New global ranking shows that in complex buildings markets, the ability to assure cost, schedule and delivery confidence is becoming a source of competitive advantage

AMSTERDAM, July 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Arcadis (EURONEXT: ARCAD), the world’s leading company delivering data-driven sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets, today announced that Geneva remains the world’s most expensive city in which to build, ahead of London and Zurich, according to its 2026 International Construction Cost Index.

The annual index, which compares construction costs across 100 major cities, shows that the world’s highest-cost construction markets remain concentrated in mature, complex cities with deep demand and constrained delivery capacity. Geneva ranks first globally, followed by London, Zurich, Munich and Copenhagen. New York City, San Francisco, Dublin, Bristol and Philadelphia complete the global top ten.

While the top of the ranking remains broadly consistent, the wider market context has shifted. Global construction markets are moving from inflation-led uncertainty into a more selective phase of investment, where capital is being deployed more carefully rather than demand simply slowing. For buildings clients, capital is increasingly favouring complex, high-performing assets that support long-term growth — including modern workplaces, healthcare facilities, laboratories, data centres, advanced manufacturing facilities and other highly serviced buildings that underpin digital and energy transition. But higher financing costs, energy volatility, tariff uncertainty and supply-chain constraints are putting greater pressure on project viability and increasing the value of early cost intelligence, scenario planning, procurement strategy and disciplined programme delivery.

In higher-cost markets, early cost planning can help protect value and secure scarce supply-chain capacity. In lower-cost markets, clients still need to test market readiness, infrastructure availability and delivery resilience before committing capital.

Edel Christie, Global President – Places, Arcadis, said: “Construction cost is no longer just a measure of price, and Arcadis’ International Construction Cost Index is no longer simply a guide to where construction is most or least expensive. It shows where cost, capacity, delivery risk and investment confidence are converging. That matters because cost is not the same as deliverability: projects should be designed, procured and planned around real-world conditions and the local realities that shape delivery.

“The need to build has not gone away. Cities still need homes, infrastructure, resilient energy systems, modern workplaces and digital infrastructure to support the next generation of economic growth. The opportunity is clear, but investment will flow to places and programmes where delivery is credible, viable and achievable — not just cheap to build.”

This is particularly evident in highly serviced assets such as data centres, where power availability, successful sourcing of long lead-in equipment, supply-chain capacity and speed-to-market are now more important to investment decisions than local construction costs.

The index also highlights the breadth of cost variation across global construction markets. While high-cost locations are concentrated in Europe, the UK and North America, some of the lowest-cost locations are found across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Bengaluru ranks as the least expensive city in the index, followed by Buenos Aires, Delhi, Mumbai and Ho Chi Minh City.

The important distinction is that lower headline costs do not translate into easier or more reliable delivery. Market readiness, grid capacity, permitting, supply-chain depth, skills availability and access to specialist contractors are increasingly decisive in determining whether projects can move from planning to construction.

Todd Burns, Global Service Executive for Program Management, Arcadis, said: “In today’s market, upfront cost is no longer the sole focus. The bigger questions are now about how quickly a project can generate revenue, how efficiently capital can be deployed and how confidently it can be delivered as market conditions change.

“That requires cost, schedule, procurement and risk decisions to be brought together much earlier, so clients can test trade-offs before they become expensive to change. Done well, that helps protect viability, secure the right market capacity and move more quickly from investment case to revenue.”

Top ten most expensive cities to build in, 2026

GenevaLondonZurichMunichCopenhagenNew York CitySan FranciscoDublinBristolPhiladelphia

The full Arcadis International Construction Cost Index 2026 report is available to read and download here.

ABOUT ARCADIS ICC 
The Arcadis International Construction Cost Index compares the relative cost of construction across 100 global cities. The index is based on a survey of construction costs, review of market conditions and the professional judgement of Arcadis’ global team of experts. Costs are indexed against Amsterdam, which is set at 100.

The index is designed to compare the relative costs of delivering the same building functions in different cities. It excludes land, demolition, external works and services, risk allowances, professional fees and local sales taxes. It does not account for purchasing power parity.

