Features

As timber frame continues to grow its share of the housing market, Alex Goodfellow, Group Managing Director of Witney-based building materials supplier Stewart Milne Timber Systems, draws on more than 30 years of experience in the house-building industry to explain why off-site construction with timber systems could be key to delivering new home targets across the UK.

In April, Apple unveiled its newest state-of-the-art store in the Middle East – Apple Dubai Store. Intended as a communal space where visitors come to shop as well as learn and connect with others, the unenclosed building offers a sense of openness with a nod towards the trend of blurring the lines between inside and outside spaces.

Channel 4’s ongoing programme, Cabins in the Wild with Dick Strawbridge, sees eight designers, architects and amateur builders go head-to-head in a cabin-building competition. Judged in Wales’ picturesque Snowdonia, the entrants were briefed to design a cabin that exuded traditional Welsh elements and Carwyn Lloyd Jones’ Dragon’s Eye design is one concept that met the brief seamlessly.

GPT Waste has recently launched its latest White Paper for the construction sector. The White Paper, ‘Cost savings for the construction industry, delivered through targeting the volume of waste produced’, seeks to educate the expanding construction sector of the savings that are available through improved waste management.

There are many aspects to consider when designing a building – from the structural system and performance to the aesthetics and sustainability. Clearly the build cost plays a crucial part in the decision-making process – but does the lowest cost option really offer the best value?

Last month, Rockfon assembled some of the top names in acoustics to discuss the prevailing audible topics influencing today’s architecture. Here, FC&A reports on the findings from the stimulating roundtable held at South Shields’ impressive state-of-the-art cultural venue, The Word. Guided through the FaulknerBrowns-designed building by Project Director Nick Heyward, it was instantaneously evident that; to recognise an acoustically-sound environment, you have to physically experience the environmental change.

Maggie’s Oldham, the world’s first building made from hardwood cross-laminated timber (CLT), has opened in the UK. Designed by dRMM Architects and supported by the American Hardwood Export Council, this is a pivotal moment for modern architecture and construction.

Designed and created by Danish architecture firm 3XN, the Royal Arena project in the historic city of Copenhagen opened earlier this year and has since been awarded the ‘Jury Winner’ in the Sport and Recreation category at this year’s Architizer A+.

When fire breaks out in a high-rise, the immediate challenge for firefighters is how to overcome the fact that an average fire hose won’t spray any further than 50ft and as such, the fire can therefore only be fought from an adjoining structure, or from the inside.

Saint-Gobain Building Glass looked on proudly as a £27.5m university building it helped to design and create was opened by the University of Huddersfield to provide a new home for its Law School and the School of Music, Humanities and Media.