A new terminal at Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport is going to open its doors in autumn. After commission Zvartnots airport will be ranked as class "B". By the standards of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), airports are ranked by 4 classes - A, B, C, D. Highest class is "A ". According to Deputy Director of Armenia International Airports Andranik Shkhyan, new terminal building of the airport will make a holistic new complex. Total area of the new complex is 34 thousand square meters. A registration hall will consists of 46 check-in desks and a new two-storey 20 thousand square meters parking area for 600 cars will be added. Shkhyan told reporters, that construction total budget is $ 244 million, and so far they have already attracted $160 million investments for the construction work. A new airport is able to handle 3 million passengers a year instead of current 1,6 million. New airport building is a necessity, as over the past 4 years passenger flow in Armenia has increased by 8-12 percent per year. Construction of new airport began in 2008. Construction works carries Argentine Courthill Corporation, which built both the current and new airport buildings. Car parking construction is led by Armenian construction company SahakyanShin. Another Armenian company MLL Industries carries sewage and finishing works. There are also other companies including in construction works.

According to report released by National Statistical Service of Armenia, in the first quarter of this year residential construction increased by 198.4 percent over the same period last year. Overall residential construction spending was 14 655.7 million AMD ($39 million). Compared to the same period last year, residential construction work increased 3.1 times and amounted 5 996.2 million AMD ($16.1 million). Government expenditures on residential construction have not changed this year - 3 030.5 million AMD ($8.1 million). As reported, residential construction in the capital has increased 2.4 times compared with the same period last year and totaled 7 391.4 million AMD ($19.8 millon). The amount of work performed in Yerevan by the state budget hasn't changed- 95.6 million AMD ($256 thousand). Population housing expenditures have also increased by 82.6 percent and amounted 1 382.5 million AMD ($3.7 million). Note, that organizations mainly invested in Yerevan, as regions are less attractive for developers. Developers' investments in housing totaled 5 913.3 million AMD ($15.8 million) in Yerevan, while in regions investments made only in Tavush marz and amounted only 82.9 million AMD ($222.8 thousand). The second and the third places took Shirak and Lori regions - 1 854.3 million AMD ($4.9 million) and 1 547.8 million AMD ($4.1 million) respectively. Government residential construction spending in Shirak and Lori totaled 1 776.3 million AMD ($4.7 million) and 1 158.3 million AMD ($3.1 million) respectively. Compared to the same period last year these figures haven't changed. In the first quarter of this year about 59.304 thousand square meters of residential area was put in commission compared to 29.888 thousand square meters last year.

Fashion TV signs agreement with the Al Habtoor Group to build in Dubai the world's first Fashion Hotel. Fashion TV, this week at the Cannes Film Festival, announced plans, in collaboration with the Al Habtoor Group, to launch the world's first ever Fashion Hotel, in Dubai. The hotel, to be located in the heart of Dubai, will be owned and operated by the Al Habtoor Group. No specific details on location or opening dates were given. It will be 30-storey high and the exterior will display a projection using a 100 meter LED screen, broadcasting the latest Fashion TV highlights, around the clock. Its 200 rooms will be equipped with the latest lighting and audio-video technologies and will make extensive use of the latest 3D equipment. They will also have access to Fashion TV's 30 channels, as well as the biggest Fashion DVD library in the world, offering 50,000 DVDs on the history of fashion. The hotel will also have a wide variety of restaurants, bars, lounges, nightclubs, spas and cinemas, as well as fashion-themed rooms. Mohammed Al Habtoor said, "It's an exceptional project and one which is likely to have a massive impact on Dubai, making it the future fashion capital of the world. The city will certainly never be the same again." This won't be the only Fashion Hotel. Al Habtoor Group and Fashion TV said in an interview that plans are to open other Fashion Hotels in high-style locations around the world. We have our bets on Paris, Shanghai, New York, and Milan. The Al Habtoor Group has grown with the UAE, and while best known for construction, it is globally recognised through its involvement in the hotel, automotive, real estate, education, insurance and publishing sectors. It constructed Dubai International Airport, Dubai Hospital. Al Habtoor Group also built 321 meter high 7 star hotel Burj Al Arab and 600 room, 26 storey high Jumeirah Beach hotel.

After thirteen years as the world's premier Internet Search Engine, Google has finally decided to get its own address. The company has hired a German architecture firm to undertake construction of its own office. With plans to add over 6,000 new employees just in 2011 alone, Google is in massive need of some new space. For over a decade, Google has leased its offices in Northern California, spread out between 65 different buildings in the Mountain View area. That number is more than double what it was in 2005, and the company expects to grow even more in the coming years as it makes dramatic staff increases. According to Mercury News, Google announced this week it plans to build its brand new headquarters on a property in Mountain View, California south of Palo Alto near the Moffett Federal Airfield. The Mountain View City Council approved the deal in late March, and Google is expected to make the $30 million upfront payment in June for a lease that will run for 53 years on half of the 18.6-acre city-owned site. Mountain View and Google had reached an agreement in 2007 to lease the other 9.2 acres, with Google paying an initial rent of $1.1 million a year. The two deals collectively allow Google to develop up to 595,000 square feet of office and research and development space. German firm Ingenhoven Architects, renowned for their large-scale environmentally-friendly projects and unique aesthetics, will reportedly design Google's new structure. Ingenhoven has designed buildings in Europe, Asia and Australia, including a tubular glass and steel structure for the new European Investment Bank headquarters in Luxembourg and a new zero-emission railway station in Stuttgart, Germany, that will require no heating, cooling or mechanical ventilation. "We've asked them to build the most green, sustainable building possible," a spokesman for Google told Mercury News. Google is not sharing any details, but city officials said preliminary plans could be filed later this month, with construction starting as early as 2012.

According to report released by the National Statistical Service of Armenia, in the first quarter of this year construction works dropped by 8 percent over the same period last year. The main reason for this decline was a sharp cutback of international credits, by 84.5 percent. Compared to the same period of last year, government and local community spending also dropped - respectively by 14.5 and 81.6 percent. Instead of it, there is a jump in construction works financed by charitable foundations, companies and population. According to the report, company construction costs rose by 41 percent and population spending by 21.8 percent. As reported by Statistical Service overall construction spending in Armenia in first quarter of this year was 44 592.1 million AMD ($120 million), particularly government spending was 5 609.3 million AMD ($15 million), local community - 35.5 million AMD ($96 thousand), and construction against international credits- 2 944.8 million AMD ($8 million). Companies have invested unto construction about 22 722.4 million AMD ($61 million), which was almost half of total construction works. During the period of Humanitarian Aid construction amount 6 523.5 million AMD ($17.6 million), and population spending was 6 756.6 million AMD ($18 million). According to report, during the first quarter of this year more than half of construction works- about 23 087.2 million AMD ($62 million) were done in Yerevan. The second and the third places took Kotayk and Ararat regions(marzs), with 3 961.1 million ($10.6 million) and 3 371.2 million AMD ($9 million) respectively. The lowest index was in Vayots Dzor region - 238.8 million AMD ($643.7 thousand).