Company plans to build $7.5 billion 'smart mini-city' in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) – An extremely ambitious $7.5 billion real estate project was announced July 31 and is already scheduled to break ground in December 2019.
Bleutech Park, sponsored by Bleutech Park Properties, Inc., will have net-zero buildings, according to a release, which will create an insular mini-city and featuring automated multi-functional designs, renewable energy sources, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, robotics, supertrees, self-healing concrete structures and more high-tech gadgetry straight from a science-fiction movie.
The privately funded project, made possible by institutional and private equity investments, will take six years to complete, but promises to redefine the mixed-use environment with workforce housing, office and retail space, ultra-luxury residential, hotel and entertainment.
Green technology will showcase energy generation and storage, waste-heat recovery, on-site water purification and waste treatment as well as localized air cleaning. The company describes the mini-city as a high-tech biome that aims to change the future of design and give life to new technologies.
Bleutech has partnered with Martin-Harris Construction and tech-company Cisco in order to achieve this bold vision that makes the $1.8 billion Las Vegas Stadium seem like a modest win.
The company claims that the very materials with which the ‘smart’ buildings are made will be self-healing, energy generating and breathable.
President of Martin-Harris Construction, the general contractor for the city’s new municipal courthouse, Guy Martin said, “We are excited to one again help redefine construction methods here in Las Vegas.”
Even the flooring in the new property will have the ability to capture and reuse the energy of human movement to be used for things like heating, cooling, lighting and electricity. A 95 percent reduction in imported water consumption will be achieved by connecting the park’s buildings to a network of supertrees.
Sound like pure fantasy? Mike Grigsby with Cisco’s Smart+Connected Communities group says it perhaps once was, but no longer. “It will push the envelope of innovation and bring together technology solutions that once seemed like pure science fiction. The convergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Cities in a project like this challenges the way we define both of those solutions. It opens our thinking to what is truly possible and reveals just how expansive the connected communities concept really is,” Grigsby explained.
The exterior of buildings will become giant solar panels through the use of photovoltaic glass, supporting the park’s commitment to zero carbon emissions. Plus, to avoid having human construction workers perform unsafe tasks during the park’s creation, Bleutech will use unmanned robots and aerial systems to help with hard-to-reach areas.
Bleutech Park Properties, Inc., CTIO, Bertrand Dano said, “Bleutech believes in the rise of digitization and robotics in construction as this will increase productivity and efficiency. Wearable technology will increase workplace safety, particularly in heavy lifting and repetition. We believe in the future of robotics and their ability to improve jobsite safety and employee’s health.”
Robotics will also be essential to providing the property with constant security, using biometrics and other cutting edge technologies.
If you’re worried all these robots are stealing jobs from us humans, don’t be. Bleutech says that it anticipates creating more than 25,000 jobs with the development.
Tommy White, Laborers Union Local 872 Business Manager & Secretary-Treasurer, said, “Laborers Local 872 is honored to join with Bleutech in building this state-of-the-art development. This is going to be a project unlike any other and it is great to see Las Vegas step to the forefront. With cutting-edge technology, innovative training methods and exceptional specialty construction materials, we look forward to providing Bleutech with the skilled workforce required to achieve the excellence only this project will deliver.”
Whether the project is mere pie-in-the-sky whimsy or a serious proposal, locals will certainly make their speculations. If Bleutech Park is realized, though, it promises to benefit all Las Vegans economically and culturally as well as improve the valley's health.
11 August 2019
3 NEWS Las Vegas
