The Government has confirmed it is banning the use of all combustible cladding on new residential buildings over 18m. New building regulations will be introduced for external wall systems banning plastics, wood and other products that include combustible materials found in some aluminium composite panel systems. Materials that would be allowed are those classed as […]
Shadow fire minister Karen Lee has said the fire regulatory system is broken and requires a radical overhaul, and “the government’s approach to the public’s safety in the 15 months since Grenfell has been characterised by inaction.” Deregulation in the 1980s created a performance-based system, said Lee, in which “rather than prescriptive rule-making, the system outlines […]
5 members of the Broadsword team are taking part in Tough Mudder this weekend to raise money for the Southampton Foster Carers Association. The association offers activities and social events for fostering families and the children in their care. It gives additional help to foster carers with monthly support groups in two regions of the city. The SFCA […]
Dame Judith Hackitt has said she was “truly shocked” by standards in the construction industry when researching her report, Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, published earlier ths year. She also warned that another “catastrophic event” cannot be ruled out if regulatory changes aren’t made. Hackitt was speaking at IOSH 2018, the Institution […]
Commercial building was the best performing area of construction output in August 2018, followed closely by residential work. However, the latest expansion of housing activity was the weakest since March, and civil engineering workload decreased for the first time in five months. A number of survey respondents cited a lack of new work on infrastructure […]
UK Construction is riding high through summer, with the latest IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) indicating the fastest rise in construction output since May 2017. With robust and accelerating rises in construction activity during July, the industry is riding a successful summer. House building has expanded at its sharpest pace since December […]
The use of flammable cladding on Grenfell Tower and other high-rise residential blocks constitutes a breach of the residents’ human rights, according to the Equality & Human Rights Commission, and thus exposes public authorities to prosecution under the Human Rights Act 1998. The Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has written to the Department for […]
With the inevitability of declining fossil fuels, and the threat of global climate change, reducing our energy consumption is an essential survival strategy. Choosing to build green saves energy. The low embodied energy of green products ensures that very little energy went into their manufacture and production, with a direct reduction in carbon emissions. Eco […]
Construction buyers have reported the strongest rise in construction activity since November 2017. The latest IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index for June registered 53.1 in June – up from 52.5 in April. The rise represents the sharpest increase in overall construction output since last November. New orders also rose at their fastest pace […]
Engineers at Lancaster University are working with industrial partners at Cellucomp Ltd UK to research how concrete mixtures can be strengthened and made more environmentally friendly by adding ‘nano platelets’ extracted from the fibres of root vegetables. The work, which is being supported with £195,000 by the EU’s Horizon 2020 funding, will strengthen findings from early […]