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48 published outputs

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Article

The Pros and Cons of Reinforced Concrete

Reinforced concrete (RC) is one of the most widely used building materials in modern construction. Beams and columns make up the RC frames commonly used in low-, mid- and high-rise buildings. The relative ease at which these can be part-manufactured offsite is a major factor in their popularity, as well as their resistance to both gravity and lateral loads. The RC frame, however, doesn’t come without issues and pitfalls.

Article

The Challenges of Inset Balconies

A traditional inset balcony is recessed into the façade and has three sides enclosed into the building. The remaining side fitted with a balustrade. In the past, they have most commonly been made from concrete, but designers and architects are increasingly expressing a preference for lightweight metal balconies for various reasons.

Article

Options for Cladding as Part of the External Envelope

Designing the exterior of a building has always been more complicated than it first appears to passers-by.

Article

Brickwork in Modern High-Rise Buildings

Brick is such a universal material that we almost take it for granted. In the UK especially, it is deep in our everyday psychology and portrays safety and stability. The phrase “bricks and mortar” is used in everyday speech to express the robustness of an idea or concept. And it’s true - bricks have been used in the UK for 2,000 years and have a minimum life of 150 years. Many houses last so long that they can pass down from generation to generation.

Article

Brickslips - The Future of Construction

With the explosion of new buildings going up in the last few decades, the construction industry is always looking for faster, more efficient and cost-effective ways of creating high-rise buildings that don’t compromise on aesthetics. The traditional brickwork way of building may still be popular, but too time consuming for some projects. This is where brickslips come into their own.

Article

Understanding the Modern Methods of Construction

Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) is a fairly modern term. It was first used in 1926 and applies to a wide range of different construction techniques, products and methodologies.

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Making the Most of MMC in Balcony Design

Balconies have been designed and manufactured using MMC methods for some time. It lends itself well to balcony design and installation to reduce costs at manufacture as well as time and money spent onsite. But it comes with its unique set of challenges to overcome.

Article

Light Gauge Steel - The Modern Solution

Our global public health crisis has confirmed the urgent need for a new way of building homes, offices and public buildings, using smart construction to tackle design problems, inefficiency, outdated techniques and environmental challenges.

Article

Improving Safety, Costs and Quality with Unitised Facades

One of the key design issues to look for at the outset in any potential construction scheme is its repeatability and potential standardisation of similar elements. Façades are one of the most significant areas where the opportunities for standardisation of elements for off-site construction can be seen. It is important however that the original scheme aesthetic is suitable for standardisation for without boundaries on façade design, clients may experience higher costs and lower quality in the design and installation of their building façade than anticipated.

Article

Precast Wall Panels - The Future Is Sustainable

There is an increasing desire in concrete design and manufacture to move towards a more sustainable way of constructing buildings and having a positive impact on waste and energy efficiency. Sustainability is becoming more and more important too, with the design, function and manufacture of buildings needing to be low carbon.

Article

Creating Beautiful Spaces with Cross-Laminated Timber

There is an ever-increasing push for sustainability and offsite manufacture in the construction industry. Coupled with the desire to make comfortable and safe living environments, many clients are asking questions about the materials being used in residential buildings and whether they match up to these particular specifications. There are many modern materials that can be used in sustainable, low-carbon buildings and cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a good example of prefabricated material that offers flexibility in design.

Article

How Residential Construction Can Master MMC

Clients often come to us with the express wish to implement MMC on their project without really understanding why, or the impact it will have upon their business. We always promote the importance of starting with understanding the ‘Why?’ establishing clear drivers, desired outcomes and seeing MMC as an enabler to meet those goals, not the answer to the question.

Article

Choosing the Right Materials for Balcony Design

It is not always easy to define the best metal to use in balcony construction. Stainless steel, aluminium and mild steel have all been used in the past for different elements of a balcony, but in recent years galvanized steel has been specified by many designers in the UK.

Article

Designing Right with Glass at Height

When it comes to building design, glass is a much used and pleasing architectural feature. It looks great and creates a strong solid barrier which doesn’t impair the view or cut out light. As technology in glass has improved, so have the safety features it can offer and it is a regular feature in balconies and balustrades.

Article

Weighing Up Cost Options for Balconies

Digital tools come with many benefits for the construction industry. They save time and valuable resources of course but one, sometimes undervalued, advantage of the digital era is its role in helping to compare and reduce costs. This is especially true for applying savings in balcony design without compromising on quality.

