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A BOOST FOR INFRASTRUCTURE
2022: The first of several solid years for the AEC industry
(Image courtesy of iStock/MuchMania)
By Jay Landers
The U.S. architecture, engineering, and construction industry is on track to grow in 2022, thanks in large part to the massive new federal infrastructure spending recently signed into law. However, pressure from labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and high materials prices could moderate growth.
For the U.S. architecture, engineering, and construction industry, 2022 is suddenly looking up. In mid-November President Joe Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684), a five-year, $1.2 trillion package providing historic levels of infrastructure funding. With this, many industry observers expect an overall strong performance for much of the AEC sector in 2022. Indeed, 2022 may mark the start of several banner years, as much of the massive new federal infrastructure spending is not expected to reach markets until later this year at the earliest.
Amid the onset of a global pandemic and subsequent lockdowns in countries around the world, many sectors within the AEC industry either languished or suffered serious setbacks in 2020. Throughout 2021, labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and high prices for many construction materials affected the entire AEC sector.
Despite these hurdles, residential construction remained strong in 2021, far outpacing all other industry subsectors as it continued the torrid growth that began in 2020. Meanwhile, the nonresidential building sector remained stable, though a handful of subsectors hit hard by COVID-19 — notably lodging, offices, public safety, and amusement and recreation — continued their downward trajectories. Finally, the nonbuilding sector, which includes traditional infrastructure categories, showed mixed results during 2021, led by modest growth in the drinking water and wastewater treatment subsectors.
Even before the IIJA was signed into law, some economists noted the degree to which the AEC industry appeared on track to grow in 2022. For example, proposal activity for AEC firms remained strong in the third quarter of 2021, says David Burstein, P.E., a director and senior consultant for PSMJ Resources Inc., which provides consulting services to AEC firms.
To assess such activity, PSMJ surveys industry participants on a quarterly basis to determine whether they have had more or fewer opportunities to submit project bid proposals compared to the previous quarter. The company then tallies the results in the form of what it calls the net plus/minus index, which expresses the difference between the percentage of firms reporting an increase in proposal activity and those reporting a decrease.
These findings serve as a leading indicator of future business activity in the AEC industry, Burstein says. "If proposal opportunities are increasing, then (project) backlog is going to increase, revenues are going to increase, and cash flow is going to increase down the road," he explains. On the other hand, a decline in proposal opportunities likely signals a decrease in backlogs, revenues, and cash flow in the future.
For the third quarter of 2021, the overall NPMI for proposal opportunities was 38%, according to an Oct. 7 news release from PSMJ. Although it represented a decline from the 52% NPMI set during the second quarter of 2021, the 38% figure "still marked the third-highest (third quarter) NPMI in the 18-year history" of the company's quarterly market forecasts, according to the release.
In addition to tallying an overall NPMI for the AEC sector, the company also reports individual NPMIs for 12 major markets: housing, commercial users, commercial developers, light industrial, heavy industrial, energy and utilities, health care, environmental, education, transportation, water/wastewater, and other government buildings. A comparison of the third-quarter NPMIs for these categories in 2020 and 2021 revealed additional good news, Burstein says. "Every major market improved since last year," he says.
Burstein attributes much of the economic improvement in the past year to reduced uncertainty regarding COVID-19. "When there's uncertainty, people hold back on capital expenditures," he says. "They're not going to make long-term capital expenditures when they don't have a good idea of what the future is."
Another factor is the record sums of money that the federal government and the states have spent since the onset of the pandemic. "There have already been trillions of dollars of stimulus that have gone into a lot of these markets," Burstein says.
A much better year
Although the pandemic and the resulting economic uncertainty remain concerns, 2022 is widely expected to be a much better year for the AEC industry. "Our overall outlook for the industry is very, very strong" for 2022, says Rebecca Zofnass, a managing partner for the Environmental Financial Consulting Group, which advises AEC firms on financial and strategic matters. "That's based on what all the individual firms we gather data from are projecting for next year," Zofnass says. "Both in terms of growth and profit margins, we are seeing a very, very quick recovery out of 2020 — certainly not the same lasting impacts that we saw in previous downturns."
In part, the AEC industry can expect to ride the coattails of a broader economy that is improving nationwide. "At the 30,000 foot level, our outlook for the economy remains quite optimistic," says Cris deRitis, Ph.D., the deputy chief economist for Moody's Analytics. "We've had some slowdowns recently due to the delta variant, but now things are looking up as the COVID case counts come down," deRitis says.
"Our expectation is that the economy will get back in gear" in 2022 and beyond, deRitis says. For 2022, he projects an overall growth rate for the U.S. economy of around 4% to 4.5%. Although hardly record setting, such a rate of growth is "more than double the long-run average for (gross domestic product)," deRitis notes.
A gradual return to some semblance of economic normality is expected to boost growth into the future, says Brian Strawberry, a senior economist for the FMI Corp., a management consulting and investment banking firm that specializes in the engineering and construction industries. "Overall, our outlook for the next several years is very positive, in that we're seeing increased activity and investment in public and private businesses," Strawberry says.
