Archive for August, 2007
HOK aims for all design staff to be LEED accredited
::via Miles Walker at HOK Green BIM I found this interesting tidbit:
All new salaried hires are now expected to become (LEED) accredited within six months, with the long-term goal to have 100% of design professionals accredited. HOK has adopted a policy to apply LEED to every project and has fully integrated LEED into “The HOK [...]
Ask and you shall receive
In a follow up to this post, I went on to the BSJ site and in the feedback form asked for RSS feeds. Unbeknownst to me, they had already sneaked them in without my noticing! The feed can be found here.
It is not widely publicised on the site (in fact I can’t find the route [...]
CIBSE RSS feeds!
Now I know I am probably the only person out of the 17,000+ CIBSE members who uses RSS and I have complained in the past about the lack of feeds for the news area of the CIBSE site. But never let it be said that I complain without seeking solutions. To the right of the [...]
Modernist architecture - not all bad
Lovely article in the FT at the weekend which I only just got round to reading. Well written, balanced and perceptive. A change to see that in the UK press these days when it comes to architecture. I’m off to look up who Edwin Heathcote is, in the meantime, go read the article:
Of course, much [...]
Whitby Bird takeover
Of course, it’s not presented as takeover, but a merger. Ramboll (Danish company) have bought Whitby Bird and it will be now known as Ramboll Whitbybird - trips off the tongue, doesn’t it? Mark Whitby cites growing internationalisation as a key factor in the decision.
The marvellously named CEO of Ramboll, Flemming Bligaard Pedersen, [...]
Skyscraper Monday*
Plenty around on skyscrapers and tall buildings currently. Fogetting for a minute Ms Greer, we have:
New guidance from CABE on tall buildings. Tall buildings may in future be acceptable at outline planning consent stage provided the proposals are part of a robust and credible long term master plan. The new guidance (pdf, 8 pages), just published, [...]
Again on HIPS
Thanks to Mark for this one:
“our assessment is supposed to be a purely visual one. We are not obliged to be thorough.”
Steve Younger, HIP provider
Oh dear. As anyone who has ever tried to do a post construction heat loss calculation for any building built before 1985 will know, it is a minefield of supposition [...]
Green paper on housing
I’m in a pdf blackspot currently so have not been able to read the paper yet. Luckily Mark Brinkley has done a sterling job summarising the key phrases here. Phil (who is no longer a zero champion, but now merely sustainable*) has a round up here.
*I jest of course - it’s a name change [...]
It’s OK, Germaine has the answer
Germaine Greer (yes, the feminist) has solved the world’s building problems with just over 1000 words. In the Guardian. Why? I have no idea what purpose this serves. Plus Jane Jacobs said it all a lot better and with significantly greater authority.
Germaine might want to think about [...]
AECB Carbon Lite running at full steam ahead
The AECB appears to be realigning it’s Carbon Lite program with CSH. Press release in the latest newsletter states:
At the heart of the programme are three Steps to improved energy performance in buildings, which provide robust solutions to the CO2 targets at levels 4, 5 and 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. These steps [...]