ABOUT ARCADIS
Arcadis is the world’s leading company delivering data-driven sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are around 34,000 architects, data analysts, designers, engineers, project planners, water management and sustainability experts, all driven by our passion for improving quality of life. As part of our commitment to accelerating a planet positive future, we work with our clients to make sustainable project choices, combining digital and human innovation, and embracing future-focused skills across the environment, energy and water, buildings, transport, and infrastructure sectors. We operate in over 30 countries, and reported €4.9 billion in gross revenues for 2025. www.arcadis.com

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SOURCE Arcadis

CALGARY, Alberta, July 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As the Friends of Science Society celebrates its 24ᵗʰ year of operation, they issue a debate challenge on climate and Net Zero targets, to the upstart UN “Friends of Science” group, described in this June 17, 2026, report by Inside Climate News on the Bonn Climate Conference.

Friends of Science Society’s climate intelligence partner, Clintel, issued a call for debate back in 2019 when Greta Thunberg’s famous “How Dare You” speech triggered a global movement based on an assumed climate emergency. The Friends of Science Society’s video read-out of Clintel’s letter to UN Sec. Gen. Antonio Guterres went viral, with over 700,000 views, before @facebook started blocking it. Clintel’s new president is former Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, author of “Blue Planet in Green Shackles,” among other books and papers.

Friends of Science Society and Clintel’s global network of over 2,000 scientists and scholars look forward to opportunities to engage in open, civil debate with the UN upstart “Friends of Science.” As reported by Politico, Clintel signatory Dr. Matthew Wielicki will lead the next US National Climate Assessment.

Clintel’s German Ambassador, Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt, speaks frankly about the problems with Net Zero targets and climate change in the re-released award-winning documentary by Canadian Mathew Embry. The film is titled, “Global Warning,” and is now free to view on YouTube. Embry follows famous climate activist Catherine Abreu to the 2019 Bonn Climate Conference, showing how activists have personal access to Canadian climate negotiators.

Prime Minister Carney frequently repeats that “Canada has what the world wants” and the recent G7 Statement reflects that interest. Alberta’s Premier Smith says the federal government has “9 Bad Laws” that must be repealed in order to drive investment and get oil and gas products to world markets. Premier Smith, then a radio talk show host, is also prominently featured in Embry’s “Global Warning” which was filmed during an oil and real estate market crash in Alberta.

While energy mavens at Doomberg believe that Carney is turning away from his climate obsession, Robert Lyman’s new report shows that “a leopard does not change its spots.” Lyman is in favor of reform for approving major projects, but he lays out the challenges in this submission to the government.

Friends of Science Society says that “Canada is Caught in a Green Spider Web.”

Embry’s film contrasts the ideology of climate activists with down-to-earth scientific commentary by Prof. Vahrenholt. Vahrenholt was once an industry leader and proponent of major wind farm operations. In “Global Warning”, Vahrenholt, an environmentalist now, expresses his deep concern that wind farms are wiping out rare birds and bats, driving energy poverty and deindustrialization in Germany. Vahrenholt is the co-author of a number of peer-reviewed papers and books that explore how the Sun drives climate change.

Embry brings Abreu face-to-face with Canada’s Dr. Ian Clark, as in this 2020 interview clip for Friends of Science Society. But Abreu is unmoved by Clark’s scientific explanation that there is no climate crisis and carbon dioxide from human industry is not the driving force in climate change.

Global fear of a climate emergency stemmed from the misuse of a climate scenario known as RCP 8.5 (SSP5-8.5) which the official climate modelling community has now abandoned, deeming it to be ‘implausible.’ The website “TheyKnew.com” reports that, “For over a decade, a single extreme climate scenario — RCP8.5 — powered nearly every alarming headline, regulation, lawsuit, and school curriculum on climate change. Scientists flagged it as unrealistic as early as 2017. The institutions that kept using it knew.”

The demand for “climate action” is now unnecessary as the imaginary climate emergency is over. Friends of Science Society took some 300 Mayors and councillors in Canada to task for their “Elbows Up for Climate” demands in this report challenging their “climate madness” and video. The “climate mayors” method of financing these extraordinary “Elbows Up” demands? A windfall tax on Big Oil.

“Electrify Now” – the latest thing from the EU, Canada and other nations, is doomed to fail due as outlined in this Friends of Science Society video.

