Planning & Building Related Content

Portland cement has for decades been the most used type of cement to build reinforced concrete infrastructure. Experience and research on corrosion of reinforcement in concrete made of Portland cement have shown that the very high alkalinity of the pore solution ideally protects the steel. The disadvantage is that...

The main mission of the Institute of Building Materials consists in teaching and research on construction materials. Corrosion of reinforcement in concrete is an increasingly significant problem around the world. Infrastructure is ageing and environmental actions adversely affect the durability and safety of our infrastructure (bridges, power plants, tunnels or buildings)....

Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP), established in 1987, is an international association of universities teaching and researching in the field of spatial planning. With over 150 institutional members, AESOP is the only representation of planning schools of Europe. AESOP mobilises its resources, taking a leading role and entering...

Very high durability and the possibility for long-term monitoring and inspection of post-tensioning tendons in concrete structures are obtained with electrically isolated tendons. Post-tensioning created new possibilities for the structural use of concrete: large span concrete bridges, special containment vessels, domes, nuclear and marine structures. At present, most of the...

Ten years after the deadline passed for businesses to make sure their premises and services were accessible, it may be considered surprising to find that many are still vulnerable to claims for discrimination Then again it may be entirely predictable. There are still many people who do not recognise the...

Saint-Gobain, the world leader in the sustainable habitat and construction markets, has identified five key elements that contribute to our comfort levels indoors; thermal comfort, audio comfort, visual comfort, indoor air comfort and economic comfort. Stacey Temprell, Residential Sector Director at Saint-Gobain, explains how it is bringing My Comfort,...

Training Effective training should enable all of the dutyholders to achieve compliance with the regulations in an efficient and cost-effective way, achieving the objectives of not hurting people without reducing, and sometimes enhancing, the efficiencies on the project and for future maintenance, cleaning, etc. The courses available from Callsafe Services Limited...

We spend roughly 90% of our time indoors or in vehicles, so it’s fair to say that the buildings we live, work and play in everyday can have a significant impact on our comfort, health and wellbeing. Stacey Temprell, Residential Sector Director at Saint-Gobain, discusses how Saint-Gobain is improving...

It is vital for a business to have facilities and procedures in place to help disabled people move around a building – and it is even more important to have effective systems in place to help them get out. When the need arises to evacuate a building the likelihood is...

Having gone through another chilly winter, many of us will now count the cost with a sizeable heating bill landing on the door step. Rather than accepting this annual ritual, now is the time to get pro-active and to look at ways of cutting heat loss down to size....

With more and more building owners looking to go above and beyond the requirements of the Building Regulations, delivering a high level of fabric performance is now absolutely vital. For architects, the challenge is to find a cladding system which will give them the fabric performance and design freedom...

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM2015) received Parliamentary approval on 29th January 2015, and will come into force on 6th April 2015; the question must be asked of large and small construction client organisations and the persons such as facilities managers, are you ready? On Friday, 9th January 2015, the...

Most people will be aware that they must never use a lift to move around a building in the event of a fire. Some people don’t like lifts anyway, and others have no choice but to use them – unless there isn’t a lift in the first place. That last...

By Andrew Hall, marketing manager, OKI Systems UK Ltd. With the need to reduce spending comes the need to streamline processes and cut out any duplication or unnecessary tasks. But often it’s the everyday processes that we just continue to carry out automatically that take the time and create inefficiencies. Of course,...

Are we ready? On 29th January 2015, CDM2015 gained parliamentary approval, and will therefore come into force on 6th April 2015. As the final version of the regulations have only just been published and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) only issued the draft Guidances for CDM2015 on 9th January...

The Autumn Statement of 3rd December 2014 confirmed what had already been announced in the March 2014 Budget - a temporary increase in the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) from £250,000 to £500,000 with it scheduled to revert back to £25,000 on 1st January 2016. The enhanced AIA of £500,000 is...

by Paul Bomke, Nathaniel Kendall-Taylor and David Cawthorpe. The on-going need to improve mental health outcomes globally and in Germany presents significant pressure on service organizations to design and implement innovative approaches (Bomke/Kendall-Taylor 2014, Bomke 2014 a, Bomke 2013). In an attempt to meet needs with resources that are becoming...

Following significant concessions on carbon emission targets in the Approved Documents L to the Building Regulations in both England and Wales, there were serious concerns that Scotland would choose to follow suit with the revisions to Section 6 (energy) of the Building Standards. Instead, the Scottish Government has chosen...

How to ensure your employees are prepared to deal with emergencies in the workplace? The most important thing is having an fire extinguisher training program in your actual workplace. Focus your training on the type of emergencies employees may really face. When it comes to extinguisher training, nothing compares to actual...

For many years, Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) have been the product of choice where thermal performance and construction predictability are an absolute priority. The highly insulated panels can be installed in a matter of weeks, kick-starting a project and creating a building shell which is highly airtight and has...