All Features articles – Page 406
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Features
Go tell it on the mountain
Roofing The supply of Welsh slate is safe for now, but nervous specifiers would do well to check out the alternatives. Stephen Kennett looks at the best slate from Canada and Spain
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FeaturesSweden's green utopia
This new Stockholm suburb demonstrates how simple, robust, centralised systems can outperform flashy designs bristling with turbines. But can it work as a model for Gordon Brown’s eco-towns?
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Features
Green roof system
Waterproofing specialist Axter has introduced Hydropack, a sedum green roof system that is supplied fully grown.
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Features
Roofing membrane
Marley Waterproofing has introduced a roofing membrane called Uniply PVC to the UK.
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Features
Prefabricated roofing membranes
Roofing membrane maker Protan has launched ProFab, a bespoke roofing solution, aimed at the off-site construction market.
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Features
Steel roof tiles
Lightweight roof systems maker Decra has introduced a steel version of the traditional Roman clay tile. Each tile weighs 5.4kg/m2, which Decra says is less than one-eighth the weight of a traditional clay or concrete tile.
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Features
Roof verges
Manthorpe’s Smart Verge Linear Dry Verge is a dry-fix system for finishing the verge of a roof.
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FeaturesSlate in Shetland
About 1,800m2 of natural blue/grey slate roofing from Burlington was used on the new Shetland Museum and Archives building.
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Features
Twist and shout
The standing-seam roof at Liverpool South Parkway interchange curves in three dimensions. Building it required close co-operation between architect Jefferson Sheard and envelope specialist Lakesmere.
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FeaturesAfter the flood
Building on the Thames Gateway’s floodplain involves risk, but with careful planning this can be minimised
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FeaturesThree-part harmony
Mixed tenure high-density housing underpins the whole sustainable communities agenda - but can you really engineer social harmony? Richard Fairhead, project director at architects 3DReid explores the realities of getting people with a mix of incomes and lifestyles to co-exist side by side
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FeaturesIt's a people thing
Chris Oliver outlines the borough of Barking and Dagenham’s enterprising efforts to connect its inhabitants with the opportunities springing up around them
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FeaturesSpecialist cost update: Envelope
The cost of a building’s envelope has increased 10% over the past 12 months, and a similar rate is forecast for the next two years. Gardiner & Theobald reports on the costs and lead times of curtain walling, roofing and stone construction and restoration
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FeaturesHe’s cracked it
Paul Andreu’s Beijing theatre has been dubbed the Egg. But how do you get into it? And what do you see when you do?
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FeaturesWhen will they ever learn?
The government is trying to renew 3,500 schools in 15 years using teams of confused officials, increasingly resentful contractors and a system that combines surreal bureaucracy with huge wastes in time and money. Eleanor Goodman and Katie Puckett explain why Building Schools for the Future continues to underachieve
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FeaturesIsis neutron facility
Thomas Lane goes to south Oxfordshire to find out why you need very big tweezers to pick up very small objects …
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FeaturesThe fit-out philosophers
8build was formed by senior managers at ISG who spent years observing the follies and failings of the traditional industry – and set out to solve them with their own company. Katie Puckett finds out more about their thinking
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FeaturesHow hard can it be?
We can all recognise great leaders, but it’s a bit trickier working out what makes them special. PLACE, a new training programme, set out to discover whether the leadership X-factor existed in construction and found that four names kept cropping up. Lucy Handley spoke to each of them
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FeaturesIs the HSE understaffed?
Some agree with the Goverment's plans to shrink the HSE, others argue that this is directly responsible for the increase in construction deaths.