Article

How Fire Behaves in High-Rise Buildings

Significant fires in low to medium-rise residential buildings in recent years have shared many key features. There have been full building fires, such as the high-rise Grenfell Tower in London and mid-rise The Cube in Bolton and in each we would normally anticipate the fire being restricted to one or two rooms. When a fire spreads in a mid- or high-rise residential building, however, it can quickly engulf the external envelope. This happens because a fire will always spread vertically.

Article

Effective Building Element Design for Fire Safety

From small components to the finished building, learning how everything performs in a fire is crucial information for designers, clients and end users alike.

Article

How High Is the Cladding Risk? The View from 2021

Following the publication of the Hackitt Review in May 2018 the Government amended the Building Regulations to restrict the use of combustible materials in and on external walls and specified attachments, including balconies. This came into effect in December 2018 with the Government committing to review the effectiveness of the ban after one year.

Article

A Holistic Approach to Quality and Performance

Building quality can be seen as subjective – in that the client’s idea of a quality building is the standard we have to meet. When you enter a building, a high-end hotel, for instance, there is an air of quality it exudes – from the doors to the floor to the design of the toilets – because money has been invested in the quality of the products. However, that doesn’t necessarily equate to those products having a high level of performance. You can get quality products for a building, but they don’t always perform as they should, especially in terms of safety. As an example, you may have a high-quality door but if it doesn’t perform in terms of security, fire resistance, privacy and safety, the building is at risk in cases of emergency.

Article

The Case for Laminate Glass

Under the 2018 ban laminate glass balustrades were banned in the UK, although it is permitted in doors and windows. The amendment to Approved Document B banned all combustible materials on the whole of the façade of buildings over 18 metres tall (11m in Scotland). The materials must be compliant with fire classification A2-s1 or A1 in accordance with BS EN 13501-1:2007 and A1:2009.

Article

Planning for Fire Safety in Residential Building

Passive and active fire protection systems are at the heart of fire safety design in residential buildings. So, it’s important to know how fire behaves and how that can be addressed to manage and quell a fire as soon as possible.

Article

Creating a Firestop Health Check

How do you know if the fire seal you are looking at on site is fit for purpose? It is not a comfortable feeling when you consider that these seals are essential to life safety.

Article

Saving Lives and Property with Cavity Barriers

Cavity barriers are fire stopping systems installed in buildings in the UK and beyond that are required to be fitted by law. The UK Building Regulations require that they be designed and fitted to delay the spread of fire throughout a building, via unseen or hidden “cavities”.

Article

Smoke Control Systems and Fire Safety

The fire safety industry is continuing to change rapidly and meeting the industry requirements for a smoke control system has become an ever-changing challenge. Research and development and design are essential elements for ensuring that required standards for new products as well as upgrades to existing ones meet the most up-to-date British Standards.

Article

The Role of Thermal Breaks

A ‘thermal bridge’ occurs when an element or a structure penetrates the external envelope of a building, causing a break in insulation.

Article

Minimising Heat Loss in Residential Buildings

With the ever-increasing spotlight on the thermal performance of a building, it has become more and more important to address issues of heat loss. This need is heightened in the face of climate crisis around the world. Thermal performance in buildings is hugely important, particularly in the drive to reduce a building’s carbon footprint in both construction and operation.

Article

Solving Condensation Issues in Balcony Design

When it comes to façade design, the addition of balconies is one area that needs to be looked at in detail to ensure all prone areas are as free from condensation as possible. Condensation problems on balconies arise in a few key areas, mainly at the point where the building façade joins with the balcony.

Article

Structural Aspects of a Well Designed Balcony

A resident standing on the edge of a balcony doesn’t want to feel movement underfoot. We often use a 2kN point load test to verify our designs (rather than the difficulty of trying to measure natural frequency on site), which gives a very good indication of what the balcony will feel like to the residents when they walk on it. Where possible, the balconies are designed so that deflection under this load should measure no more than 3mm at any point in the balcony, so significantly better than the 5mm recommended by BS8579. This, of course, becomes

Article

Considerations for Structural Thermal Breaks in High Rise Living

Balconies are an essential part of modern high rise living. However, these structural living space extensions - whilst well established and simple in concept - come with some complex requirements to meet today’s building standards. In high rise buildings, balcony connections are one of the biggest areas of potential thermal bridging when done incorrectly.

Article

BS8579 - The New Standard for Balcony Design

The new British Standard for design of balconies and terraces, BS8579, was published in August 2020. With the construction industry using so many different interpretations of national standards it was felt there needed to be guidance to clear up some differences in approach. The aim of the standard is to have a unified set of ideas relating specifically to the design of balconies and terraces.

Article

Using Digital Tools to Improve Quality Control

Quality control is an essential part of the management of products and services. It ensures that companies comply with regulations to manufacture safe and good quality products. Each individual manufacturer’s quality control process is their calling card that proves their commitment to getting it right for their suppliers.

