Baltimore, Maryland, September 27, 2025
News Summary
Construction leaders are being urged to balance speed and risk when adopting digital tools, emphasizing pilots, clear processes and team training to protect data and embed new systems in daily work. The industry faces rapid technological change—especially from generative AI and large language models—that can streamline proposals and documentation but requires safeguards. Meanwhile, Maryland hosted a large hands-on Construction Career Day for high school students, and a university unveiled preliminary designs for a six-story, 500,000-sq-ft Life Sciences Building with more than 1,200 lab benches to foster collaborative biomedical research.
Construction sector pushed to balance speed and risk on tech adoption; Maryland hosts large career day; Johns Hopkins unveils major life sciences building plan
Summary: Industry voices are urging construction firms to balance speed and risk when weighing new digital tools, a large Maryland career event gave hundreds of students hands-on exposure to trades, and a major university revealed preliminary designs for a six-story, 500,000-sq-ft Life Sciences Building that will add over 1,200 lab benches to its research campus.
Why balancing speed and risk is top of mind
A senior construction consultant emphasized that the most successful contractors balance speed and risk when assessing and implementing new technology. The consultant identified current digital tools as part of an evolutionary cycle of builder tools, tracing a line from simple hand implements to pneumatic devices and now to digital systems. Digital construction technology is growing faster than ever; prior to 2020 technology advanced more linearly, and since 2020 advancements have accelerated exponentially. That rapid pace leaves many firms wondering whether they made the right decision in adopting or avoiding particular products.
Josh LaSharr is a senior consultant at Well Built Construction Consulting. Well Built Construction Consulting is a Baltimore-based firm. The firm delivers strategic consulting, facilitation services and peer roundtables for construction executives. The consultant argued that adoption is not simply trying a tool once; companies must adopt tools into day-to-day operations, build repeatable processes, and train teams together, much like training a new laborer on a physical tool.
Leaders were urged to pilot, test, evaluate and implement tools at a speed that balances risk with reward rather than chasing every new product. Mass access to generative AI and large language models has shifted how teams can operate, enabling draft proposals, document generation from a few parameters, and automated checks for grammar and logic. At the same time, integration risks include inadvertently releasing confidential information to tools with open learning systems. Ensuring data remains safe is a critical part of tech adoption, and selecting the right technology tool typically lands on leadership teams with input from IT teams.
The consultant noted that younger employees may execute repetitive tasks like submittals and RFIs and may have current knowledge of recent tools, but leadership must remain aware of the implications of running sensitive documents through systems that collect data to learn. The advice: pair youth familiarity with experienced oversight and a risk-aware rollout plan.
Maryland career day introduces thousands of students to trades
Thousands of Maryland high school students traded in their book bags for a hard hat on Wednesday. The Maryland Center for Construction Education & Innovation (MCCEI) held its third-annual Construction Career Day at M&T Bank Stadium. Students from Baltimore and Harford counties, along with Baltimore City, attended to get hands-on experience exploring engineering, architecture and transportation careers. The event is aimed at increasing career awareness for construction trades.
Jennifer Dewees is president of MCCEI. She said there were over 40 companies, unions, apprenticeship providers and higher education institutions participating, and higher education participants included Howard Community College, Morgan State, Capitol Tech University and Johns Hopkins. The event was free for students. The next Construction Career Day will be held in Frederick County.
Major university unveils large Life Sciences Building design
Johns Hopkins unveiled preliminary designs for a six-story, 500,000-sq-ft Life Sciences Building. The proposed building is designed to provide more than 1,200 lab benches for biomedical researchers and will sit on a full city block almost directly across the street from the domed Billings administration building on the medical campus. The project is described as bringing together experts from five different schools to create a collaborative, technology-driven hub for fundamental, basic biomedical science.
The five schools identified as users are the School of Medicine, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, School of Nursing, and Whiting School of Engineering. Leadership at the university said the facility will help ensure the institution continues to set the standard of excellence in medical research. Plans were presented to the city design advisory panel, which responded positively to the approach to opening the building to the street and the extensive landscaping that creates outdoor pause spaces for researchers.
The site is the southwest corner of East Monument Street and North Broadway, stretching along Broadway from Monument Street to McElderry Walkway. Because of the location, there is the ability to connect the new building to the underground Johns Hopkins station on the Baltimore Metro subway line. To make way for construction, three buildings on the block are being demolished: the 10-story Hampton House Building at 624 N. Broadway; 14-story Reed Hall at 600 N. Broadway; and the Denton A. Cooley fitness center at 1620 McElderry St. All faculty members and other staffers have been relocated from Reed Hall and Hampton House, and temporary space has been identified to house those research and teaching activities. Demolition of buildings on the block is well underway and Berg Corporation is the contractor for the demolition work referenced.
