All Features articles – Page 221
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Features
This week in … 1964
In April 1964 Beatles were flying high in the US singles chart and April 1964 we looked at a prefabricated hexagonal house
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Features
Sketch of the week: M&S Cheshire Oaks
Illustrator John Holder sketched M S Cheshire Oaks, a Simons Group project, at various stages of its development
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Features
ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV Award Winners: Sustainable project of the year
There were several trailblazing projects in this category, but Skanska and Hopkins Architects’ Brent Civic Centre stands out for redefining the humble council office as a beacon of low-energy design
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Features
Trouble at the top
Bad managers can have a big impact on staff morale and productivity levels, and they could even pose a serious threat to the industry’s upturn. So why are there so many of them?
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What to specify: Housing
This week, we go through the keyhole at some of the UK’s most genteel new residences, including a Buckinghamshire country house with timber leaded windows and a rapidly rendered home in Poundbury
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Sustainability: Facilities efficiency
As construction becomes ever more energy efficient, attention is turning to facilities management to deliver greater carbon and cost savings. Phil Birch of Sweett Group examines how the purchasing and management of cleaning and catering operations can reduce a building’s environmental impact
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Fair payment charter: Cheque’s in the post
Few issues are more contentious in construction than payment practices. So will a new fair payment charter that asks contractors to commit to shorter payment times actually work - or merely add to the pile of previous failed attempts to reform the industry?
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Features
This week in ... 1914
We look back 100 years to 1914 when The Builder magazine was … Looking back 50 years to 1864
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Features
Sketch of the week: Roma football stadium
Thanks to Dan Meis of architect Woods Bagot for his sketch of the week
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Features
Rebuilding after Japan's tsunami
Three years on from its devastating earthquake and tsunami, Japan is, for the first time, signalling that it needs help rebuilding homes and communities. For UK construction firms willing to dig in, this could mean new opportunities
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Features
ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV Awards Small Project of the Year: Maggie's cancer centre, Aberdeen
With its streamlined, organic form enhancing its welcoming ethos, the latest Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre in Aberdeen, designed by Snøhetta, is a worthy winner of this year’s Small Project of the Year ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV Award
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Features
Putting the wind up construction
Ofgem’s announcement last week that the six big energy firms face a competition inquiry has spooked the market and alarmed construction firms relying on new energy generation capacity. But are things really as bleak as they seem?
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Features
ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV intelligence: Q4 2013
Data from Experian Economics shows that while construction activity levelled off in Q4 2013, for the year as a whole, activity was on the rise, with growth forecast in the private housing and infrastructure sectors
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Tracker: February 2014
Construction activity continued to increase in February and was up four points on the previous month. This represents 18 months of sustained positivity. Experian Economics reports
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Features
Sketch of the week: A locomotive shed
Thanks to Simon Smith of Smith and Wallwork for sending in his sketch of the week
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Features
Video: Make's recycled pop-up cinema
Watch how architect Make designed and built a recycled cinema at Ecobuild this year
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Features
Tax changes for temporary site workers
In a radical move that seems bound to increase labour costs, the government is clamping down on temporary site workers claiming to be self-employed. And as if that wasn’t bad enough news for construction companies using this kind of labour, they’ve only got two weeks to prepare for the change ...
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Features
Whole-life carbon: Overheating
As the latest update to Part L is implemented, Juan J Lafuente of Sturgis Carbon Profiling reports on the findings of a two-year research programme into building performance - which suggest that improvements to airtightness standards could actually lead to higher carbon emissions in the UK
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Features
This week in ... 1939
Over 70 years ago The Builder drew attention to that rare breed: a woman architect. Oh how times have changed …
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Features
Creating the Design Museum's new home
The iconic Commonwealth Institute needed a new tenant - and the iconic Design Museum needed a new home. But adapting a fragile and low-spec sixties building to house a visitor attraction meant using some serious technical know-how