Five years, nearly $550 billion
The recent enactment of the massive IIJA is expected to further boost the prospects for many in the AEC sector. Approved by the Senate in August 2021 and the House in early November, the $1.2 trillion legislation, also referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, includes nearly $550 billion in new federal funding over five years for multiple infrastructure categories.
In other good news for those operating in the infrastructure sector, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal also reauthorized the federal surface transportation program. In doing so, Congress allocated $383.4 billion over five years to surface transportation, an increase of 22% from current spending levels.
"This Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will rebuild America's roads, bridges, and rails, expand access to clean drinking water, ensure every American has access to high-speed internet, tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and invest in communities that have too often been left behind," states a Nov. 6 fact sheet from the White House regarding the legislation.
Although no one doubts that the new federal funding from the legislation will provide a boon for the AEC industry, exactly when that boon will begin remains a matter of speculation. "We are talking about the government," Burstein says. "This is going to happen at government speed," rather than private-sector speed, he says. On the bright side, the funding will "be handled mostly by existing public agencies," Burstein notes. "It's not like they have to create new agencies to handle this money. That should help some."
The initial funding allocated by the infrastructure bill is "going to start hitting the public works agencies in mid- to late-2022 and (will) probably start hitting civil engineering firms in late 2022," Burstein says. "The good news for civil engineering firms is that their portion of it, the study and design portion, is going to be the first part out of the box," he notes.
For those in construction, the effects of the new funding will take longer to be felt, says Kermit Baker, Ph.D., Hon.AIA, the chief economist for the American Institute of Architects. "The money needs to get allocated, and plans need to get developed," Baker says. "I would say we're at a minimum of a year after passage (before the funding) shows up as construction spending. And I would say it's most likely two years before that kicks in to any significant degree."
At the same time, the effects of the funding boost may differ regionally, especially in cities that "were particularly hit hard" by COVID-19, Zofnass says. "How much of (the new funding) is just plugging the gap left by COVID and the impacts that had on budgets?" she asks. "Are we just getting back to where (funding levels) should have been had there not been a global pandemic? Or is this actually going to bring us above and beyond?"
That said, the significant infusion of federal funding certainly will boost infrastructure-related construction activity beyond 2022, Strawberry says. From 2023 to 2025, "we're looking at annual double-digit growth or nearly double-digit growth in a lot of these nonbuilding segments as a result of that additional funding," he notes. Such rates of growth are "very significant for those segments, which are traditionally very stable," Strawberry says.
In fact, the positively bullish long-term economic outlook for construction work associated with infrastructure depends almost entirely on the infusion of new funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, said Richard Branch, the chief economist for Dodge Data & Analytics, who spoke during the organization's Construction Industry Outlook 2022, which was held online on Nov. 3.
"Our models are suggesting that, thanks to that $550 billion in new infrastructure spending, total nonbuilding (construction) starts will increase by 33% by the time we get to the end of 2026," Branch said at the Nov. 3 session. This growth rate is more than double what would be expected to occur in the absence of the dramatic boost in federal funding, Branch said. Under an alternate scenario with no such funding increase, the nonbuilding construction sector would be expected to achieve a "pretty weak growth rate" of just 15% overall between 2022 and 2026, he noted.
Supply chain problems
Unfortunately, the outlook for the AEC sector is not all smooth sailing in 2022. Supply chain disruptions will continue to interfere with project schedules and contribute to price inflation of various construction materials during 2022 and likely into 2023.
The supply chain disruptions resulted squarely from the pandemic and the ensuing shutdown, says Anirban Basu, Ph.D., the chief economist for the Associated Builders and Contractors. Initially during the shutdown that began in early 2020, "a lot of producers felt that the downturn was going to be very severe and quite protracted," Basu says. "They began slashing costs and capacity. They laid off millions of workers. They shuttered sawmills. They closed steel mills. They mothballed ships."
In the United States, the resulting recession was "extraordinarily short-lived" and ended by May 2020, Basu says. "Indeed, not only did the recession end, it was followed by a very rapid expansion in economic activity," Basu notes. "But a lot of the supply capacity that would sustain that demand had been shut down. It has been difficult to bring that supply capacity back to life."
Supplies of many critical materials, including many needed for construction, have been subject to shortages. "What we have seen is spiking prices in many instances, whether of softwood lumber, oil, natural gas, or other inputs in production," Basu says.
Trucking shortages and logistical bottlenecks at ports are only contributing to the supply chain problems and the resulting price inflation for construction materials, Branch said. Higher prices are "now pretty widespread across most materials that play into the construction space," he noted.
Although price inflation is expected to last for some time, markets should begin to sort out supply and demand relatively soon, deRitis notes. "Our expectation is that over the next couple of quarters, these high prices are going to attract even more businesses," he says. "And those businesses will be motivated to resolve these supply chain issues and try to gain market share to take advantage of these higher prices. That should actually then lead to lower price growth."
