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23 published outputs
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Article
Creating Neighbourhoods
How new buildings can respect their context and help people create a shared sense of place.
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Designs to Compliment the Neighbourhood: An Interview with Richard McCarthy
For architects, defining a vision for the neighbourhood is a crucial part of designing buildings. Simply depositing a residential building on a site without consideration for the surrounding area, its buildings and people can mean it quickly becomes a useless misfit.
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Respecting Heritage in Building Design
Historic buildings are an integral part of the history and heritage of an area, whether it be a large city or a small country village.
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Virtual Reality's Role in Construction
Many people still see virtual reality (VR) as a gimmick, best kept to the gaming industry. However, there is a lack of understanding of the capability and possibilities of VR. No longer do we design with only paper and drawings. With the increasing need for a more immersive experience to look at how a design works, many are calling for VR to be adopted in the design and construction industry as a standard part of the process.
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Saving Time, Money and Delay with Configurators
Digital tools are incredibly important for today’s construction industry, particularly in light of the coronavirus pandemic. The more you are able to provide your customers with comprehensive and detailed information on products and their variants, the higher the qualified leads and success rate for your business. The trend towards self-service in sales means that 3D, augmented reality and virtual reality configurators are being used by companies, large and small.
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Planning to Mitigate Risk
There are many risks to consider in construction, none so pressing as those that Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted. But the industry has been known for failing to plan ahead for possible risks. Not all risk can be foreseen, but for issues that can be mitigated against, it is vital in the current climate to plan for the future while reducing risk.
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Setting Sustainability Goals for a Building During Construction and Occupation
In May 2019, the UK Government became the first national government to declare an environment and climate emergency with 70% of UK local authorities doing the same. Many professional bodies have also launched programmes in the face of climate change.
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Healthy, Green and Biodiverse Buildings
There are so many interpretations of what it is to be green and sustainable which presents major challenges in creating truly green buildings. We have always had the triple-bottom-line of sustainability - profit, planet, people. Sustainability, which used to have a strong meaning, seems to have lost that because the concept is so widespread and overused to the point of dilution. Most organisations have a ‘chief sustainability officer’ but again that has lost all its meaning and is everchanging as companies struggle to define the role with any accuracy.
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Energy Efficient Balconies
The increase in urbanisation and economic growth in cities leads to a disproportionately high population density compared to suburbs and countryside. Having such a concentrated number of people in a small space has a consequence on the environment and the carbon footprint of a city. Most notably, a high level of air conditioning in high-rise buildings, due to it being very difficult to ventilate at height. Emissions are only set to increase as environments heat up.
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Balancing Design Standards with Residents' Needs
The principles Peabody looks for in any new development in the city starts with meeting the London Plan standards. For anyone who is part of a residential building design, though, work doesn’t have to stop there. Peabody have their own design guide standards, which are more prescriptive in areas, and this way of working can be adopted by anyone.
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Lifetime Homes - Setting the Standard for Later-Life Living
The concept of Lifetime Homes was developed in the early 1990s to address the concerns of inaccessible homes and inconvenient interiors. For a large section of the population, home design didn’t consider that the occupants would grow old in their homes and would therefore need adaptations, sometimes at enormous costs. So, a group of housing experts, associations and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation developed a set of design standards to encourage better living environments for everyone.
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Designing Homes for Every Stage of Life
Housing Associations were set up to make housing affordable to anyone in the UK. Many are not-for-profit and work alongside local authorities for the benefit of the community. Most offer a range of different housing options for residents, from high-rise apartments to family houses.
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Designing Buildings for London
London Housing Design Guide was published in 2010 by the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. It forms a common set of housing design standards across all of London that are applied through the London Plan, London Plan Housing Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) and the London Funding Standards Framework
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Designing Balconies for Disabled People
Approved Document M (ADM) gives guidance on how to comply with building regulations when designing visitable dwellings, accessible and adaptable dwellings and wheelchair user dwellings. It also highlights the need for accessible dwellings now and in the future. We are an ageing population and we should be looking at access that accommodates the lifespan of a resident’s occupancy.
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Defining the Right Aesthetic to Give a Building Identity
As architects, we need to understand the difference between the brief that the client has given us and what residents need to create a home. There needs to be a more concerted effort to focus on the customer in residential real estate, where it has, for too long, been largely absent. This we can do by telling the story of the community in the fabric of the building.
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Aluminium: A Sustainable Choice for Buildings
Aluminium, the third most abundant element on the planet and the most plentiful in the earth’s crust brings significant benefits to the world of construction. It is used in many areas of a building, often incorporated into complex assemblies, such as windows and curtain walling. With the everincreasing need for responsible, sustainable and low waste construction, aluminium has a well-earned place in the future of construction.
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Facade Design Principles
Façade design is a complex process. The designer must evaluate the whole project taking into account, every part of the structure and the various different interfaces throughout the building.
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Integrating Balconies into the Facade
In the years since the Grenfell disaster, more people in the industry are understanding the importance of consulting façade designers at an early stage. It is key to getting the façade aspect of the building design right in the first instance and keeping residents safe upon occupation. A holistic approach is so important to achieve a safe, secure and well thought out building.
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Improving Standards in the Home Building Industry
With the increased demand for housing in the last decade, how we create and maintain higher quality homes is reliant on several factors, most notably skills and experience. Over the years the industry has suffered from poor workmanship. The shortage of good quality trades and professional staff has highlighted the need to recruit and invest heavily in the workforce.
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Getting the Light Right: Designing with Windows in Mind
When it comes to designing windows for a residential building, many people think that the bigger the window the better - that it invites more natural light into apartments and offers more opportunities for ventilation. However, although this is partially true, there are many more factors to consider – both in terms of practicality for installation and in meeting all regulations and safety requirements.
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Accounting for Wind in Building
Local planning authorities in the UK require developers to demonstrate that their new development doesn’t create an adverse impact on the local environment. In particular, they are concerned about the public space surrounding the development. This could mean anything from parks and pavements to terraces, balconies and patios.
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Effective and Efficient Drainage
Effective and efficient drainage within any system attached to the external envelope of a building is a key requirement. Properly designed and maintained systems have a direct influencer on the long-term integrity of a building. This also impacts residents’ expected performance and avoidance of insurance claims.
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Fire Safety Throughout the Life of High-Rise Buildings
Before the disaster at Grenfell Tower, the unsafe practices in the built environment including midand high-rise buildings had been increasing for years with respect to fire safety. Even with new legislation and the will of developers to design and build safe residential buildings, it will take years to get back to a place where our buildings are of a high standard that goes beyond the minimum regulations.
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