Punch List: Biden-era PLA mandate upheld, prices rise and Skanska delivers healthcare project

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It’s been one other busy week for building information. 

A Philadelphia court docket awarded a resort developer $174.6 million in damages from contractor Tutor Perini for breach of contract, and information facilities are starting to hit main hurdles within the type of power access and public opposition. 

Learn on for extra building information from this week that builders ought to find out about.

Courtroom affirms Biden-era PLA mandate

Former President Joe Biden’s mission labor settlement mandate has received one other battle, additional cementing it as coverage even after President Donald Trump’s administration assumed the White Home.

The U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the denial of a preliminary injunction to halt the PLA mandate, which impacts initiatives receiving $35 million or extra in federal funding. Related Builders and Contractors and its Florida First Coast chapter filed the attraction for an injunction.

Within the resolution, Chief Decide William Pryor mentioned that the attraction would possible not succeed as a result of the Workplace of Administration and Finances issued a memo confirming the Biden-era order would stay, even underneath the Trump administration. 

ABC has lengthy opposed the requirement of PLAs, saying the mandate unfairly locks out nonunion builders from profitable federal contracts. In an announcement shared with Development Dive, ABC President and CEO Michael Bellaman mentioned the group will proceed to battle in opposition to the mandate.

“At no level, underneath any administration, have federal contractors ever been prevented from voluntarily coming into right into a PLA when such an settlement is smart for his or her workforce,” Bellaman mentioned. “Each certified contractor ought to have the chance to construct America.”

—Zachary Phillips

Prices rise 4.87% from 2025, Turner says

Turner Development’s boots on the bottom have confirmed what economists have seen from afar: Information facilities and different tech-aligned building initiatives are in demand, however prices are additionally rising. 

The New York Metropolis-based contractor issued its Turner Building Cost Index for first quarter of 2026, a metric that measures nonresidential building prices. The index confirmed a year-over-year bounce of 4.87% and quarter-over-quarter improve of 1.32%. That annual fee, if it continues for all of 2026, would mark the steepest calendar 12 months improve of the gauge since 2023. The index notched a 4.1% 12 months over 12 months improve in 2025.  

“Excessive-growth areas corresponding to information facilities, manufacturing, and semiconductor amenities are driving sturdy demand, significantly within the Midwest and Southeast, whereas conventional business building has softened in a number of markets,” mentioned Attilio Rivetti, vp at Turner. “Materials prices corresponding to metal, aluminum, and copper have skilled will increase throughout the first quarter.”

The data set stretches back over 80 years, utilizing labor charges, productiveness, materials costs and aggressive native circumstances from Turner’s initiatives throughout the nation. It presents a different perspective from traditional economic yardsticks, Turner says, as a result of its broader inclusion of those components seen on jobsites. 

—Joe Bousquin

Skanska delivers healthcare facility

Sweden-based developer and builder Skanska has delivered a 53,000-square-foot healthcare facility in Redmond, Oregon, the agency introduced Monday. The brand new St. Charles Most cancers Middle opened to sufferers on that very same day.

The 2-story facility is about 9 occasions the scale of the earlier most cancers heart in Redmond and is designed to serve as much as 300 sufferers per day. It hosts 36 examination rooms and a 5,000-square-foot chemotherapy infusion suite.

The mission required some specialised work to assist superior most cancers therapy expertise, per the discharge shared with Development Dive. The concrete vault housing the linear accelerator for radiation remedies measures 6 ft 6 inches thick, with ceiling thickness starting from 4 to eight ft. That work required about 5.6 million kilos of concrete.

Moreover, the construction incorporates mass timber, with 86 glulam beams and 30 cross-lamenated timber panels, which make up over 10,000 sq. ft of the roof and the second-floor construction.

Development on the mission broke floor in June 2024 and topped out in February 2025.

—Zachary Phillips