All articles by Alex Smith – Page 29
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FeaturesTread carefully …
Most people don't know it, but floor coverings can be one of the most environmentally damaging parts of a building. Alex Smith investigates some methods and materials that should help stop us stomping on the environment
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Features
Breaking the sound barrier
The government has identified noisy neighbours as a serious problem for its urban policy, and it's told housebuilders to keep them quiet – or else. The only problem is that the industry will have to move at Mach two to comply.
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News
Testing times
Fire tests are about to be harmonised throughout the European Union. Alex Smith looks at what the new European Supplement to the Building Regulations will mean for the specifier and the classification of building materials
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FeaturesDoctors and purses
When the contractor building a hospital in Leeds decided on a new structural support system, the cost of the fire protection threatened to spiral. But, writes Alex Smith, a computerised fire-analysis tool took the heat off the specifications team and left the client with money to burn
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FeaturesLearning curves
The town had never seen one, the architect had never built one, the budget was as tight as a tourniquet, there was almost no time to plan it, and everything depended on the specification. We tell the story of how a primary school in Kent got itself a curved ...
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FeaturesStarck choices
Your mission: to take a superstar designer's concept for a baroque lounge for the Euro-elite at Waterloo International and bring it in on budget, complete with floating glass partitions, chandeliers and huge graphic artworks. Oh, and the entire site vibrates. Alex Smith finds out how architect Haskoll did it
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Features
Sound system
Demanding new acoustic regulations for dwellings – Part E – are going to be making some serious noise over the next year, as specifiers have to come up with sound insulation solutions to avoid rigorous tests. We take a look at the implications of the proposals, and how specifiers north ...
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Features
Regulations: Spelling it out
Across-the-board revisions to the Building Regulations are going to have a dramatic effect on every specifier this summer. Buro Happold's Tanya Ross talks us through the new approved documents – including those in Scotland and Northern Ireland – from A to V
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FeaturesMaking life a brise
Cladding an entire office block with motorised louvres to make it comply with the tough new Building Regulation posed a fiendish puzzle to the specifiers – especially as it had never been done before. Alex Smith discovered how the riddle was answered.
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FeaturesNatural selection
At the Natural History Museum's new Darwin Centre, 22 million zoological specimens have to be kept at optimum temperature levels – but a rather snug site and strict height restrictions meant that the services specifiers and installers had to be equally scientific.
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NewsHistoric buildings to get Part L escape clause
English Heritage guidance says extensions should not have to comply with new thermal regulations.
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News
Your number's up
Establishing a precise window specification will ensure tenders for the fenestration package are compliant with Part L – but don't rely on the tables in the approved documents, warns Alex Smith. The moral is: if in doubt, consult your manufacturer
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FeaturesBlue-sky thinking
Natural light and lots of it was needed for a hospital in East Anglia. But with a PFI consortium keen to keep costs down and planners restricting the building to four storeys, it was only going to happen if the design and specification was just right. Alex Smith reports on ...
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Features
Rule changes for masonry
Changes to the thermal, environmental and acoustic regulations will affect the way walls are constructed. Alex Smith examines changes in Part L and E of the Building Regulations and new European standards
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FeaturesBrick masterclass
Two offices, two brick facades – and one hell of a challenge for the architect: how to blend modern and Victorian styling into a harmonious whole. The answer was in the spec, and luckily expert subbies were there to work out how.
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FeaturesHow to fix an unfixable roof
The roof of the Commonwealth Institute had attained the status of an urban myth among London's roofing contractors, who told awestruck tales of leaks that no man could fix. Alex Smith finds out how it was finally sorted
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Features
Lifetime costs: Full metal packet
Metal roof coverings are many and varied – and so are the accompanying costs. In the first of Specifier’s Lifetime costs series, the Building Performance Group offers a guide to lifespan, whole-life costings and the durability of metal sheet roofing
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Features
Regulations: Don't be an April fool
Sweeping changes to Part L of the Building Regulations come into effect on 1 April, and will have major implications for roofing specifiers. Insulation will have to be thicker, and buildings must be airtight and condensation-free. Alex Smith examines the ways you can keep up with the key changes
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Features
From executive box to chocolate box
When the government told housebuilders to drop executive estates, the reaction was frigid. But some firms have shown that high quality, high-density homes can mean high profits – even if the results can sometimes be a little soft-centred.