All articles by Thomas Lane – Page 30
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FeaturesRegs revisited
Building’s Reform the Regs campaign kicked off a year ago with the aim of defeating baffling, contradictory and constrictive red tape. Thomas Lane casts his eye over the progress made and finds that things are getting simpler, which can only mean better
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NewsPart L compliance software rereleased following criticism
The new version of SBEN features easier data entry, simpler ventilation figures and a more accurate database
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FeaturesGods of the Plague
They gave Shepherd Construction a two-sheet brief and asked it to build a lab secure enough to test the most dangerous virus on Earth … inside six months. Thomas Lane reports on how the team took the test and triumphed
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NewsDCLG poised to appoint new head of Building Regs
Shona Dunn is set to succeed Anne Hemming in January, Mark Coulshed is made interim head
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FeaturesA 2bn student village in a bullet-proof vest
Construction of the first entire garrison to be built in 100 years is being marshalled with the same discipline and tactical precision needed in times of war.
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NewsLondon’s new garden suburb
The first shoots of new development are emerging from the brownfields of North Kent. Building’s technical editor wonders if he’d ever be tempted to leave Greenwich for Ebbsfleet
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FeaturesLearning to speak European
Don’t be caught out by the harmonised European standards that are replacing the UK’s specifier-friendly national standards.
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NewsReform the regs: Update
When Building began its campaign to sort out the impossible mess that built environment regulation had become, it received immediate support from practically everyone who had to comply with it, enforce it or devise it. Thomas Lane explains what happened next …
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FeaturesLife after la corrida
Barcelona’s disused Las Arenas bullring is being transformed from a crumbling wreck into Richard Rogers’ vision for a leisure and entertainment venue, topped out with a UFO-style roof.
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FeaturesHansom’s other good idea
The Builder was his masterpiece, but nine years before it was born, Joseph Aloysius Hansom designed a civic temple for the proud city of Birmingham. Unlike the magazine you’re holding, it hasn’t aged well. Thomas Lane reports on the town hall’s long-awaited refurbishment
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FeaturesHow green is Building’s building?
By now, there should be an energy certification scheme in place for office buildings, but there isn’t. So Thomas Lane organised one for Ludgate House, the home of Building. Here’s what we found …
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FeaturesA typical guzzling, leaking, seeping, spewing british home
To highlight the energy inefficiency at the heart of the UK’s existing housing stock, Thomas Lane took energy consultant Cathy Hough to inspect a typical south London terraced house, built 100 years before the latest revision to Part L. It wasn’t pretty …
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NewsRegs minister backs our 99% Campaign
Angela Smith pledges her support, and initiates reform of Building Regs
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FeaturesNuclear power station in Olkiluoto, Finland: The 1.6 billion watt baby
320,000 m³ of granite blasted away, 12,000 m³ of concrete poured in one go: the team building Europe's first nuclear reactor in a decade aren't messing around. Still, the most complicated thing is the paperwork. Thomas Lane reports from Finland
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News
Women to be relieved by new ‘loo standard'
Long queues for the women's toilets could become a thing of the past if a proposal to force developers to provide more facilities in offices is approved.
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FeaturesCurved space – the Peter Harrison Planetarium
Greenwich park is about to get a strange and beautiful adornment: a weird bronze cone through which the heavens will be made manifest. Thomas Lane found out how it's being made
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NewsWhy marshmallows don't meet building regs
Building's technical editor bemoans the rigidity of marshmallows as he becomes competitive dad at a spaghetti building competition.
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FeaturesHow to wing it
As you might imagine, building a bird sanctuary centre on a Welsh island that is accessible only by boat in fine weather is something of a logistical head-scratcher. Here's how the contractor is doing it …
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NewsPride and paint
Building's technical editor is quite happy writing about other people's projects but was not quite so thrilled about project managing the office paint job.
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FeaturesSir David King
In the first of three interviews on the future of energy in the UK, the government's chief scientist tells Thomas Lane why we need new homes and new nuclear power stations.