“What are Climate Policies Costing Canada?“- some $476 billion on climate action (2020-2030). Since the phantom climate emergency is over, those borrowed billions should be redirected to more pragmatic concerns, or better yet not spent at all.

About
Friends of Science Society is an independent group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens that is celebrating its 24th year of offering climate science insights. After a thorough review of a broad spectrum of literature on climate change, Friends of Science Society has concluded that the sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide (CO2).

Friends of Science Society
PO Box 61172 RPO Kensington
Calgary AB T2N 4S6
Canada
Toll-free Telephone: 1-888-789-9597
Web: friendsofscience.org 
E-mail: contact@friendsofscience.org 
Web: climatechange101.ca

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SOURCE Friends of Science Society

The latest version brings together real-time translation, AI meeting minutes, voice output, terminology dictionaries, MCP/API access, QR-based event translation, file transcription, subtitles, AI dubbing, virtual office collaboration, enterprise administration, and new VoicePing ASR and MT models.

TOKYO, July 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — VoicePing Inc. today announced the availability of VoicePing 3.0, the latest version of its multilingual AI communication platform for in-person and web meetings, exhibitions and events, audio and video files, recordings, and virtual offices.

VoicePing 3.0 is designed for organizations that need to communicate, document and reuse spoken information across multilingual workplaces. The platform captures audio from meetings, seminars, webinars, external web conferences, recorded audio and video files, and hybrid office environments, then converts that communication into real-time transcription and translation, AI meeting minutes, meeting summaries, action items and searchable meeting logs.

The latest version also supports translated voice playback, AI dubbing, terminology dictionaries, MCP/API access for approved AI workflows, and event QR translation. These capabilities help multilingual teams reduce information gaps, improve meeting follow-up and manage communication knowledge across the organization. Experience VoicePing 3.0 for free or request a demo to learn more.

“Global teams no longer communicate in one place,” said Akinori Nakajima, CEO of VoicePing. “Important conversations happen across meetings, events, recorded files, external web conferences and hybrid offices. With VoicePing 3.0, we rebuilt the platform so enterprises can translate multilingual communication in real time, preserve it as searchable knowledge, manage terminology, and connect meeting records to governed AI workflows through MCP and APIs.”

Multilingual Communication Is Becoming Enterprise Infrastructure

As global companies and organizations with international talent expand across distributed teams, events, training content and hybrid work, communication increasingly happens across many different channels. Language barriers, scattered meeting records, slow follow-up and enterprise security requirements make it difficult to turn those conversations into shared knowledge.

Single-purpose transcription or translation tools can support individual meetings or files, but they are often not enough for enterprises that need to manage multilingual communication continuously. VoicePing 3.0 addresses this need by combining real-time translation, voice output and AI dubbing, AI meeting minutes, event translation, web meeting capture, file transcription, terminology dictionaries, MCP/API access, virtual office collaboration, analytics, security and administration in one platform.

Key Updates in VoicePing 3.0

VoicePing 3.0 includes product, model, performance and security updates across desktop, mobile and enterprise administration.

Key enhancements include:

A redesigned user experience for clearer multilingual meeting workflows.

Improved real-time translation responsiveness across display, sharing, playback and summarization.

Performance improvements for stable use during live meetings.

Enhanced workspace security, including permission management, IP restriction, audit logs and sharing controls.

Improved mobile offline models for more reliable transcription and translation in unstable network environments.

New VoicePing ASR V0.1 and VoicePing MT V0.1 models for speech recognition and multilingual translation.

Core Platform Capabilities

VoicePing 3.0 supports multilingual communication across the full enterprise workflow:

Real-time translation, transcription and voice output:Translate microphone audio, PC system audio, other app audio, presentation audio and mobile conversations in real time, with bilingual display, translated voice playback, topic summaries, searchable logs and QR-based listener mode.

AI meeting minutes and searchable meeting logs:Store recorded meetings with playback, speaker segments, original transcripts, translations, summaries, topics, action items, AI prompts, tags, participants and sharing permissions.

Terminology dictionary management:Manage personal and workspace dictionaries, special-word recognition, translation dictionaries, vocabulary, pronunciation, phrase replacement, CSV import/export and AI suggestions to improve consistency for names, product terms and industry vocabulary.