For his part, Branch sees materials prices moderating, rather than declining, in the future. "I think that the inflation that we're seeing in the construction sector as it relates to materials and prices is probably going to last into mid-(2022) before we start to see prices pull back," he said. "Even as the inflation slows in the back half of 2022, that level of prices should remain fairly high, at least through the end of next year."
Calling skilled labor
Another, more chronic problem facing the AEC sector is a critical shortage of skilled labor. "There are currently just under 350,000 unfilled positions" in the construction industry, Branch said. "This is not a temporary phenomenon. It is systemic and could certainly mute construction starts in 2022."
Zofnass also points to the labor shortage as a potential stumbling block for the industry. In fact, construction is "facing one of the biggest talent constraints in a long time," Zofnass says. "That is inherently a head wind to the future growth of our industry."
The problem is also hitting the engineering profession, Burstein says. "The labor shortage is probably more acute in engineering than it is in construction," he notes.
The current dearth of engineers results from a combination of factors, Burstein says. Chief among them is the "large number of baby boomers retiring," he says. As these older, more experienced workers depart from the labor force, engineering firms and others looking to replace them find themselves in a bind. "Those people have to be replaced," Burstein says. However, "midlevel and senior-level civil engineers are just not out there," he says, pointing to "big dips" in the number of students who graduated with civil engineering degrees in the late 1980s as well as in the late 1990s to early 2000s.
As a result, companies are struggling to find adequate replacements for their retiring senior staff members. "You can't replace a 65-year-old engineer with 40 years of experience with a junior engineer right out of school, one for one," Burstein says. "Most firms say that they can reasonably hire brand-new graduates." But the same is not true for more experienced engineers. "They're just not available," he says.
The labor shortage is such a problem for the AEC sector that it potentially could even blunt some of the positive effects that are expected to result from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, Zofnass says. "Given these talent constraints, will firms even be able to (perform) the work?" she asks.
Rising wages
Not surprisingly, the labor shortage has led to rising wages in the AEC industry. "What we're seeing with wages is that they are escalating faster than they have in years," Burstein says. Even the pandemic failed to slow such increases among the architecture and engineering sectors.
"From the beginning of 2019 to the middle of 2021, there was no cut in wages in the A&E industry," he says. "Prior to COVID, we were running (wage increases of) about 1.3% per year. It's now accelerated to 4.5% per year, and it's actually accelerating even more. We have not had 4.5% per year wage increases in a long, long time. Now that's becoming the norm."
ASCE's most recent salary survey revealed that salaries for civil engineers specifically have continued to climb despite the pandemic. The median pretax annual salary from all sources in 2020 was $119,000 — a $10,000 increase over 2018 numbers.
Against this backdrop, engineering firms find themselves in a quandary. "If they don't increase pricing, that's going to put a huge crunch on profits," Burstein says. "You can't just absorb those kinds of wage increases without increasing pricing."
Fortunately, Burstein says, engineering firms are now in a good position to charge more for their services. "The good news is that prices have been artificially low for years in our industry," he says. "I think there's a lot of headroom to increase pricing."
At the same time that they need to increase wages, many consulting firms find themselves in a position to reduce certain nonlabor costs, at least temporarily, as a consequence of the pandemic and the effects it has had on business operations, Burstein says. "I don't think we're going to see as much business travel as we used to see," he notes. "That's going to save some money."
Similarly, with many employees expected to continue to work from home, at least to some degree, some firms are decreasing the amount of office space they rent. "Because there's such a glut of office space on the market, they're often able to get lower costs per square foot," Burstein says.
However, reductions in nonlabor costs will not be enough to offset the higher wages that engineering firms will be forced to provide if they want to remain competitive. "Because labor is such a big part of the cost structure of engineering firms, there's still going to be an overall increase in cost," Burstein says. "That's going to have to be matched by at least as much of an increase in pricing." Ultimately, he says, the question comes down to whether "engineering firms (are) going to have the guts to raise their prices."
In the short term, engineering firms would do well to ensure that they have the staffing levels necessary to keep pace with the growth in job prospects. "The next year or two is going to be less about finding work and more about finding people to do the work," Burstein says.
Modest to moderate growth
Assuming no major market disruptions, "We're looking at a fairly modest to moderate pace of (total) construction starts in 2022," Branch said. "We're expecting a 6% gain in 2022. If not for the challenges and for the shortages and prices that we're currently facing, the construction activity would be much stronger than it currently is."
Branch predicted a similar outlook for the nonbuilding construction sector, which Dodge defines as highways and bridges, environmental, power and gas plants, and other nonbuilding construction. After an essentially flat year in 2021, the sector will experience a 6% gain in construction starts in 2022, Branch said.
Power and gas plants are expected to lead the way, achieving a 10% increase in starts in 2022, Branch said. Meanwhile, the category known as other nonbuilding will see its construction starts grow by an estimated 9% in the coming year. By comparison, highways and bridges will increase construction starts by 6%, while the environmental category will remain relatively flat with 2% more starts in 2022 relative to 2021.
