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Masonry is one of the oldest, most established building techniques, but its strength lies in the correct use of mortar, which plays a vital role. There are several things you need to do such as selecting mortar according to exposure conditions and chosen brick and blockwork properties. You also…
When you’re working with thermal insulation, you may have come across Lambda, Psi and Kappa values. Similar to mathematics, these values are all part of the Greek alphabet and are used to define performance levels of insulation products when they’re used on their own or in combination with other…
This is the sight that greeted one of our surveyors after local residents contacted building control about work on their street. If this is what the ‘scaffolding’ looks like, what’s the work like inside?!
Our surveyor told the builder not to use the dodgy structure as it wasn’t safe - the…
Property owners across England and Wales are increasingly investing in photovoltaic and solar thermal collector panels to lower their energy costs. These panels usually come in a rigid, lightweight aluminium shell that can be screwed or clamped securely to a roof.
But once the individual solar…
The first ever garden villages, which have the potential to deliver more than 48,000 homes across England, have been given government backing. Three new garden towns have also been given the go ahead.
This follows a request for expressions of interest from local areas with ambitious and…
Keepmoat has launched ILKE Homes, an offsite homes joint venture with Elliott, a modular homes specialist. They’ll contribute to the government’s housing supply targets through speed of completion, lack of reliance on limited construction labour and the ability to get around obstacles on stalled…
If you get the chance to go to Hong Kong, make sure you look closely at the many construction sites all over the city.
You may come across bamboo scaffolding like that shown in the photo to the right and above. This scaffolding covered a 25-storey building with what appeared to be thousands of…
Loft insulation is simple and very cost effective where there's access to the roof space, but what happens to those awkward corners and sloping eaves? Common in older properties, these can be hard to reach.
The space available is often difficult for both internal and external improvements and so…
The Government has published Amendments to Approved Document B of the Building Regulations (Fire Safety). Although only applicable in England, Wales already have a requirement for sprinklers in all dwellings including flats.
Changes will apply to blocks of flats or mixed use buildings containing…
Improvements to Part L of the Building Regulations have ensured highly insulated roofs and this, coupled with heavy snowfall, has the potential to cause gutter problems.
When a thaw sets in the snow will slide down the roof, taking with it anything in its path including gutters fitted too high…