Payette is the architect of the Life Sciences Building, and Olin is the landscape architect. The design calls for a glass and metal skin with copper- and bronze-colored walls that curve to mark entrances, terraced landscaping on ground and upper levels, conference rooms and a glass-walled cafeteria on the first floor overlooking Broadway. The design includes six levels of labs and meeting space and a flexible mix of laboratory space with approximately 60% of lab space dedicated to experimental approaches and 40% dedicated to scientists focused on computation. The approximately 1,200 lab benches will provide space for approximately 920 scientists working in biomedical research, and the building will also house hundreds of graduate students pursuing biomedical research.
The building is planned to host six newly developed scientific neighborhoods and five technology hubs guided by university scientists and will be funded through university funds. The timetable calls for construction to begin in the summer of 2025 and be complete by the end of 2029. A firm cost estimate had not been released at the time of reporting.
Context and takeaways
The three items covered here highlight recurring themes in construction and campus planning: technology adoption requires careful risk management and training; workforce pipelines depend on early exposure and hands-on events; and large institutional projects reshape blocks and require phased relocation and demolition work. Key players on the Life Sciences Building design and review include local and national architects and landscape designers, and demolition contractors already working on the site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who advised balancing speed and risk when adopting digital tools?
A: The most successful contractors balance speed and risk when assessing and implementing new technology.
Q: Who is Josh LaSharr?
A: Josh LaSharr is a senior consultant at Well Built Construction Consulting.
Q: Where is Well Built Construction Consulting based and what does it do?
A: Well Built Construction Consulting is a Baltimore-based firm. Well Built Construction Consulting delivers strategic consulting, facilitation services and peer roundtables for construction executives.
Q: What happened at the Maryland career event?
A: Thousands of Maryland high school students traded in their book bags for a hard hat on Wednesday. The Maryland Center for Construction Education & Innovation (MCCEI) held its third-annual Construction Career Day at M&T Bank Stadium. Students at the event came from Baltimore and Harford counties, along with Baltimore City. The event provided hands-on experience exploring engineering, architecture and transportation careers. The event is aimed at increasing career awareness for construction trades. Jennifer Dewees is president of MCCEI. Jennifer Dewees said they have over 40 companies, unions, apprenticeship providers and higher education institutions participating. Higher education participants listed by Dewees included Howard Community College, Morgan State, Capitol Tech University and Johns Hopkins. The MCCEI event is free for students. The next Construction Career Day will be held in Frederick County.
Q: What did the university present for the new life sciences facility?
A: Johns Hopkins unveiled preliminary designs for a six-story, 500,000-sq-ft Life Sciences Building. The proposed Johns Hopkins Life Sciences Building is designed to provide more than 1,200 lab benches for biomedical researchers. The building is planned to have about 500,000 gross square feet of space. The building will have six levels of labs and meeting space.
Q: Who are the architects, and what is the schedule?
A: Payette is the architect of the Life Sciences Building. Olin is the landscape architect for the Life Sciences Building. Johns Hopkins’ timetable calls for construction to begin in the summer of 2025 and be complete by the end of 2029. A firm cost estimate for the Life Sciences Building had not been released at the time of reporting. The building will be funded through university funds, according to a Hopkins spokesperson.
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Key features at a glance
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Technology adoption guidance | The most successful contractors balance speed and risk when assessing and implementing new technology; pilot, test, evaluate and implement at a measured pace. |
| Local consulting firm | Josh LaSharr is a senior consultant at Well Built Construction Consulting. Well Built Construction Consulting is a Baltimore-based firm that delivers strategic consulting, facilitation services and peer roundtables for construction executives. |
| Workforce outreach | Thousands of Maryland high school students traded in their book bags for a hard hat on Wednesday at the Maryland Center for Construction Education & Innovation (MCCEI) third-annual Construction Career Day at M&T Bank Stadium; the event is free for students. |
| Major campus project | Johns Hopkins unveiled preliminary designs for a six-story, 500,000-sq-ft Life Sciences Building with more than 1,200 lab benches, six levels, and a mix of experimental and computational lab space; construction expected summer 2025 to end of 2029. |
| Design and site work | Payette is the architect and Olin is the landscape architect; demolition of three existing buildings on the block is underway with Berg Corporation as demolition contractor. |
Deeper Dive: News & Info About This Topic
Additional Resources
- Construction Dive: Construction adoption, tech & AI
- Wikipedia: Construction technology
- The Baltimore Sun: Maryland school buildings failing
- Google Search: Maryland school buildings infrastructure condition
- WBAL-TV: Maryland Center for Construction Education & Innovation — Career Day
- Google Scholar: construction career day vocational education Maryland
- Baltimore Fishbowl: Johns Hopkins unveils plans for six-story Life Sciences building
- Encyclopedia Britannica: Johns Hopkins University (search)
- Construction Dive: Generation Z and construction technology
- Google News: Generation Z construction technology
Author: Construction TX News
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