Features

Many listed buildings across the UK require interventions to bring them up to 21st-century standards; one quick win, with three beneficial outcomes, is to install secondary glazing. By retrofitting an internal window, you will almost eliminate draughts and heat loss, provide noise insulation and give an added layer of security at the windows, writes Zoe Williams, Head of Marketing at Selectaglaze.

Deciding on the windows is an important part of a building project. The decision not only affects the look of the property but also affects the thermal efficiency, says Richard Dollar, Managing Director at The Sash Window Workshop.

Paul Simmonds, Digital Marketing Manager at Wunda Group, discusses why specifiers should be looking at underfloor heating to help meet climate change goals.

Offering flexibility and freedom, it is unsurprising that the popularity of open-plan buildings has increased. However, these spaces pose numerous challenges for fire protection in building design. David Cerquella, Managing Director at Coopers Fire, explains the growing importance of passive fire specification and which considerations need to be made by architects and building engineers alike.

The working world has a love-hate relationship with open-plan offices – most of which centres around noise – however, the open-plan office concept is highly successful for several reasons. But how does it affect our wellbeing?

Last month’s report from Government-funded research group, Energy Systems Catapult (ESC), should serve as a wake-up call for UK business and industry. The ambition to go carbon-neutral by 2050 is, as the document concedes, achievable, but only if we act dynamically and radically, writes Charlie Ayers, Managing Director & Founder at SureCav.

The Shed is a non-profit cultural organisation that commissions, develops and presents original works of art across all disciplines for all audiences. Its building – an innovative 200,000ft2 (18,500m²) structure designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro as lead architect, and Rockwell Group as collaborating architect – can physically transform to support artists’ most ambitious ideas.

As Associate Director at gpad london, David Walker has had a colourful and varied career. Graduating from Sheffield University during a recession, he then moved to Budapest for a couple of years and Berlin for three more, working for Daniel Libeskind. Here, David talks to FC&A about his diverse career.

Since the first known case was diagnosed in Wuhan, China, in November 2019, the outbreak of coronavirus has had far-reaching implications for people and companies both nationally and worldwide. On Thursday, 12th March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the virus a pandemic, meaning businesses are approaching the unknown in the months to come.

How can you ensure your practice can best get through the disruption being caused by Coronavirus? Having, a solid understanding of what a remote working solution can offer your business now in these unprecedented times and in the longer term, is a great place to start.