All articles by Thomas Lane – Page 16
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FeaturesBest supporting acts: The ICE awards
Beneath Londoners’ feet, on their roads and in their stations, the city is undergoing arguably its biggest transformation since the Victorian age. The ICE awards, held last week, celebrated the cream of this current wave of infrastructure projects. Thomas Lane rounds up the winners
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FeaturesFrom 1900 to 2012: Finishing the University of Birmingham
Aston Webb’s grand semi-circle of buildings conceived for Birmingham university in 1900 was the original redbrick campus. But only four of its five neo-Byzantine pavilions were ever built. Now Glenn Howells Architects and Bam have finished the job. Building reports
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FeaturesRaindrops keep falling: The Oxford Natural History Museum's leaking roof
The Oxford Natural History Museum has been plagued by water dripping through its roof since its completion but after years of buckets and botched jobs one architect has finally solved the problem. Building finds out how you fix a 154-year-old leak
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NewsGovernment poised to backtrack on Part L
Consultation expected to water down carbon reduction targets
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FeaturesProjects of 2011
Arts-led regeneration projects, rail upgrades, Olympic venues, luxury flats and an opulently refurbished hotel all defied the downturn. Thomas Lane and Ike Ijeh revisit some of the splendours
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FeaturesA lot to live up to: Building houses that meet predicted energy use
The gap between a house’s predicted energy use and actual performance has been comprehensively panned. Building meets three developers who reckon their projects will show that low carbon on paper can mean low carbon in practice
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FeaturesFarringdon station overhaul: Boring? If only!
London’s Farringdon station has been given an overhaul and is ready for more passengers, bigger trains and Crossrail. But it hasn’t been an easy ride - and digging a 140m tunnel by hand was the least of it. By Thomas Lane. Photography by Colin Streater
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FeaturesHydropower: Water works
With all the controversy over solar, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that hydropower produces a thousand times more electricity. Building investigates a power source that could light up the industry
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NewsTimber frame industry tackles fire safety
UK Timber Frame Association and HSE have joined forces to promote more fire resistant time frame systems
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FeaturesQuadruple glazing: Fancy a fourth layer?
It’s winter and our thoughts turn to keeping warm by any means necessary. Is quadruple glazing the solution? Thomas Lane peeks out from behind his curtains to ask the experts
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NewsArup to open BIM consultancy in UK
Engineering giant has been offering BIM services in Australia for 12 months
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FeaturesThe rise of the BIM consultant
With its clear government backing and success stories in the press, construction firms realise that BIM is a Very Important Thing. The question is, how to do it? Thomas Lane meets the new wave of BIM consultants who may have the answer
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FeaturesFree school conversions: Making the switch
The government went out of its way to make it easier for free schools to be formed in non-school buildings by easing planning laws. So now that they’ve opened their doors, do they actually work? Take a look at two very different conversions…
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FeaturesCladding: Facing the future
The cladding market is being tested by the influx of new regulations and cost pressures. The good news is that facades can now be designed on a more human scale, says Stephen Ledbetter, director of the Centre for Window and Cladding Technology
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FeaturesZero carbon housing using underfloor thermal heat stores
When you’ve got houses and flats on a tiny plot, no room to store fuel and little roof space, finding a zero-carbon heating solution is tricky. One team went underground to find the answer
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FeaturesLaing O'Rourke and Atkins' standardised school: How's this for smart?
Standardised doesn’t have to mean inflexible design - that’s the message from Laing O’Rourke and Atkins with their clever solution to cutting school building costs. Building reports on the surprising versatility of concrete
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NewsCivil engineers launch 2012 London Engineering Awards
The ICE are inviting entries for 2012 awards celebrating engineering excellence in London
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FeaturesDeptford: Mixed to the max
On a single 7,000m2 site in Deptford, architect Pollard Thomas Edwards has managed to fit a community centre, artists’ studios, flats, a school and two playgrounds. Building finds out how
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FeaturesThe ArcelorMittal Orbit: Twist and shout
The ArcelorMittal Orbit in the Olympic park is being built to ‘arouse the curiosity and wonder of Londoners’. And the most curious thing of all is how this spiralling confusion of red steel actually stands up
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FeaturesRafael Viñoly's Firstsite centre: show time
Rafael Viñoly’s latest UK building finally takes centre stage, but why was it nearly undone by delays, overspends and legal spats? Thomas Lane reports, while below Ike Ijeh asks if it was worth all the pain