For 2021, the highways and bridges category was expected to decline by 1% in terms of construction starts. This "pretty tepid" performance is attributable to the failure of Congress to reauthorize the surface transportation program before its expiration at the end of fiscal year 2020, Branch said. Instead, Congress extended the existing program at flat funding levels for more than a year before eventually reauthorizing it as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.
A boon for water
When it comes to the outlook for the drinking water and wastewater industries in 2022, Reese Tisdale, the president and CEO of the water infrastructure analysis firm Bluefield Research, says he is "super optimistic for a number of reasons." Tisdale cites the newly enacted federal funding for the sector as well as a recent increase in mergers and acquisitions in the water sector. "I'd say there are definite tail winds," Tisdale says.
In fact, the water sector can expect to benefit somewhat even from the new federal funding for other infrastructure categories, Tisdale says. "We're also optimistic about any dollars that go to things like transportation because every time you install roads, you also have to put in catchment basins and other water-related infrastructure," he notes. "That's an added benefit that's not explicit in water-dollar spending."
More broadly, water is becoming a greater focus among corporations seeking to improve the sustainability of their operations, Tisdale notes. "It seems that water is taking on a bigger role in those discussions," he says. "Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how the talk is going to manifest itself in real projects and activities. Will we see more industrial reuse? Will we see more digital water management in the industrial sector over the next couple of years? I feel pretty good about that."
Meanwhile, the ongoing drought in California and across much of the American West can be expected to lead to additional economic activity in the water sector, Tisdale says. "It definitely drives new project activity, where there are greater considerations for alternative water supplies," he notes. "That could be everything from desalination to water reuse and also just basic conservation. There's a whole ecosystem around all of that, including smart-home or more efficient household water management."
Residential and nonresidential construction
After two red-hot years of growth, the single-family residential construction sector will cool off in 2022, Branch predicted. The sector is expected to achieve a "more sustainable" 3% increase in construction starts during 2022, he noted. The multifamily residential construction market will perform similarly, he said.
Looking ahead, the residential construction market can expect to enjoy continued growth for the next several years, thanks largely to demographics, deRitis says. Currently in the United States, "We have the most 30-year-olds that we've had in decades." Noting that 30 is the most common age for people to buy their first homes, deRitis says that he expects a "very strong tail wind on the residential construction side" for the next three to five years.
For its part, nonresidential construction had a subpar performance in 2021, Baker says. When all is said and done, the segment will likely have declined by "midsingle digits," he notes. Fortunately, the sector — which Baker defines to include commercial, industrial, and institutional construction — can expect a "pretty healthy rebound" in the range of 5% to 10% growth in 2022, Baker says.
Within the nonresidential construction arena, warehouses and data centers have been a key focus in recent years. "Because of the move into the online economy, there's a lot of demand for distribution centers to support online shopping," deRitis notes. Meanwhile, data centers are needed to support the ever-increasing levels of computer activity. "Our expectation is we will continue to see strong demand and strong construction activity in those sectors," deRitis says.
Health care facilities will likely see "more investment" in 2022, Basu says. "This pandemic made it clear that many inpatient centers have slashed capacity too aggressively," he notes. "We don't have enough (intensive care unit) beds and ventilators as a country. We need some additional capacity to deal with these issues." For these reasons, health care will be "one of the winners coming out of this period, in terms of capacity augmentation," Basu says.
Meanwhile, other segments of the nonresidential construction sector that were hard hit by the pandemic will continue to struggle. For example, hotel construction likely will remain depressed in 2022, Branch said, particularly if business travel continues to fall far short of pre-pandemic levels.
Similarly, construction starts in the office sector continue to underwhelm, Branch noted, as vacancy rates increase in urban and suburban markets. Although many expected that office construction would begin to rebound in the third quarter of 2021, the delta variant threw the sector "for an absolute loop," Branch said. Assuming COVID-19 remains under control, occupancy rates should begin to improve in the second half of 2022, he said.
In some cases, efforts to repurpose retail space that retailers abandoned during the pandemic are driving new design and construction work. "There is an incredible amount of underutilized retail space out there, and that has to be adaptively reused," Basu says. "One of the things that we're seeing is (vacant retail space is) being converted in some cases into affordable housing. These are good locations. They're very visible and close to job centers."
In other cases, unused retail space might be converted to data centers or outpatient medical facilities. "This adaptive reuse will be another source of work for the AEC industry," Basu says.
Possible wild cards
Although many indicators point to a good year for the AEC industry in 2022, there are some wild cards looming. Chief among them is the extent to which COVID-19 continues to sicken people and interfere with routine activities. "It's not out of the cards that we could see another major surge in coronavirus activity," Strawberry says. "That's the biggest wild card."
Although increased vaccination levels have helped reduce the spread of COVID-19 and enabled a return to many activities that had been curtailed during the early days of the pandemic, the virus still could overcome humanity's best attempts to control it, Burstein says. Indeed, modeling of the coronavirus genome by various universities has indicated that "certain mutations of that genome could lead to complete immunity from all current COVID vaccines," he notes. "If that happens, that could shut things down big time."
