers is a key objective of the NCMA Foundation. Penn State has had an architecture student design competition supported by the Pennsylvania Concrete Masonry Association and the NCMA Foundation for more than 20 years. The competition includes choosing a building program that is conducive to the use of concrete masonry as both a structural system as well as an aesthetic device.

The American Concrete Institute has hired Dean A. Frank to develop programs to assist in supporting the use of nonmetallic reinforcement and reducing carbon emissions in the concrete construction industry. Frank will initially be working primarily with NEU: An ACI Center of Excellence for Carbon Neutral Concrete, assisting in the development of assessment, validation and certification programs as identified by NEU.

Knight Wall Systems today announced it now offers custom parts and fabrication manufactured to order from its Eastern Washington production facility and shipped nationwide, according to company President Doug Knight.

Job growth accelerated in July amid higher inflation and growing economic pressures. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 528,000 and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5% in July.

Knauf collected more than 15,000 pounds of glass from nine of the most well-known downtown Nashville establishments, such as Honky Tonk Central and Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, and across the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix race campus.

Instead of winding up in a landfill, these bottles will be recycled into a raw material used in the manufacturing of Knauf’s insulation.

This partnership will lay the foundation for larger initiatives with the city of Nashville, and they plan to enroll more U.S. cities in the future.

The Department of Labor announced it will hold Safe + Sound Week 2022 from Aug. 15-21. Safe + Sound Week provides an opportunity to highlight employer efforts to integrate and improve their safety and heath management systems.

Simpson Strong-Tie, the leader in engineered structural connectors and building solutions, announced the recipients of its Student Scholarship, part of the company’s Strong-Tie Undergraduate Fellowship program, for the 2022-2023 academic year. The 100 scholarship recipients are undergraduates in their junior and senior years, majoring in architecture, civil/structural engineering or construction management across the country.

The price of materials and services used in nonresidential construction fell 1.3% last month, while contractors’ bid prices rose 5.4%, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released today. Association officials noted that, despite the monthly decline, materials prices remain high and the availability of certain key materials is erratic.