Active Projects
Finished Projects (Other projects coming soon!)
PROJECTS UPDATE
Sustainable Development (updated Aug. 2010)
This working group has been mostly working with the development of green roofs in Puerto Rico. This effort kicked-off after visiting the Faculty of Social Sciences at UPR in Río Piedras to witness the condition of a green roof that has been installed for more than a decade and it is still in relative good condition with minimal maintenance. We will be looking to replicate and publish best practices that were applied and are still functioning properly.
On this front, the Cluster has been sponsoring a Green Roofs Technology Course at the School of Architecture of the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras. The course objectives include research aimed towards reducing green roofs costs and to develop local technical knowledge to spur the development of new businesses on this construction sector. The project is looking for sponsors for the installation and monitoring of an experimental project that is underway. The project consists of 11 precast modules that will model roof conditions with different materials. For information on sponsoring please write to director@constructioncluster.org.
Final Disposition of Tires (updated Aug. 2010)
We have been in meetings with several key players on this sector, from collection to processing to final products, to investigate how collaboration and innovation in this market can contribute to the Island’s economic development and resolution of materials disposition. Matters are that companies that can use recycled tires as raw material for their products are suffering the cost of importing the material when in Puerto Rico is readily available but exported. The Cluster is working the government agencies to incentivize local industry development, hence economic development and job creation.
FINISHED PROJECTS
Best Practices on Professional Services Outsourcing
The Cluster was concerned that some service firms are “offering employees” to the life sciences Multi-National Enterprises (MNEs) at significant lower rates per hour, with possible non-acceptable and inappropriate employment practices, where “statutory benefits” (e.g. Disability, FICA) may not be paid on behalf of the “employee” by the business entity. After the approval of the proposal submitted to the Board, several Cluster partners provided the expertise of their Human Resoruces specialists to develop a white paper on the subject. After the first drafts, company executives reviewed the document along several labor attorneys. The resulting document is a thoroughly-reviewed model on professional services outsourcing.
You can download a copy of the white paper by clicking here.
Industrial Roofs Resistance Codes
Featured in "Appraising the Roof" article in Reasons (June 2008), an FM Global Magazine . Project reduced the risk of property damage and business interruption due to roof failures without a significance increase in construction, maintenance and insurance costs.
For details on the outcomes and real success stories, download white paper here.
Applications of by-products from AES Puerto Rico
Winner of an EPA Partnership Award. In a joint effort with the Mayagüez Campus of the University of Puerto Rico some applications for coal combustion by-products were identified. AES is a power plant in Guayama, Puerto Rico which by-products consist mainly of fly ash and bottom ash; by mixing this two a third by-product is produced, referred to as manufactured aggregate.
Download here the report on the first step supported by the Cluster towards the development of Agremax, a commercial product used mainly as an aggregate for soil stabilization.