A more prosaic concern involves the cost of borrowing. "Our baseline view is that interest rates will rise at a moderate pace going forward," deRitis says. "But if they spike, investors (may) get nervous. That certainly would be a downside risk for the forecast."
Some economists question whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will be able to keep interest rates relatively low in the face of growing inflation. After all, the Fed has been "increasing the money supply at very high rates with few interludes of restraint for 25 years," says Mark Thornton, Ph.D., a senior fellow with the Mises Institute, a nonprofit libertarian organization, and the author of The Skyscraper Curse, a 2018 book examining the historical relationship between government monetary policy and boom-bust cycles in the construction industry.
Such increases in the money supply have led to a booming stock market and other economic distortions and now are resulting in inflation, Thornton says. "It's not that I'm surprised that the Fed is causing price inflation now," he says. "It's that it's taken this long for the money to get out of the stock market and into people's pockets."
Should it seek to raise interest rates as a means to combat price inflation, the Fed could hurt stock prices, perhaps to the point of causing a recession, Thornton says. On the other hand, a failure to raise interest rates could allow price inflation to increase unchecked. In either case, the AEC industry would be harmed, given its capital-intensive nature, Thornton notes.
"As the economic environment changes from either low interest rates to high interest rates or from the low interest rates that we have right now to high inflation, that's going to hurt construction because it drives up the cost of production, and so fewer projects would be viable," Thornton says.
Another potential source of economic distress for the AEC industry could be rearing its head in China, where multiple property developers are facing potential defaults on debt payments. "China has become such a big part of the economy; if that really blows up, then that could have a similar effect on the global economy as what the U.S. housing crisis had in 2008," Burstein says.
Profitable outlook
Absent these less predictable scenarios, the overall AEC industry can expect to enjoy significant gains in 2022 and beyond. The profitability of businesses in the sector is expected to remain on its upward trajectory, Zofnass says. In fact, profitability "has been on an upward trend on the whole for the last 20 years," she says. Even so, current projections regarding profit margins indicate that "2022 is going to be the strongest year" since 1996, when the Environmental Financial Consulting Group began tracking this data, Zofnass says.
For civil engineering firms in particular, 2022 looks to be a banner year, Burstein says. "I really don't see any weak markets for civil engineers," he says. "The civil infrastructure markets are all really good."
Jay Landers is a contributing editor to Civil Engineering.
This article first appeared in the January/February 2022 issue of Civil Engineering as "A Boost for Infrastructure."
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The communal Botanical Gardens of Sydney!
I took my visiting US relatives to Sydney's Royal Botanical Garden today. Lovely piece of land championed by Mrs Macquarie (Governor Macquaries wife) due to her love of structured parklands.
A bit of history is that they knocked down a bunch of houses, bakehouses and boat ports to clean it up in 1807. Interestingly it was built alongside Hyde Park because Hyde Park was for walking whereas the Desmene (Domain) was not. Sounds like he wanted a grand lavish park all for himself and his wife!! This argument is furthered by a decree from Gov Macquarie in 1816 that people should stay out of the garden else punishment will be "inflicted on some idle and profligate persons". Turns out that that warning wasn't for "proper people". These day's the punishment is against the unwitting folk who venture to the Palm Grove cafe for a quick bite to eat. I paid no less than $11.70 for a meat pie and cola!! Highway robbery in the 21st century I say! However, enough lamenting the injustices against the common folk by the rich!
The garden has some great parts that I haven't visited for a number of years. There are 100+ year old fig's and some neat feature gardens. Of excitement was the masses of bat's roosting in the tree's, a much more "real' bat experience then our recent trip to the Australia Reptile Park that showcases 8 bats in a small cage, but I digress again..
Another feature of the Botanical garden and the purpose of this post is the Herb garden . Situated on the south western side not far from the Conservatorium of Music there is a great selection of herbs from Australia and other parts of the world. It's a treat to walk around and sample so many different kinds of herbs, some of which are for culinary purposes while others are ornamental or simply for fragrance. The Thai Basil took my award for most alluring while the "surprise award" went for the numerous varieties of Lavender (Lavender cotton grass took honors in that category).
If you have the chance, get down to Sydney's Royal Botanical gardens. Give yourself a day to wander around, take a packed lunch and enjoy the oldest structured garden in Australia.


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'Bet Regret' and STOP SLOT campaigns
On recent travels I have come across a couple of inspiring campaigns. The first is being run by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation (VRGF) in Australia who recently held their first conference. Although the VRGF is less than two years old it already has a history of mounting interesting campaigns. Their new campaign, 'Bet Regret', aims to draw attention to the significance of the common experience of regretting having bet and lost more than one meant to or could afford. If that experience has become more than a very occasional one for someone, then gambling can no longer be thought of as an entertainment experience and it should be taken as an indication that something is wrong. The Chief Executive of the VRGF, introducing the campaign, said that he saw Bet Regret as a message that could take the place of the Responsible Gambling message about which he felt ambivalent – despite it being in the Foundation's title. The VRGF is an interesting organisation because, although funded by the Victorian Government, and responsible for funding problem gambling treatment, prevention and research – of each of which incidentally there is a great deal more than in the UK – it operates independently of the Government and can therefore take the risk of undertaking campaigns which might not meet with industry approval. Another highlight of their conference was the promotion of a book, Ruin to Recovery, in which a number of people recovering from problem gambling describe their experiences, and a theatrical event based on the book which had been performed at the Melbourne Writers' Festival and later to parliamentarians and others at Parliament House.
