All articles by Thomas Lane – Page 5
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FeaturesBloom and 80 Charlotte Street: bellwethers for the future London office
Firms need to offer workplaces staff want to be in – collaborative, healthy spaces and smart technology. Here’s how two schemes pulled it off
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FeaturesSpeedier construction through frame standardisation
The Seismic consortium has engineered a standardised frame solution for schools that claims to be 75% faster than traditional construction
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FeaturesDoes the key to cutting carbon lie beneath your feet?
The flat floor slab has been the default option for years but they contain the bulk of a building’s embodied carbon. What are the alternatives?
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FeaturesHow the Hylo building saved a third on carbon
The team behind the Hylo building in London’s Bunhill Row were so impressed by Richard Siefert’s original Finsbury Tower, they decided to extend it by 13 storeys rather than replace it – saving massively on carbon
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FeaturesFuture forecast: January – March 2022
Building Boardroom’s latest quarterly sentiment survey finds a rise in optimism about work prospects, especially in healthcare
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CommentA strategy for another age and no solution to the current crisis
The government’s energy security strategy focuses on long-term solutions to longstanding problems. But the UK has more immediate concerns
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CommentNever mind tax cuts and upgrade grants, a proper retrofit strategy is what we really need
In the wake of the spring statement, the conversation must move from fuel subsidies to efficiencies if we are to solve the energy crisis
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FeaturesThe Forge: a platform for transforming office construction
Landsec and Bryden Wood have devised an office prototype that aims to be quicker, more sustainable and cheaper than conventional methods
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FeaturesCalifornia dreamin’ brings a skatepark to Folkestone
Inspired by the bowl skating of 1970s America, Folkestone’s multistorey skatepark – a world first – is set to transform the UK’s skating scene forever
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FeaturesA deep green retrofit crafts a sustainability HQ
The Institute for Sustainability Leadership needed an HQ that reflected its values. Here’s what it did next to a Cambridge telephone exchange
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FeaturesTake a dive into the UK’s first Passivhaus leisure centre
Exeter council trailblazes a radical alternative to the energy-guzzling swimming pool
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NewsInsurers call for hybrid structures to make timber buildings easier to insure
Report recommendations include concrete cores and alternating concrete and timber floors to reduce flood and fire risk
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CommentIt’s good to talk about flood and fire risks
A new report on risks posed by timber-framed buildings is a positive first step towards greater collaboration
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FeaturesHempcrete: a natural solution in the quest for better materials
The insulation and low carbon credentials of bio-based materials such as hempcrete are winning over some serious players
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FeaturesUniversity challenge: the LSE’s new Marshall Building
The brief called for sports and arts facilities, as well as teaching and research space – it inspired a highly innovative response
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CommentA tribute to Max Fordham
The pioneering building services engineer was that rare person, a highly original and inventive thinker in a notoriously conservative industry
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FeaturesBest of 2021: The big net zero carbon issues of the year
The COP26 conference in November gave the industry’s decarbonisation agenda added impetus
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FeaturesCobBauge: what on earth is going on?
An Anglo-French alliance is using subsoil and straw to demonstrate how low energy construction on housing projects can be made commercially viable. Thomas Lane reports
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FeaturesThe new Black & White Building: a clear case for timber
The Office Group’s first new-build project will be London’s tallest timber office building when it completes next year
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FeaturesFuture forecast: October – December 2021
The latest quarterly sentiment survey by Building Boardroom finds retail enjoying a big confidence boost but housing has gone off the boil. Meanwhile, engineers and cost consultants’ workload expectations are markedly up, but project managers and contractors’ optimism is decreasing