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17 published outputs
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Article
Understanding CDM at Every Stage of Construction
Construction Design and Management (CDM) Regulations apply to all types of construction, from new build through to demolition. They manage the health, safety and welfare of everyone involved throughout the project. They also ensure that the right people are involved in the planning and implementation of procedures at every stage of the process.
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Low Maintenance Does Not Mean Maintenance-Free
Modern glass is often billed as a great, low maintenance material to use in buildings. A regular wash and polish and it is ‘as good as new.’ That can generate a false sense of security about glass, however, and the fallacy that it needs no maintenance at all.
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Maintaining Balconies
Good balcony design must always consider easy maintenance and regular safety checks. These checks should be carried out systematically with maintenance done in line with manufacturers’ recommendations. To facilitate this, balcony manufacturers should provide an operations and maintenance manual which includes a schedule for cleaning and maintenance. Checks should include identification of premature ageing, deterioration, material build up from the environment, component tightness and damage.
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Snagging and Safety - The Need for Change
Snagging is a necessary part of the building process to ensure any minor fault issues are dealt with, especially in new buildings. Unfortunately, there isn’t the same management structure for risk in construction as there is in other regulated industries.
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Moving Deck Refurbishment Beyond Compliance
Residents, government and other bodies all have vested interests in improving building safety. After the Grenfell tower fire, which led to significant changes in regulations, specifically for the external envelope, a big push began to refurbish residential buildings. Some were driven by updates to building safety standards and regulations but, for many, this goes beyond mere compliance.
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Facade Cleaning: Begin with the End in Mind
Cleaning and maintaining the external envelope of any building effectively can be quite a precise science. It becomes more difficult if the design has not been carefully considered with the end in mind.
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Involving End Users in Resident Safety
A responsible construction industry will have safety at the heart of every new design it starts. Regulations abound during every phase of the project’s process and we know that a successful builder will look to exceed those safety rules. But at the end of the project, how do Housing Associations and private landlords educate the residents or end users on the safe use and occupancy of their apartment or house?
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Summer Safety in High-Rise Living
Summer is prime time for balcony use as people take advantage of their outdoor space to enjoy warmer weather. We’ve conducted research into how residents make use of their balconies to help guide balcony design and specification to ensure the safety of residents. For the vast majority, the main use of balconies is for leisure. It is an extension of the home and, in warm weather, can be used extensively.
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Fire Safety Knowhow for Balconies
With the recent updates in safety legislation, all balconies are now constructed using non-combustible materials. The guidance doesn’t prohibit the storing of combustible materials on balconies, however, even though this can also increase the risk of fire. So, what can residents do to be more safety-conscious when making their balcony their own?
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Resident Fire Risk
Although there has been a significant drop in deaths due to residential building fires, the cost of fire – both human and financial continues to increase for the economy, businesses and communities. In modern buildings especially, we are reliant on the fire safety system working effectively as a whole for the building to remain safe. So, if one part of the system fails, others might too.
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A New Approach to Managing and Mitigating Risk
As an industry, construction should approach British Standards and Regulations in a different way. In the past, they have been seen as a target to meet - rather than a minimum to exceed. We are merely ‘doing our job’ if we meet a British Standard or a building regulation. Driving change, improving quality and mitigating long term risk requires going beyond.
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Anticipating Foreseeable Risk
Construction is one of the most highly regulated industries across the many disciplines it covers. Because of this, sometimes it appears we can get lost in all the required paperwork. This is especially true when it comes to fire safety.
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The Role of In-Situ Testing
During the development of a build, many different parties will get involved in the process and will be responsible for various aspects of the project as it progresses. These aspects can largely be broken down into two main areas including design and execution. Ensuring the design meets all fire safety requirements requires close communication between architects, designers and fire engineers in order to establish the fire safety objectives, identify acceptance criteria, the running of various fire scenarios and finally reaching conclusions on the fire safety aspects. All these procedures form part of the Qualitative Design Review (QDR).
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Improvement and Innovation for Fire Safety
The Golden Thread concept created from the Hackitt Report will, now and in the future, affect the way products are designed. It also shapes research and development which has the overall aim of achieving the best outcomes for a company in line with its goals. When well executed, the Golden Thread sees teams aligning themselves with the goals and passing information through every team member to create a company-wide vision.
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Preparing a Safety Case for High-Rise Buildings
The proposed new Buildings Safety Bill, presented to Parliament in July 2020, has several changes intended to reform the regulatory system of building safety. For any building considered to be high-risk, this includes the preparation of a safety case.
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Making a Balcony Part of a Home
With the increase in urbanisation in the last few decades the rate of residential apartment construction has risen sharply – with a current estimate of up to 2.5 billion apartments globally. As more and more people choose to live in cities for work, the fight for living areas has become an issue that designers and architects are regularly addressing. With that has come the need to make the most of the space available and that includes balcony space. But in the UK especially, many balconies are forgotten spaces. Most are used for storage or as dumping grounds. So how can residents make balcony life more enjoyable?
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Designing High-Rise Gardens
Residential high-rises are relatively new in the UK (the first being ‘The Lawn’ in Harlow in 1951). So, the concept of gardening at height is also new. People often struggle to know what to do with their balconies, so they are often underused and underappreciated.
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