The second campaign is STOP SLOP, started by a group in Milan, Italy. The group is concerned about what they see as the comparatively high rate of problem gambling in Italy, particularly in certain regions of the country (gambling regulation varies from region to region), and especially problems associated with slot machine gambling amongst young people. I met them at a meeting in Brussels organised by an Italian Member of the European Parliament (MEP). The meeting was opened by a Danish MEP who argued that gambling was not like other commercially available products, and should therefore not be exposed to an open market. In accordance with the subsidiarity principle Europe should respect the ways in which individual countries have traditionally provided and regulated gambling. Several members of the STOP SLOP campaign spoke and were supported by a number of Italian and other MEPs. One of the things that came out of this meeting was an interest in forming a European network of those organisations and campaign groups which are genuinely independent of the gambling industry.
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Opportunities for gambling in Britain have increased very considerably in the last 20 years and were given further encouragement with the passing of the 2005 Gambling Act. The latest British Gambling Prevalence Survey, carried out in 2009/10, found that between one third and one half a million British adults experienced a gambling problem in the previous 12 months.
Our Mission and Aims
Gambling Watch UK is an organisation, independent of Government or the gambling industry, which exists to question the present policy of support for the expansion of gambling in the UK and to propose alternative policies which would have the effect of preventing such expansion, which it's members believe is harmful from a public health perspective ...
We believe there is overwhelming support for the view that there are already too many opportunities for gambling and that this is bad for individual, family and community health, but our voices need to be heard if we are to influence public policy. If you agree with the Mission and Aims of Gambling Watch UK, then please register your support.
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Donating Animals Delivers Hope, Income
How are chickens, cows and goats a display of Christ's compassion? It's simple, when a family receives one of these items, they're blessed with the income the animal provides. Smaller animals reproduce quickly, and their offspring can be sold. Larger animals can plow a field or pull a cart. Receiving a gift from the stable truly changes a life.
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Cows and the milk they produce help families grow stronger, healthier and more financially secure. A cow's milk can be consumed, adding much-needed nutrients to the family's diet, or sold, adding to the family's income. The cow's manure serves as a rich fertilizer for farmers, resulting in a more profitable harvest. As cows multiply, so does the financial benefit and the family's hope for the future.
"After having received the gift, we are really blessed. We have some income in our family. We have hope; we have a purpose in life and really are so blessed and so happy, just unlike what we thought our future would be." —Janella, a mother whose adult son received a cow
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Water buffalo are powerful animals often used to plough fields. They produce milk for drinking or selling, and their dung can be used as fuel for cooking. Your gift towards a water buffalo could greatly improve a family's financial situation!
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These portly critters bring powerful financial breakthroughs to needy families. Piglets fetch a good price at market, which enables families to buy whatever they need, and adult pigs provide ample meat for selling or eating.
"As I was very poor before, I used to worry a lot. … But now, since I have [these piglets,] all the worries and everything has been taken away. … After getting these piglets, I really have seen the works of prayer and what faith can really do. My faith is growing day by day." —Missael, a father of three who can now feed and clothe his family
Your gift towards goats can rapidly improve a family's financial situation. In the case of one father, one pair of goats multiplied and enabled him to start a goat farm, resulting in more than 75 goats to milk or sell. He built a house for his family and sent his children to school, offering them a better future than his parents were able to offer him when he was a child.
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Your gift towards chickens can help supplement a family's income and often helps a family get on its feet financially. Hungry families can eat or sell the nutritious eggs, or they can hatch chicks to increase their flock and later have more eggs and chicks to sell.
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Back on June 12th, 2018, my son Shaun was rushed to the hospital where we found out he had a brain tumor that had ruptured. After 2 brain surgeries that early morning and a week in ICU, we found out that he had a type of brain cancer called Medulloblastoma.
We immediately started a treatment plan that consisted both of radiation and chemo. He had 6 weeks of radiation (Monday-Friday) and he was sedated every time. After we finished radiation, we took a month break to let his body recover so we could start chemo. His chemo plan was supposed to be for nine months with follow-up MRIs every three months. We made it through four months of chemo before his next MRI showed nine new tumors growing between his brain and spine. There are four throughout the brain and five growing down his spine.
Shaun's oncologist immediately had us switch chemo plans to buy him some more time – hoping to either keeping his tumors the same size or to shrink them.
With how aggressively his cancer is spreading, Shaun has about a year or less to live. Shaun's body didn't tolerate the new chemo well which led him to be admitted to the hospital for almost 2 weeks. His oncologist and I believe it will be in his best interest to stop chemo and let him be a happy 5-year-old! We are hoping and praying for a miracle, but through all of this, he has been the strongest and bravest person I know!