Web Meeting Bot: Join Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams meetings to record, transcribe, translate, summarize, extract topics and generate action items, with Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar and Slack integration.

File transcription, subtitles and AI dubbing:Upload audio and video files to generate transcripts, translations, subtitle files, subtitled videos and dubbed audio or video for training, webinars, demos, YouTube content and archived recordings.

MCP/API access for AI workflows:Connect meeting logs, transcripts, summaries and action items to external systems and approved AI workflows. In organizations using Claude or ChatGPT with MCP-enabled environments, meeting knowledge can support follow-up drafting, task organization, CRM updates, enterprise knowledge search and internal Q&A.

Expo Mode for events:Let attendees at exhibitions, seminars, conferences, booths and international meetings scan a QR code and view real-time translation on their own smartphones without creating an account. VoicePing 3.0 supports individual translation sessions from a single URL and gives organizers visibility into access, usage and language activity.

Virtual office for multilingual teams:Provide presence, meeting rooms, audio and video, screen sharing, chat, reactions, collaborative notes, whiteboards and GPT support inside a virtual office environment, with real-time transcription and translation available during meetings.

Enterprise administration and security:Manage users, roles, groups, floors, projects, feature access, IP restrictions, API/MCP access, usage, quotas, billing, event logs, debug logs and workspace analytics.

VoicePing ASR and MT Models

VoicePing also introduced VoicePing ASR V0.1, a speech recognition model, and VoicePing MT V0.1, a multilingual translation model. These models support core functions across transcription, translation, subtitles, meeting summaries and search, with a focus on practical multilingual business communication, especially across Asian languages.

In the company’s benchmark testing across 5,000 business conversation clips in English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese, totaling approximately 41 hours, VoicePing ASR V0.1 recorded an average word error rate of 19.3%. Lower WER indicates higher speech recognition accuracy.

For English-Japanese translation, VoicePing MT V0.1 recorded an overall score of 87.2 in the company’s evaluation, indicating performance comparable with major translation models in the evaluated setting. Higher scores indicate higher translation quality. VoicePing is continuing development and evaluation of the next model version, VoicePing V0.2.

These model updates are expected to improve transcription accuracy, English-Japanese translation quality, live subtitle stability, and the quality of meeting summaries and search.

Built for Enterprise Deployment

VoicePing 3.0 includes governance and security capabilities required for enterprise use, including role and permission management, feature access controls, IP restriction, allowed-network control, event logs, debug logs, API/MCP access management and workspace usage visibility.

The platform is supported by ISO/IEC 27001 / ISMS certification, TLS 1.2+ encrypted communication, a policy that customer data is not used for AI training, and an option designed for deployments where data should not be stored on the cloud side.

Adoption and Scale

VoicePing is used by more than 1,000 organizations and more than 100,000 users across manufacturers, universities, public institutions, event operators and global companies. The platform supports 48 languages and has processed more than 550 million seconds of translated audio and more than 1 million meeting records.

Availability

VoicePing 3.0 is available now. Organizations can learn more, request a demo or start for free at:

Product website: https://voiceping.net/

Demo request: https://forms.gle/beGbg8tkHUL2dNZJ6

Start free: https://app.voiceping.io/user/signup

About VoicePing

VoicePing provides a multilingual communication platform for companies and teams working across languages. The platform combines real-time translation, AI meeting minutes, meeting logs, event translation, external meeting bots, virtual office collaboration, remote work management and enterprise administration. VoicePing helps organizations record, translate, summarize and reuse communication from meetings, events, files, recordings and hybrid offices as searchable knowledge.

Company name: VoicePing Inc.

Head office: 3F Nihonbashi Otomi Building, 13-7 Nihonbashi Odenmacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0011, Japan

Representative: Akinori Nakajima, CEO

Founded: July 2019

Capital: JPY 209,900,096, including capital reserve

Business: Development and provision of the multilingual communication platform VoicePing

Media Contact

VoicePing Inc. Public Relations Email: support@voice-ping.com Tel: 050-3117-0204, weekdays 11:00-17:00 JST

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SOURCE VoicePing Inc.