The Will Alsop-designed Peckham Library won the 2000 Stirling Prize, wowing the judging panel with its ‘eye-catching’ design. We revisit the library to see how it was built and to remind ourselves of the design ethos behind its Alsopesque features which include the now familiar wonky columns, cantilevered floor spaces and pods. And we ask, 12 years on, does the library continue to have that ‘wow’ factor that so impressed the 2000 Stirling Judges?
A key aim of the Government's new Construction Strategy is a push for truly collaborative project procurement; however project insurance remains one of the most potentially divisive issues facing the project team. This programme examines a possible solution called Integrated Project Insurance or IPI where one policy covers the entire scheme.
Facade retention – the removal and renewal of a building's innards, walls, columns and floors while retaining its original front or outer walls – plays an important role in preserving the architectural character and historic fabric of many city centres. It can, however, be a complex and expensive exercise. This programme takes a look at some of the technical aspects of facade retention through the outline design sequence.
This programme looks at the different types of green roof and examines how they are made and maintained.
Our guests – Giles Meredith from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and James Ritchie from the Association of Project Safety (APS) – discuss the role of CDM coordinators, including how and when they should be appointed, how one judges competency, and how existing risks such as lead paint should (and should not) be handled.
One of the many undoubted benefits of BIM is its inherent ability to reduce the potential for disputes arising from clashing programmes and design details. However, by highlighting a landmark case in the USA, Eversheds construction lawyer Michael Conroy Harris discusses the legal implications of what can happen when BIM-generated mistakes occur on site.
This programme takes a look at what "Secured by Design" is for and how they work with architects, explaining the approval process for its "Design and Access Statement", the practical building and planning advice it provides, and showing how designers can gain "Secured by Design" accreditation. The programme also looks at the history and underlying theory of designing against crime, discussing whether it is a positive development for architecture and the built environment.
An understanding of how sound behaves in modern offices, and how to control excessive airborne sound, or noise as it then becomes known, is essential. Through the use of computer modelling, noise mapping and a knowledge of processes including flanking and noise masking, this programme looks at how acoustic engineers tailor to achieve that control.
As part of the series of BITESized talks at the RIBA Village auditorium at Ecobuild 2013, Clair Hillier of RIBA Enterprises discusses intelligent proprietary specification.
The University of Nottingham's distinctive Jubilee Campus is a development that is intended to demonstrate the University's commitment to exemplary standards of energy efficiency in its buildings.
If you're called upon to undertake a structural survey or inspection, how exactly should you go about approaching the task? How do you analyse the assortment of information you collate?
Given that dry rot is one type of rot - Serpula lacrymans - and all the others are white rots, our contributors explain why increasingly fungal rots are being classified as either brown or white.
