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As the Government announced the first of the new garden villages, a new report ‘Small is beautiful: Delivering more homes through small sites’ published by FMB looks at ways smaller scale developments can contribute to the demand for new homes.
Gary Lewis, National President of the FMB said…
UPDATE: S106 charges are gone
Section 106 agreements can be a nightmare for developers – they’ve been known to add months to the planning process, stalling work and potentially adding avoidable costs to a project or even leading to the abandonment of others altogether.
Also known as ‘…
At 7:30am on Monday 11 December a gas explosion ripped through a property in Birstall, Leicester.
The incident was apparently caused by the failure of an internal gas pipe laid in the floor of the property, where the escaping gas was being ignited by the gas ignition system on the cooker.
The…
Judith Schulz and Neil Hitchen of ARUP explained their “Top 10 design specification concerns” at a recent conference that forms part of LABC’s “Professionals in Construction” conference series. This conference focussed on controlling the spread of fire in high risk buildings.
ARUP gave an…
How did your interest in construction develop?
In the olden days (1960’s - 70’s), when I was about 12, a teacher asked everyone in my class to tell her what they wanted to do when they left school. I had been building things with Lego for years, so whether that had anything to do with it, I don’…
Poorly constructed or maintained free-standing walls can be a danger. Everyone in the building industry has a responsibility to look for the dangers posed by these walls as they can cause death or injury if they collapse.
The Building Regulations do not control the construction of most free-…
The Flood Resilient Repair Home: How flood proof design in high risk areas can help prevent disaster
It might seem strange to be talking about flood resilience at a time when a water drought appears to be the news of the moment. However, flash floods from dry ground and the inevitable winter storms are likely to feature in the headlines at some point during the year.
This is because more than…
The installation or improvement of loft insulation is one of the simplest ways of improving the energy efficiency of a building. Up to 25% of heat lost from a building without any thermal insulation can pass through the roof.
But do building regulations apply to this type of building work?…
Congratulations to all of our 2017 LABC Building Excellence Awards Grand Finals winners!
The event, one of the most recognised in the construction industry calendar, took place on Friday 10 November 2017 at the Westminster Park Plaza in London and winners were announced by writer…
Cavity masonry walls have a cavity for good reason - and it’s not to provide a home for excess mortar or general debris as the images below show!
Allowing mortar (and debris) to accumulate within the cavity and on wall ties can seriously affect the sound insulation performance of a…