Editor’s Comment – May

Since the somewhat surprising (or not) announcement of a general election by Theresa May, unsurprisingly the debate and political sparring has mainly been around the subject of Brexit. This election, whether Labour likes it or not, is going to be... View Article

Viewpoint – Nigel Ostime from Hawkins/Brown

Nigel Ostime from Hawkins\Brown gives his views on the barriers to quality in the planning and procurement process, and how they could be broken down. Architects will tell you there is intrin- sic value in good design. Quality is delivered... View Article

Editor’s Comment – April

The launch of Herzog & de Meuron’s major new 58-storey apartment block in Canary Wharf, One Park Drive, was somewhat overshadowed by some fairly stark words on Brexit from Sir George Iacobescu, chairman of developer Canary Wharf Group. Speaking after... View Article

Design for life

The concept of creating ‘generative spaces’ is leading to a significant evolution in the approach to healthcare design, according to Heather Fennimore of ergonomic design specialist Humanscale. Here she explains the thinking behind the idea. In 2003 forward-thinking American architect... View Article

What’s in a label?

While BREEAM has made significant progress in many areas of the built environment, it is struggling to have the same impact in healthcare. So is a new approach needed to incentivise sustainable design? Mott MacDonald’s UK healthcare lead Gordon Hudson... View Article

Editor’s comment – March

It may have been a battleground since time immemorial, but recently the territory between architects and ‘heritage’ groups has seen some fierce exchanges. Added to this however have been  unusually heated words directed by architects against their peers. Never one to... View Article

Going for the ‘gold standard’

How ‘zero compromise’ do architects need to be when designing envelopes to the Passivhaus standard and are aesthetic, and other compromises necessary? Sarah Johnson reports on the challenges involved. The Passivhaus standard The Passivhaus standard is often seen as the... View Article

Greening the envelope

Senior landscape architect at Arup, Sally Armour discusses weaving health and resilience into our cities through green building envelopes. Increasingly, the human population is becoming more urbanised – and by the end of the century it is estimated that 7... View Article

CDM 2015: how to comply

In April 2015, the main set of regulations for managing the health, safety and welfare of construction projects was replaced. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) were last updated in 2007, so the most recent update has put several... View Article

Construction skills shortage gets worse, warns FMB

The skills shortage in the construction industry has got worse and has now spread beyond bricklayers and carpenters to other key trades, according to the latest research by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). The FMB’s State of Trade Survey... View Article

BSRIA responds to Prime Minister’s speech

In response to a speech by the Prime Minister on the UK’s future relationship with the EU, Julia Evans, BSRIA Chief Executive, said: “The Prime Minister, Theresa May, altered the political and economic landscape. It is fair to say that BSRIA... View Article

Bridging the gap between architects and contractors

By Tony Owen, Novus Property Solutions. Ask any architect how they feel about their faith in contractors to work accurately to a brief, and you’ll see some raised eyebrows. Ask a contractor about their relationship with architects, and you’ll likely... View Article

Managing risk in megaprojects

By Steve Cooper, general manager UK and Ireland at Aconex. ‘Megaproject’ is the term applied to multibillion-dollar investment projects such as vast railways, airports, highways or huge entertainment venues. Such schemes can be economically transformative for a country. Consider the Panama Canal... View Article

Elmhurst Energy welcomes publication of the Bonfield Report

Energy performance measurement specialists Elmhurst Energy has welcomed the publication of the long-awaited “Each Home Matters” report by Peter Bonfield, but has expressed disappointment at some omissions. Despite having the scope of reviewing ‘Consumer Advice, Protection, Standards and Enforcement for... View Article