Buildings

Luke Osborne (left) is energy & emerging technologies solutions advisor and Shahid Khan is technical manager at the Electrical Contractors’ Association As low-carbon technology and energy efficiency take centre stage in the UK’s energy strategy, commercial opportunities are booming. It’s also a time for electrotechnical designers and installers to consider…

Mark Wibberley is associate director at John Robertson Architects The role of compliance monitoring in the successful delivery of many medium- to large-scale schemes is rarely discussed outside the context of the projects in which it operates. Yet the establishment of a compliance monitoring team (CMT) is routinely a requirement…

Gurprit Bass is associate director, façade engineer & sustainability lead at façade specialist Wintech With record-breaking temperatures hitting the UK this week, it is appropriate to consider the issue of overheating. In residential dwellings, overheating has historically not been given serious consideration as an issue. With the advent of more…

Stuart McLaren is decarbonomics director at Atkins The decarbonisation of our built environment is a key pillar in the strategy to reach global net-zero targets, and it is entirely possible to design new buildings that deliver this. The issue is to scale it so that this is the achievable standard…

Boris Johnson’s time in office was a tumultuous and historic period unlike any other. Throughout much of it, the prime minister rarely missed an opportunity to don a hard hat and get out on a construction site, as the industry he declared would Build Back Better was rarely far from…

Sarah Peterson is director of energy and sustainability at Harley Haddow Homebuilders in the UK are set to face significant changes with a major step in the government’s drive to become carbon neutral. With the rise of net zero and a nationwide commitment to create a cleaner and greener built…

Tim Claremont (left) is a partner and Gavin Hoccom is a senior associate at law firm Browne Jacobson The Building Safety Act 2022 received Royal Assent at the end of April. The government has described its contents as “the biggest changes to building safety regulation in a generation”. For once…

Gareth Lewis is chief executive of Mace Construct In April, we saw the most significant piece of legislation affecting the UK construction industry in a generation become law – the Building Safety Act. While the 262-page act represents a challenge to an industry that can sometimes be slow to evolve,…

Meeting the government’s 2030 deadline to build 40 new hospitals will rely on intense activity from construction firms. Greg Pitcher takes the programme’s temperature

Adam Nicholson is group pre-construction director at McLaren Construction One area of the Building Safety Act with obvious potential to transform the character of the construction industry is the competency requirement placed on site operatives. The Hackitt Review described a fragmented industry of competing competency frameworks, and installers failing to…