Knowledge

We will visit Hoare Lea’s new offices, where they have invested heavily in new designed lighting systems and techniques that enhance energy use and lower costs, while providing a better psychological environment for staff.

The latest advance used to help design new buildings and conserve our historic ones is a range of 3D modelling technologies.

This new gallery for architectural drawings, designed by German/Russian practice SPEECH Tchoban & Kuznetsov recently won the ar+d awards in the UK. It is a small 500m² gallery in Berlin, constructed in five above-ground tiers. The key focus of this programme is in the constructional techniques that have resulted in the decorative concrete surface of the main walls: abstractionist motifs. So the gallery for drawings is itself a drawing.

Is the time right to reconsider our approach to solar power? We muse on the role for solar energy in the UK's power mix.

Children can bring unrivalled imagination to design tasks through 'possibility thinking', but what are they like to work with? Researchers at the University of Sheffield's School of Architecture have been exploring how architects and children communicate with each other.

Designed by 3DReid and engineered by Buro Happold, the Co-op’s recently opened £100m headquarters in Manchester, 1 Angel Square, has a BREEAM ‘outstanding’ rating. This programme explores how the engineer and architect achieved the rating, beginning with a look at the building’s focal point; a vast, central atrium.

This programme will present key research on the impact of energy efficiency strategies - such as the installation of insulation, draught-proofing and boiler upgrades - in low-income houses. It especially focuses on the health benefits of these improvements for elderly and infirm occupants and those generally regarded to be in fuel poverty.

We examine some of the key concepts behind SuDS and a variety of techniques used to control surface water run-off locally.

Professor Xiangyu Wang from Curtin University in Perth explores the potential of Building Information Modelling and looks at how Australia is meeting the challenges of the digital construction revolution.

In the final part of a three part series, Anthony Lymath explores number of measures that can be taken to minimise both the risks and impact of flood damage, both for new development and for existing buildings. This time, refurbishment and repair.

In the second of a three part series, Anthony Lymath explores number of measures that can be taken to minimise both the risks and impact of flood damage, both for new development and for existing buildings. This time, flood avoidance strategies for new buildings (continued).

Stefan Mordue looks at proposed changes to the Construction Design and Management Regulations (CDM).