Opinion Piece by Mark Elton

Opinion Piece by Mark Elton “It’s not the despair. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand!” Designers involved in the retrofit of our existing buildings, a group once christened the ‘retrofitterati’, will have felt that sense of hope  for a sustainable retrofit industry before, only to see those dreams fade away […]

Opinion Piece by Elaine Toogood

Opinion Piece by Elaine Toogood Concrete: let’s separate the carbon facts from the fiction As we collectively begin to map our recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, the ways the UK will achieve the target of net-zero carbon by 2050 is coming into sharper focus.  The UK built environment sector’s aspirations to ‘Build Back Better’ are […]

Opinion Piece by Dr Oliver Jones

Opinion Piece by Dr Oliver Jones Our sector has played an important role in the response to the pandemic. From the design and delivery of healthcare facilities, to urban interventions designed to accommodate new behaviours and stimulate economic recovery. But we have a much bigger part to play if we are to deliver a greener, […]

Opinion Piece by Paul Foulkes

Opinion Piece by Paul Foulkes Collaboration – where the engineer can lead the field Being able to manage multiple buildings or departments with different occupancy requirements, optimising energy use and monitoring and scheduling maintenance is becoming a normal requirement for managing effective, healthy premises. This can only be achieved using the correct hardware, an effective […]

Opinion Piece by Simon Sturgis

Opinion Piece by Simon Sturgis Glass facades – An obsolete typology Glass facades for buildings have been a staple of commercial architecture since the 1950s, and the advent of two New York buildings in particular: the Seagram Building, designed by Mies Van de Rohe, and the United Nations Secretariat Building, designed by Oscar Niemeyer and […]

Opinion Piece by Peter Barker

Opinion Piece by Peter Barker Look internally to fuel your digital growth With the downturn in global markets as a result of the health crisis we have been battling over the past few months, many organisations are confronting the daunting challenge of rebuilding their business in very crowded and competitive environments, with narrowing profit margins […]

Opinion Piece by David Hopkins

Opinion Piece by David Hopkins Biophilia, Brexit and Buildings The pandemic has certainly put us back in touch with nature: there’s less pollution, we’re able to hear birds sing, and there’s a growing appreciation of the importance of biodiversity in our surroundings. The Biophilia movement in construction is also happily gaining ground. Greater use of […]

Opinion Piece by David Philp

Opinion Piece by David Philp Serious about transformation Our Built environment has a powerful influence on all of our lives from enhancing well-being, providing essential infrastructure and impacting on our national economy. How we define, create, and shape our built environment should therefore be a priority for all of all of us especially in the […]

Opinion Piece by Rebecca De Cicco

Opinion Piece by Rebecca De Cicco Creating a mirror of the world: The evolution, development and documentation around Digital Twins and the National Digital Twin (NDT) in the United Kingdom.   Based on the work I have been doing in the smart cities/BIM Space, I felt it was important to also include support and research around […]