UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Housing Research Center (PHRC), housed in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State, will host a residential construction conference March 26-27 at the Central Hotel and Conference Center in Harrisburg. The conference invites housing industry professionals — such as builders, design professionals, remodelers, code officials, educators, factory-built housing manufacturers and product manufacturers — to discuss best practices, regulation and innovation in the residential construction industry.
The conference offers two full days of educational panels, talks, exhibits and events. The first day will feature sessions pertaining to construction materials and methods, high-performance housing, and land development and planning, while the second will focus on weatherization, building codes and construction.
Chris Hine, associate director of the PHRC, will welcome attendees, followed by the keynote address, “Universal Design and Visitability in Our Homes from the Curb to the Closet,” delivered by Dorothy Gerring, head of the Department of Architecture and Sustainable Design at the Pennsylvania College of Technology; Rob Gladfelter, chair of the landscape architecture program at Temple University; and Dina Snider, principal architect at Strada Architecture LLC.
Following the keynote, sessions on the first day will include topics such as the role of HVAC in healthy and comfortable indoor environments, housing advocacy trends and real estate values. The first day will wrap up with networking opportunities and time to visit exhibits from product manufacturers, suppliers and professional services.
The second day will feature session topics such as the 2021 PA UCC Residential Code, achieving deep energy savings through coordinated services, and energy recovery ventilators. The conference will close with a session on crawlspaces to be presented by the PHRC team.
PHRC Housing Conference presentations are by invited speakers only, with a focus on providing practical information and updates on issues of interest to residential construction industry professionals. Up to 12 continuing education credits are available for this conference through the American Institute of Architects, the International Code Council, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, as well as for Pennsylvania engineers for their professional development hours and for landscape architecture clock hours. Attendees should check each individual session for approved hours.
Sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities are available. Contact Darrin Wright at dtw153@psu.edu for information about sponsoring or exhibiting in the PHRC Housing Conference. For more information about the PHRC’s 2025 conference, including agendas for both days, visit the conference website.