Construction Dive’s Friday Punch List is a series dedicated to sharing major building headlines that contractors may have missed from the week.
Construction Safety Week saw some major headlines, including Turner Construction making a jobsite AI safety application available, for free, to the wider industry. In addition, a joint venture of AECOM Hunt and Turner began construction on a $2.4 billion NFL stadium in Cleveland.
Read on for other news from the week builders should know about.
New York City’s safety report
The New York City Department of Buildings announced it would take part in Construction Safety Week by joining jobsite safety demonstrations and discussions to help prevent injuries on the job, according to a Monday announcement.
“This Construction Safety Week, our administration will be across the city, ensuring that work sites are safe and following required training protocols, and furthering our efforts to drive down injuries,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in the release.
The start of the week coincided with the DOB releasing its Construction Safety Report, detailing data around the city’s safety record. In 2025, the DOB recorded fewer jobsite incidents and injuries. Both of those fit a trend that has largely carried over since 2015, seeing the number of incidents on the jobsite largely decrease over time.
That decrease, however, also coincided with a decrease in new building permits for the fifth consecutive year, per the report.
Ten New York City construction workers died on the job in 2025, three more than in 2024. Preliminary data, however, shows that the first quarter of 2026 reported fewer fatalities than the same period in 2025, per the release.
—Zachary Phillips
New York invests $78M on 4 infrastructure projects
New York will invest $78 million for four infrastructure improvements on the Thruway in the Capital region, Central New York and the Finger Lakes region, according to a Monday news release from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.
Two projects underway in the Capital region covering 77 lane miles of the Thruway represent $34.7 million of that investment, via pavement improvement projects. Those earmarked funds include $15.8 million on I-90 in Albany County and $18.9 million on I-87 in Ulster County.
In the Central New York and Finger Lakes regions, two projects covering more than 106 total lane miles of the Thruway will receive the remaining $43.2 million investment. These projects will also improve I-90 in Madison County and Ontario County, according to the release.
—Sebastian Obando
Skanska breaks ground on Texas STEM facility
Sweden-based developer and builder Skanska is continuing a construction partnership with Texas A&M University.
The contractor has broken ground on the $133.4 million AgriLife Meat Science & Technology Building, a new 85,600-square-foot facility for the university in College Station, Texas, according to a Tuesday announcement.
The facility will include labs, classrooms, processing space and public-facing capabilities, as well as a retail space for products developed at the center. Construction is expected to be complete in 2028, per the release.
The project is the latest in a series of partnerships between Skanska and the college that goes back to 2009, the announcement said. In March, the contractor announced it won a $165 million, 185,000-square-foot facility that would replace several aging biology buildings on the College Station campus. Construction on that project is expected to begin spring 2027 and wrap up in spring 2029.
—Zachary Phillips
Shawmut leverages adaptive reuse to transform NYC church into museum
Shawmut Design & Construction has started work to transform a century-old New York City church into a children’s museum.
The Boston-based builder has started the technical and structural work to transform The First Church of Christ, Scientist, into the next home for the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, according to a Tuesday announcement. The church, which is located at the corner of 96th Street and Central Park West, will become a seven-story learning lab for children and families.
Once complete, the new space will feature hands-on experiences and exhibits, alongside a café, museum store, performance space and rooftop terrace with a view of Central Park, per the announcement. The renovation marks the first expansion of the museum in more than 40 years and will double the museum’s physical capacity.
“This type of adaptive reuse presents complex challenges that will yield remarkable results,” said David Margolius, executive vice president of Shawmut’s New York Metro region. “We are excited to begin this next phase and ultimately build a welcoming, expanded, and accessible space that will serve the community for years to come.”
—Matthew Thibault
