All Features articles – Page 310

  • Features

    Carbon capture and storage: How we blew it

    2009-12-11T00:00:00Z

    Carbon capture and storage was supposed to be an area where British expertise could thrive. But, says Olivia Boyd, lack of clarity on the government’s plans and how it intends to fund them is squandering UK talent

  • Features

    Prefabricated straw bale panels

    2009-12-11T00:00:00Z

    ModCell prefabricated straw bale and hemp panels are as fire-safe as conventional materials, according to research carried out at the University of Bath

  • Features

    The new arrival: Balfour Beatty’s Birmingham PFI hospital

    2009-12-11T00:00:00Z

    Weighing in at £585m, Balfour Beatty’s Birmingham PFI hospital was expected to be a difficult birth. Instead, it has been delivered with few complications, no trips to casualty, and ahead of its due date. Thomas Lane hands round the cigars

  • Features

    Three wiser men: Did Building’s business advice work?

    2009-12-11T00:00:00Z

    In April this year, Building gathered together three people who were running companies suffering from late payments and dwindling order books. We asked a panel of business experts to offer them advice on surviving the months ahead, including how to win work and maintain cash flow. Since then our three ...

  • Peter Head, Arup
    Features

    Our man in Copenhagen: First impressions at the summit

    2009-12-09T12:16:00Z

    Peter Head of Arup is blogging from the climate change conference, where he seems cautiously optimistic a deal can be struck…

  • Features

    Raising the green standard

    2009-12-04T00:00:00Z

    Bennetts Associates went home a double winner as construction’s most eco-friendly practitioners were honoured at Building’s Sustainability Awards

  • Tough act to follow: John Perryn primary school in Acton
    Features

    Learning fast

    2009-12-04T00:00:00Z

    Ahead of February’s BSEC 2010 event, Ty Goddard of the British Council of School Environments explains why we have to get smarter at explaining to the public the importance of investing in school building

  • Peter Head
    Features

    The other Copenhagen: the inside track on the summit’s fringe events

    2009-12-04T00:00:00Z

    The treaty at next week’s climate change summit will change everything – if it ever gets signed. But it’s the fringe events that could change the way the world builds. Roxane McMeeken gets the inside track from one of the UK’s main representatives

  • Features

    The colleges debacle: a lack of progress report

    2009-12-04T00:00:00Z

    The full scale of the Learning and Skills Council funding fiasco is only now becoming clear, as many colleges face up to a long and dismal future in temporary accommodation. Sarah Richardson reveals the full story

  • Features

    Sunderland university student union: All bar none

    2009-12-04T00:00:00Z

    There’s no room for slackers at Sunderland university’s dazzling new student union, which packs its impressively generous spaces with sports halls and exercise areas. You can’t even get a pint around here

  • Features

    Cost update: November 2009

    2009-12-04T00:00:00Z

    The quarterly analysis of changes to costs and prices shows building costs falling year on year for the first time in four decades. Peter Fordham of Davis Langdon reports

  • Nissan Land Glider, a city car concept for the future
    Features

    First impressions: Architecture students on green cars

    2009-11-27T10:40:00Z

    Architecture students from Nottingham Trent University and the RCA share their views on designing eco cars

  • Features

    The ruck at the RICS

    2009-11-27T00:00:00Z

    The decade-long kicking and pushing match between the RICS and its 30,000 or so QS members has turned nasty again, and accusations of dumbing down and power grabs are flying. Olivia Boyd blows the whistle and works out what it’s all about

  • Features

    Lasting impressions: why they won Sustainable Project of the Year

    2009-11-27T00:00:00Z

    What set the two winners of Building’s Sustainable Project of the Year awards apart from the rest of the crowd? Stephen Kennett asked the judges to explain their verdict

  • The Olympics site in east London was one of the largest contaminated sites in the South-east. It has been cleaned up by BAM Nuttall and Morrison using a variety of techniques including soil washing and bioremediation
    Features

    Cost model: Land remediation

    2009-11-27T00:00:00Z

    Plenty of sites will need land remediation when the housing market recovers, and the slow market at the moment provides an opportunity to use innovative, sustainable techniques. Duncan Sanders and Derek Vernon of Davis Langdon take a look at the commercial drivers

  • Features

    Building pathology: Photovoltaic panels

    2009-11-27T00:00:00Z

    Photovoltaic panels can be great energy providers, as long as an eye is kept on potential problems with power output and deficiencies. Peter Mayer of BLP Insurance explains what to look out for

  • Features

    Braving the cold: Mike Farley on coaxing Persimmon back to health

    2009-11-27T00:00:00Z

    Mike Farley had barely got his feet under the desk as Persimmon chief executive when the recession struck, leaving the company with a plummeting share price and soaring debts. Here he tells Tom Bill about his plans to reverse those processes

  • Features

    The factory: Haworth Tompkins' Royal College of Arts building

    2009-11-27T00:00:00Z

    The painters are in at the industrial Sackler Building – and they’re inspired

  • Features

    The amazing five-week apprenticeship (for cowboys)

    2009-11-27T00:00:00Z

    Firms that offer fast-track plumbing and electrical courses for £5,000 a go create ‘tradesmen’ who are a menace to everyone they deal with. Sophie Griffiths posed as a trainee to find out what they promise – and what they actually deliver

  • Features

    Fatal refurb: addressing refurbishment’s poor safety record

    2009-11-27T00:00:00Z

    Refurbishment is an increasingly popular alternative to new build, but what can be done about its particularly poor safety record?