Article

Digital Traceability - The Key to Success

Traceability and control over production of any construction components is vitally important to reduce costs and achieve high quality products. In the past, paper records have typically been used but issues such as human error, missing paperwork and onsite bad weather impact the effectiveness of the records.

Article

The Digital Golden Thread

The ‘golden thread’ is a term used for an up-to-date live record of data used on a project. It is a concept identified in the Hackitt Report as being particularly important in residential construction. But what does that mean?

Article

BIM - From Design to Build, to Occupation, to End of Life

BIM has rapidly become a ubiquitous acronym across the whole of construction. The government, keen for the UK to be a world leader, have written a strategy that outlines its potential for the industry.

Article

Successful BIM Implementation

The key drivers for implementing BIM are the efficiencies and cost savings it brings to design and construction. It also has the capability to encourage collaboration throughout the supply chain and ensures all relevant policies and regulations can be monitored and complied with. The need for BIM applications in construction has been accelerated by findings of the Hackitt Report and, in a post-Grenfell society, all contractors should be actively responding and changing their procedures to have a full understanding of what COBie data they require to ensure the safety of all buildings.

Article

BIM in Practice

BIM also helps to answer the big questions asked in the industry, such as: how do we do what we do for less? and how do we create information which is easily interpreted, used and acted upon across a whole scheme of work? BIM is the link from the digital representation of a scheme to the physical assets that the project becomes, capturing the flow of data in real time.

Article

Delivering Better Results for Clients Using BIM

The UK has set the standard for Building Information Modelling (BIM) since 2012 and has been world-leading in its implementation. The development of the BIM level 2 requirements and standards that were produced, were innovative and have been adopted globally. The UK BIM agenda has influenced and contributed to the new international standard; ISO 19650.

Article

How BIM Is Inspiring Construction

BIM (building information modelling) is a 3D modelling process that enables efficient planning, design and construction of buildings and infrastructure.

Article

The Role of Configurators in Building Design

Configurators are digital interactive tools that allow both customer and manufacturer to engage in real time to choose and design products from concept stage to finalisation. They help manufacturers explain their products while allowing customers to have input without too much interruption in the design and manufacture process.

Article

Supply Chain Collaboration

We are no doubt all aware by now of the unprecedented times we experienced in 2020 and the differences it made to our lives and work. This is also true for the construction industry and particularly the experiences of the supply chain within it. As we move into the future, we must face one fundamental issue – supply chain collaboration isn’t what it used to be. Contractors and clients alike are realising that they didn’t have as close a relationship with the supply chain as they thought they had in terms of product availability, material supply and labour.

Article

The Benefits of Standardisation in Construction

There are many ways architects, designers, manufacturers and builders can save money during any phase of construction. Standardisation has a major role to play in reducing costs throughout construction, from design to finished product. Reducing the variations of design elements saves time and cost in five major ways.

Article

Optimising Scaffolding Erection on Site Through Intelligent Delivery

There are many methods to scaffold a building, but they all start with one premise: nothing is left to chance. Of course, safety for tradespeople using the scaffolding is key, but so too is everyone on site. Everything is done to avoid accidents, but it is possible to drop something and, as it drops, it can fall a lot further away from the building than you might imagine.

Article

Managing Construction Sites Safely

Accidents that occur on construction sites often happen because of an oversight that can nearly always be avoided. It might be that a product hasn’t been packed correctly or stillages that have been used that don’t support the site conditions.

Article

The Role of CDM in Project Safety

There is an element of risk in every part of producing a building, but timescales and deadlines pressures can often have the biggest impact on risk on site.

Article

Combining Speed and Safety at Install

There is a common misconception that speed isn’t compatible with safety on the construction site. Although that might be true in its simplest form, there are steps that we can all make to ensure safety as well as efficiency.

Article

Cost Consultancy in Construction

Construction industry clients need to satisfy themselves and their investors that they are achieving the best value. That means they require their consultant team to exhibit confidence and a degree of certainty that estimated construction costs are robust and not vulnerable to unexpected change.

Article

The Impact of Non-Combustible Materials in High-Rise Buildings

Since the Grenfell fire in 2017, the UK government amended the building regulations, banning the use of combustible materials on new high-rise homes. They also gave support to all local authorities to carry out emergency work to remove and replace unsafe cladding.

Article

How Residential Construction Can Build Better and Safer

Assessing for risk in high-rise residential buildings is multi-faceted.

Published Topics are separate from current Workstream activity. A related Workstream, where one exists, can be explored alongside the article rather than replacing it.