Other than being a bit of a walk from the old city, this homestay was great to stay in! Breakfast was cooked on demand and staff were very helpful. Room was shared with two other people, but not in bunks, which was great. Bathroom was cleaned daily. Good to stay in if you have a bike/ motorbike to transit to the old city. Otherwise, be prepared to walk 20min each way, which was daunting for a single female traveler to do at night.
Everyone struggles to stay on the budget and still close to the city centre in Hoi An and this is a very good option! The location is good, only 10 min walk to the Old Town area, it's on a quiet street. The staff is simply amazing there, super helpful and the prices for bus services are one of the cheapest! You will get three times more expensive prices if you ask around the town. The breakfast has few options, it's simple and delicious! The room is clean, has no window, little bit of damp smell, but it goes away when you switch on the AC, so don't worry about that unless you're extra sensitive, then take into consideration. Shower/hot water/AC working perfectly fine, very good prices to buy water from Reception, only one thing - the bicycles aren't free like in some other accomodations around and it's on the expensive side.
Great place. Staff went out of their way to help. Banana pancake at breakfast was delicious. Only issue was it was such a long walk to the old town. They had bikes to rent (which I did) for 30,000 dong. Chain was loose and fell off once so I got really oily putting it back on. Would have been nice if bike rental was free for this location.
Best hostel for its price in Hoi an I think. Good location, nice rooms and lovely staff!
This is a lovely guesthouse about 15 mins walk from the old quarter. The owners are lovely kind hearted people. They gave us all the required information on what to see and do in Hoi An. They also let us have breakfast at 11 when we did the sunrise tour of my son which was so nice of them. The room was clean and comfortable. The breakfast provided was absolutely amazing. Definitely would stay here again!
We had the best possible experience staying at this guest house! The owners are a lovely couple, always happy to help and really caring. The rooms are simple and clean, and the guesthouse is in a sweet and quiet street just 15 mind away from the centre. We really felt like home, and we liked it so much that we stayed 6 nights! Highly recommended, we hope to come back!
I really liked staying here, the best budget homestay in Hoi An, super friendly nice welcoming staff, clean rooms and comfy bed, great location and wifi, they have bikes to rent, and you can order food I think, would stay here again and I highly recommend it.
I loved this place. It's a little further from town which I enjoyed. I could totally relax here and if I wanted the beach or the old city it was just a short bike ride away. Bikes were only a dollar a day. The younger lady working there day and night, I forgot her name, but she is just amazing. She was so nice and helped me out a bunch. She made me breakfast later in the morning when I slept and it was simple but good. The rooms were super clean and bed was really comfortable. I actually ended up staying another day to let my body catch up on traveling. The tv also had some movie channels in English which was nice to see American movies when pulling a lazy day. I loved it here and would come back again and recommend to anyone.
We had a great time at Thao Hieu Homestay! The staff were so lovely- cooking us great food, organising laundry which came back super clean, exchanging currency and organising massages in-house! If there was a window it would have been even better but all in all, it was a fantastic stay. Thank you so much, we will be back if we ever visit Hoi An again!
Cleanliness is excellent, the staff are great and the room was comfortable.
The room was clean, large and even clearly labelled. The staff were very eager and helpful and went out of their way to make sure we were happy. The location is okay although it felt farther in the sun, but good value for the price.


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In brief - Friday's news round-up
Filed: Friday, 15th June 2018
By: Staff Writer #2
Get the very latest West Ham news in one place, with our new daily media round-up!
West Ham closing on stunning triple swoop including £27million Lazio star Felipe Anderson
New Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini is also closing on Swansea pair Lukasz Fabianski and Alfie Mawson
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/west-ham-closing-stunning-triple-12707920
West Ham remain in talks for Swansea duo Alfie Mawson and Lukasz Fabianski
West Ham remain in talks with Swansea over deals to sign defender Alfie Mawson and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, according to Sky sources.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11685/11404761/west-ham-remain-in-talks-for-swansea-duo
West Ham press on with summer transfer plans as they offer £25m for Lazio winger Felipe Anderson
West Ham have offered £25million plus £5m in add-ons for Lazio winger Felipe Anderson.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5843977/West-Ham-press-summer-transfer-plans-offer-25m-Lazio-winger-Felipe-Anderson.html
Marlon Santos' Nice loan from Barcelona ends early
West Ham keen on the centre-back - Sky sources.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11685/11404514/marlon-santos-nice-loan-from-barcelona-ends-early
Felipe Anderson's £26m transfer from Lazio to West Ham close
West Ham look to be close to finalising a deal for Lazio midfielder Felipe Anderson, according to Sky in Italy.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11685/11404262/felipe-andersons-26m-transfer-from-lazio-to-west-ham-close
West Ham 2018/19 fixtures: Hammers kick off at Liverpool
West Ham United will kick-off the 2018/19 Premier League season with a trip to Anfield to face UEFA Champions League runners-up Liverpool.
