More Focus – Page 396

  • Features

    OSM experienced

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    For many project teams, using OSM means embarking on a scarily steep learning curve involving substantial changes to their traditional building processes. So how can they be sure of getting it right? At Mtech Group, we apply this simple checklist, nominally aligned to the RIBA workplan, that focuses the project ...

  • Features

    Language skills

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    Learning the right words and phrases is the key to understanding a new culture. So, here with “Off-site manufacture: Lesson one” is Mtech Group

  • Features

    Products

    2004-09-30T11:58:00Z

    The latest products to help you comply with all those regulations, from sound-insulating blockwork to prefabricated wheelchair ramps – plus how a Docklands office is fighting fire …

  • Features

    Regulations roundup

    2004-09-30T11:49:00Z

    A brief guide to recently issued regulations with pointers to upcoming changes in regulations and consultation documents

  • Features

    Five tips for complying with the DDA

    2004-09-30T11:33:00Z

    By today, organisations that deal with the public should have complied with the Disability Discrimination Act by making their services accessible to people with disabilities. What constitutes a fully DDA-compliant building has yet to be decided, as this will be determined by a body of case law. In the meantime, ...

  • University atrium: In the event of a fire a public address system guides people out of the lecture rooms on the right, over the link bridges and through the teaching block on the left to the escape stairs at each end of the teaching blocks
    Features

    Fire evacuation

    2004-09-30T11:30:00Z

    An unusual approach was needed to get the University of Hertfordshire’s de Havilland campus building to conform with Part B of the Ӱ Regulations, which deals with fire safety.

  • Bizley
    Features

    Opening homes, hearts and minds

    2004-09-28T18:09:00Z

    Graham Bizley says that allowing Open House visitors into his home was an eye-opener.

  • Features

    Why the public loves an engineer

    2004-09-24T16:02:00Z

    Open Site proved a roaring success for the projects that opened their doors to an inquisitive public, says Matt Dawson, relationship development manager at the Association of Consulting Engineers.

  • Diplodocus carnegii
    Features

    Boris walks with the dinosaurs

    2004-09-24T15:07:00Z

    Boris Johnson pays tribute to air conditioning at the HVAC's bash at the Natural History museum.

  • Features

    Precious heat

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    Up until now, housebuilders have responded to demands that they improve the energy efficiency of new homes by simply adding insulation. Next year, they are going to have to do much more …

  • Features

    Now/Next

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    Prefab is boring, right? So how come German manufacturer Huf Haus manages to turn off-site manufacture into something the ordinary punter gets excited about?

  • Features

    Planning approvals

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    Approvals have grown significantly in London and East Anglia over the summer. In Wales, however, there is little evidence planners are responding to warnings of undersupply

  • Features

    New-build completions

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    The housebuilding industry has been hard at work over the summer, maintaining steady completion levels, but daily sales dipped in June and July. Thank heavens they picked up in August. Maybe the downturn won’t happen after all …

  • Features

    Buyer demand

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    SmartNewHomes reports that London bore the brunt of the summer slowdown with a fall in demand of 8.5%. That figure almost exactly matches the rise that Wales enjoyed. Meanwhile urban exiles continue to flock to the South-west

  • Features

    Expert eye

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    What are developers cooking up in kitchens? James Pilling, senior designer at interior specialist Connections in Design, looks at the growing importance of kitchen design and its relationship with modern lifestyle

  • Features

    £300m hospital takes Bovis to the top of August league

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    After a quiet July, Bovis Lend Lease climbs 29 places – and stays well ahead in the annual contractor charts

  • c’est magnifique!
    Features

    Millau Viaduct: C’est magnifique!

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    Foster and Partners’ Viaduc de Millau in southern France is the highest, longest cable-stayed bridge in the world, and it opens in December. We admire the view, talks to the engineer and meets some enthusiastic locals.

  • Features

    Appointments

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    Movers and shakers this week

  • Features

    Get flush

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    Some gap-year students go backpacking in South-east Asia. But the canny ones get paid to design toilets …

  • Features

    People who need people

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    This year’s Ӱ/Hays Montrose careers survey found that construction’s workforce is overwhelmingly concerned with the problem of recruitment and training staff. We analyse the statistics