https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/june/14-june/west-ham-201819-fixtures-hammers-kick-liverpool
Premier League 2018/19 fixtures: Opening weekend matches revealed
West Ham United travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool on the opening weekend of the 2018/19 season.
https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/june/14-june/premier-league-201819-fixtures-opening-weekend-matches-revealed
Add our fixtures to your calendar now
The Hammers kick-off their Premier League fixtures at Liverpool on the weekend of 11 August - and you can make sure you never miss a kick by downloading our full fixture list to your calendar!
https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/june/14-june/add-our-fixtures-your-calendar-now
Martin: I still look back and wonder why I was dropped
Alvin Martin and Frank McAvennie will never forget the experience of playing at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.
https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/june/14-june/martin-i-still-look-back-and-wonder-why-i-was-dropped
West Ham 2018/19 fixtures: Seven dates for your diary
The Hammers have been handed tricky starts to the season in the past four years.
https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/june/14-june/west-ham-201819-fixtures-seven-dates-your-diary
The unlikeliest World Cup call-up in West Ham history
The first West Ham United player to be named in a FIFA World Cup squad was not, you might be surprised to hear, a young Bobby Moore in 1962.
https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/june/14-june/unlikeliest-world-cup-call-west-ham-history
Hammers youngster Diangana pens new two-year contract
West Ham United are delighted to announce that winger Grady Diangana has signed a new two-year deal with the Club, to run until June 2020.
https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/june/14-june/hammers-youngster-diangana-pens-new-two-year-contract
Noble hails 'really exciting' season opener at Anfield
Mark Noble is relishing the opportunity to kick-off the 2018/19 Premier League season at Anfield.
https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2018/june/14-june/noble-hails-really-exciting-season-opener-anfield
2018/19 fixtures released
West Ham United will begin the 2018/19 Premier League season with a trip to beaten Champions League finalists Liverpool.
http://kumb.com/story.php?id=132573
Anderson on the way - and other transfer stories
West Ham are hoping to conclude a deal to sign Felipe Anderson within the next 48 hours.
Arnautovic crowned KUMB Player of the Year
Marko Arnautovic has been named as the KUMB.com Player of the Year in the 21st annual KUMB Awards.
In brief - Friday's news round-up [12th Jul 2019]
In brief - Tuesday's news round-up [9th Jul 2019]
In brief - Monday's news round-up [8th Jul 2019]
In brief - Friday's news round-up [5th Jul 2019]
In brief - Thursday's news round-up [4th Jul 2019]


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Click to copyhttps://apnews.com/5a758732e993417eb47bf5e05a02d4f8
Brazil players defend coach amid report questioning future
By MAURICIO SAVARESEJuly 5, 2019
Brazil's coach Tite walks on the field during a practice session at the Granja Comary training center in Teresopolis, Brazil, Thursday, July 4, 2019. Brazil will play against Peru for the final of the Copa America on July 7. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Before the Copa América began, Brazil's new soccer boss said coach Tite will stay on the job until the 2022 World Cup no matter what happens in the tournament. But two of his players didn't sound convinced that their coach's future is secure.
Defender Marquinhos and midfielder Casemiro gave Tite votes of confidence on Friday, telling reporters the coach has the squad's support to march on after Sunday's final against Peru at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. One day before, Brazil's soccer body issued a short statement saying Tite has its trust.
The pro-Tite campaign began after website UOL reported the coach considered leaving the team because of changes to his staff. Assistant Sylvinho has joined Lyon and coordinator Edu Gaspar is reportedly joining Arsenal once the Copa América ends.
According to the report, Brazil's soccer confederation president Rogerio Caboclo is already looking at possible replacements for Tite, who took the job in 2016 and last year extended his deal until the end of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
"I leave this vote of confidence for our coach," Marquinhos said at the Granja Comary training ground in Teresópolis, outside Rio. "He is a coach that has gotten good results. He has the affection, the trust of the group. He is a coach to treat with care until the next World Cup."
Casemiro agreed. "The numbers speak for themselves. He is a coach that is on the job for three years and gets more than 80% of the points. You need to have respect. He is a winner," the player said.
Brazil's soccer confederation said in a statement it "manifests its trust on the work of the coaching staff of Brazil's national team. And reaffirms that it will be kept in a permanent way."
Tite did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Once hailed as a hero by Brazil fans, Tite has been criticized for his conservative choices since the World Cup in Russia. Although his team is the favorite to win the Copa América, analysts believe the competition doesn't rise to the level he will find in Qatar.
Casemiro said Tite's leadership has been a key to Brazil's stable performances in recent years, and should be in years to come.
"Tite is in our head for us to be mentally strong, for us not to lose our balance. He has a great success in that, in making the team concentrate and avoid being teased by our adversaries," the midfielder said.
Marquinhos said Tite understands the pressure that comes with his role.
"We need to be internally strong. There is a lot of competition in Brazil, not only for players, but also for the coach," he said. "We all know that we have to do our best here."
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/apf-Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports