Building Design articles from June 2006

Building Design archives from June 2006

English Heritage sidelined from DCMS listings review: Commonwealth Institute demolition plan sparks row over future of heritage protection.(Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
June 2, 2006... English Heritage fears a policy change could mean architecturally significant but dilapidated buildings are demolished or substantially altered because they cost too much to maintain. The government's official adviser on historic buildings...

Simpson to stop whistle.(168m Beetham Tower in Manchester gets prototype foam profiles fitted to the glass blades of rooftop superstructure)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Contractor Carillion and Ian Simpson Architects have pledged to silence the "whistling tower", otherwise known as the 47-storey, 168m Beetham Tower in Manchester, Europe's tallest residential tower. Carillion and Simpson told BD the...

BDP and HLM land Sheffield schools haul.(News)(Building Schools for the Future programme)
June 2, 2006... BDP and HLM have landed one of the biggest prizes yet in the government's 2.2 billion [pounds sterling] a year Building Schools for the Future programme, as part of the consortium appointed to rebuild every secondary school in Sheffield by...

Grimshaw mixes business and pleasure.(News)(Grimshaw Architects to design phase 2 of the Excel London centre and create a new Winter Gardens in Bournemouth)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Grimshaw Architects has won two major appointments: to design phase 2 of the Excel London centre, and to create a new Winter Gardens in Bournemouth. The proposed 36,000sq m extension to the centre will increase its floor space by more than...

Art of gold.(News)(government permits Rafael Vinoly Architects P.C. to construct visual arts centre)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... The government has given the green light to Rafael Vinoly's visual arts centre in Colchester. The borough council hopes the crescent-shaped building--dubbed "the Golden Banana"--will provide a catalyst for the regeneration of the town's St...

Northern Ireland's government is set to launch a design competition to transform the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland into a leisure destination with a 42,000-seat sports stadium.(Hit and miss)
June 2, 2006... Northern Ireland's government is set to launch a design competition to transform the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland into a leisure destination with a 42,000-seat sports stadium. The winning designer will work with a government-led stadium...

Wilkinson Eyre has trumped a shortlist including BDP and Allies & Morrison to design an 8 million [pounds sterling] humanities building for London's Queen Mary University at Mile End, east London.(Hit and miss)
June 2, 2006... Wilkinson Eyre has trumped a shortlist including BDP and Allies & Morrison to design an 8 million [pounds sterling] humanities building for London's Queen Mary University at Mile End, east London. The brief is for a 3,500sq m building to house...

A survey by the University of Reading Business School has rated the City of London the fourth most expensive office location in the world.(Hit and miss)
June 2, 2006... A survey by the University of Reading Business School has rated the City of London the fourth most expensive office location in the world. Researchers found that 3.3 million sq m--almost half of all office space--is owned by foreign firms, with...

The Duke of Kent reopened Kent House in north London this week, 71 years after his father opened the original.(Hit and miss)
June 2, 2006... The Duke of Kent reopened Kent House in north London this week, 71 years after his father opened the original. Philip Bailey Architects designed the refurbishment of the modernist building, Connell Ward & Lucas's only social housing. Its...

RIBA presidential candidate Sunand Prasad has outlined his six-point plan to address the issue of low pay in architecture.(People)
June 2, 2006... RIBA presidential candidate Sunand Prasad has outlined his six-point plan to address the issue of low pay in architecture. He says architects must ensure commensurate reward for successful projects at the planning or bidding stage, and reclaim...

RIBA president Jack Pringle will appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Monday to give evidence to the inquiry into the collapse of the Paddington Health Campus PFI hospital.(Power play)
June 2, 2006... RIBA president Jack Pringle will appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Monday to give evidence to the inquiry into the collapse of the Paddington Health Campus PFI hospital. He will be asked to expound on his proposed "Smart PFI"...

The University of Kent is planning to expand its architecture school, a year after it was founded by the former head of Canterbury School of Architecture Don Gray.(Power play)
June 2, 2006... The University of Kent is planning to expand its architecture school, a year after it was founded by the former head of Canterbury School of Architecture Don Gray. Gray hopes Kent will double its current 100 students in the next academic year,...

A development of 36 affordable homes has finally opened in Bakewell after a five-year legal struggle that saw the cost increase by 500,000 [pounds sterling] to 3.5 million [pounds sterling].(Power play)
June 2, 2006... A development of 36 affordable homes has finally opened in Bakewell after a five-year legal struggle that saw the cost increase by 500,000 [pounds sterling] to 3.5 million [pounds sterling]. The Highfield Drive development has been described by...

Mayor doubles green target: concern grows over Livingstone's plan to increase requirements for production of renewable on-site energy.(News)
June 2, 2006... London mayor Ken Livingstone courted controversy this week with his decision to double the target for cutting carbon emissions through on-site renewable sources from 10% to 20%. He also set targets for the overall reduction of C[O.sub.2]...

Shanghai on Thames.(News)
June 2, 2006... The Architecture Foundation is attempting to answer the question "What would the capital look like if planning controls were removed?" This image, produced by Cityscape Digital, shows the skyline of London as it might be if the capital...

Course gives training in natural disasters.(News)
June 2, 2006... Architects will have an opportunity to assist those recovering from natural disasters with the introduction of a new masters degree at the London Metropolitan University. Architect and academic Maurice Mitchell, who spent a decade working...

Highways officials 'stuck in the past'.(News)
June 2, 2006... Highways officers are thwarting innovative ways to incorporate parking space in new residential developments, according to English Partnerships and Design for Homes. David Birkbeck, chief executive of Design for Homes, claims highways...

Carbon campaign.
June 2, 2006... Almost 500 organisations have now signed up to the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers' 100 Days of Carbon Clean-Up campaign. With the support of the Carbon Trust, Cibse is running events and initiatives beginning on June 5 to...

Brownfield land use increases.
June 2, 2006... Government figures show a national record of 73% of new homes were built on brownfield sites in 2005, up from 72% in 2004 and 56% in 1997. The estimates suggest an average density of 42 homes per ha, up from 40 in 2004 and an average of 25...

Coming home.
June 2, 2006... The Housing Corporation has begun work on a consultation into homelessness with agencies including the Department for Communities & Local Government, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Association. The process will...

Public space proposal for Building Centre.(News)
June 2, 2006... The chairman of the Building Centre Trust, Spencer de Grey, has outlined plans for a new public space for London outside the centre, where Sheppard Robson's 60,000 [pounds sterling] house is on display. Speaking at a celebration of the...

Vote for the best architecture band.(News)
June 2, 2006... From Germans with synthesisers and avant-garde Dutch people to teenage Sheffield architecture students--the quest to find architects in rock bands produced diverse and rewarding results. In response to a call for bands to play at...

Architype's lesson in sustainability.(FIRST LOOK)
June 2, 2006... Bristol City Council has granted planning permission for this sustainable primary school and children's centre designed by Architype. The 4 million [pounds sterling] scheme will be built on the site of the existing Barton Hill Primary School...

Going private.
June 2, 2006... Demolition has begun on a site for a state-of-the-art cancer treatment centre for independent hospital the London Clinic. The 50 million [pounds sterling], 47-bedroom facility by Anshen Dyer Architects will be linked by a tunnel under...

Grand day out.
June 2, 2006... Grand Designs Live opened today at the Excel Centre in London. Pre-lab home specialists will be among the 500 exhibitors at the three-day event, while the RICS and RIBA offer advice to home-owners, and Kevin McCloud interviews celebrities and...

Coventry connection.
June 2, 2006... Farrells has designed a masterplan to transform an 8ha site around Coventry station. Centred around a comprehensive interchange, with office and residential buildings, and leisure and retail facilities, it will improve pedestrian links to the...

Now SMC is UK's second largest: practice leapfrogs Capita with its acquisition of Charter.(News)(SMC Group buys Charter Consultant Architects)
June 2, 2006... SMC Group has bought Charter Consultant Architects, its seventh acquisition in the last year, making it the UK's second-biggest practice after BDP. Charter, which has more than 110 staff, is SMC's largest single acquisition, and means the...

Tyne and again.(facilities)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Work has begun on the 35 million [pounds sterling] Baltic Place project in Gateshead, a 13-storey, twin-tower office by Waring & Netts. A total of 13,000sq m of internal space will be created on the brownfield site on the Tyne. The two...

Eastern promise.
June 2, 2006... Ten RIBA Award-shortlisted East Anglia buildings will be open to the public during Architecture Week, June 1625. They include the water activities centre at Whitlingham Country Park, Norwich, Peterhouse Ward Library, Cambridge, and Holly Barn...

BBC three.
June 2, 2006... The BBC has selected three companies--Interserve Project Services, Mansell Construction Services and Overbury--to supply building works and services for small to medium-sized projects across the UK. They will begin work on new projects from...

New brew.
June 2, 2006... Architecture minister David Lammy opened Richard Griffiths Architects' Brewhouse, a new education and visitor centre at Burghley House, Lincolnshire, last Wednesday. The 2 million [pounds sterling] project, part funded by a the Heritage Lottery...

Surprise winner in country house stakes.(News)
June 2, 2006... A new contender has emerged for the title of the first country house to be approved under PPS7 legislation, which allows schemes of exceptional quality to be built in protected rural areas. Little-known practice FPCR, based near Derby,...

Shortlist of seven for Beamish centre.(News)
June 2, 2006... A shortlist of seven practices has been announced for the design of the 6 million [pounds sterling] visitor centre at Beamish, the North of England Open Air Museum. They are: Benson & Forsyth, De Matos Storey Ryan, Edward Cullinan...

Presidents Medals hit the road.(News)(exhibition of work by students nominated for awards by the Royal Institute of British Architects)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... The annual show displaying work by students nominated for the RIBA President's Medals could go as far as Australia next year. This year's exhibition is the first since the award began in the 1850s to be displayed outside London, opening in...

Hopkins' cream of Jersey: quality tsar for St Helier waterfront.(News)(Hopkins Architects)
June 2, 2006... Hopkins Architects has been appointed to bring "world class architecture" to reclaimed land on St Helier's waterfront in Jersey. The practice has been appointed by Jersey's government, which is anxious to coordinate development already...

Howells and Castlemore take on Leeds city centre.(News)(Glen Howell)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Glen Howell's domination of the North continued this week with his appointment to develop a 275 million [pounds sterling] mixed-use scheme in Leeds City Centre. Developer Castlemore appointed Howells as masterplanner of the 62,000sq m...

Cricket corner.(Maber Associates)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Maber Associates has designed a mixed-use development for a prominent corner site near the Trent Bridge cricket ground in Nottingham. Maber says the project will create 215 homes, seven retail units and serviced office accommodation in a safe,...

LEAP into action.(East Midlands)
June 2, 2006... Leicester Partnership--the regeneration body which brings together public, private and voluntary sector organisations--has set up a new arm, the Leicester Economic Action Partnership to deliver the economic parts of its strategy for the city....

30-year plan.(East Midlands)
June 2, 2006... Lincoln City Council is inviting public comment on a new masterplan for the regeneration of the city centre, designed by the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment. The plan will deliver around 20 projects in the next 30 years to improve...

Sounds good.(Springwell Community School)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... A 1.3 million [pounds sterling] music and performance arts centre has opened at Springwell Community School in Staveley, Derbyshire. The centre, designed by Moss Architecture, is on the site of four former tennis courts, and includes a...

Objection overruled.(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Government planning inspector Mike Shaw has given his backing to Chesterfield Borough Council's revised local plans after holding a public inquiry into objections received. The inspector accepted the need for 2,000 more dwellings in the coming...

All creatures great and simulated.(veterinary teaching facility)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Work is almost complete on Lewis & Hickey Architect's new simulated practice veterinary teaching facility for Nottingham Trent University at its rural Brackenhurst Campus. The 1.5 million [pounds sterling], 830sq m cedar-clad building comprises...

Paradise in the parking lot: English Partnerships has produced a toolkit that aims to revive our streets. But will this new road map for better car parking design be enough to steer housebuilders in the right direction?(News Analysis)
June 2, 2006... In the London borough of Islington it was the issue that dominated last month's local elections. And in the design of new housing estates it's the most significant obstacle to success. Car parking might not be sexy, but getting it wrong can...

PFI is killing school-building.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 2, 2006... Peter Phillips, RIBA presidential candidate News that the government's huge Building Schools for the Future programme is already experiencing difficulties (News May 26) should come as no surprise. The idea that huge packages controlled...

Joined-up writing.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 2, 2006... Frances Sorrell, co-chair, Sorrell Foundation Paul Morrell makes some very important points (Soapbox May 26), not least when he asks: "Why aren't we more actively engaging and involving children in the development of the schools they will...

Valley of death.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 2, 2006... David Mackay, MBM Arquitectes, Barcelona I symphathise with Stephen Lawrence having his intellectual work for the Lower Lea Valley park unacknowledged by Stratford (News May 19). We spent three years on a masterplan for the valley for...

Traditional values.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 2, 2006... Bryan Perry, Lewes I found myself mentally wrestling with Charles Thomson's recent emphatic No Poundbury OK! (Letters May 5). Why does the profession behave as if modernism is written on tablets of stone, and why the need to reinvent the...

Sub-standard.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 2, 2006... Bryan Scott, Knebworth, Herts John Gummer's proposal to scrap the Building Regulations to encourage "innovation" in construction (News May 19) has a familiar ring. Anyone remember that the Thatcher government, of which Gummer was a...

Acting up.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 2, 2006... Phillip Seaward, Essex Regarding "Title abuser convicted" (News May 26), can you please confirm whether the Arb has rewritten the Architect's Act without anyone being informed? There is certainly no qualification to section 20,...

Fighting chance.(Comment: Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 2, 2006... David Thorp, Birmingham The new presidential triumvirate (Who will win your vote, May 26) sets Peter Phillips centre-stage, flanked by two candidates who sound as if they may have chosen their speech makers from ranks of government identikit...

Fountain fair play.(Comment:Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 2, 2006... Ivor Hall, London NW11 Mary Bowman of Gustafson Porter suggests my continued pursuit for the truth behind the flawed competition is because my design was not shortlisted (Letters May 19). I was, in fact, never a competitor! I also have yet to...

Clarification.(Correction notice)
June 2, 2006... Studio Egret West is the practice working with Edaw on the Holt Town Waterfront (News May 26), not Studio Egret as our abbreviated headline had it.

Is the listing system set for demolition?(Editorial)(Editorial)
June 2, 2006... Whatever your view is about the merits of RMJM's Commonwealth Institute, the decision by Tessa Jowell to seek its demolition through a special act of parliament should not come as a total surprise. While she has not budged from her view of...

Take our place at heart of invention.(Soapbox)
June 2, 2006... The soapbox I am standing on is made of Aerogel. It is strong enough to take my weight, yet so light it is easy to carry. This versatile material is used by Nasa to catch stardust, but it can be specified to create translucent building...

Department store.(Concrete Boots)
June 2, 2006... Now that John Prescott has been stripped of his departmental powers, minds in the construction industry are beginning to turn back to the old chesnut of a department for the built environment. Most experts agree that it's a good idea, but...

Drinking den.(Summer Pavilion)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... According to a press release from the Serpentine Gallery, Rem Koolhaas has said of this year's Summer Pavilion, which he designed: "[It] will be defined by events and activities. We are proposing a space that facilitates the inclusion of...

Huffin and puffin.(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Apparently listing the poor old Commonwealth institute was all a big mistake and only came about because a lot of trendy architects used to drag their children off there for the Puffin book fair (see pic) in the seventies. Architects were...

Noise is off.(speech at the Building Centre)(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... Norman Foster is used to being flown about by helicopter and having acolytes hang on his every word, so it must have been a surprise to find, as he launched into his guest speech at the Building Centre's 75th anniversary, that the mic didn't...

Friends reunited.(students involved in the early stages of the project )(Brief article)
June 2, 2006... With architectural students getting such a bad press these days, it is nice to hear that one well-satisfied client and the practice involved (Sarah Wigglesworth Architects) really want students involved in the early stages of the project to get...

Seven vie for country landmark.(Focus)
June 2, 2006... Beamish open air museum is a collection of 19th and 20th century buildings rescued from across north-east England and reconstructed in the County Durham countryside. Now, a competition for a 6 million [pounds sterling] visitors centre, will add...

Exploring the city of tomorrow: two London exhibitions present visions of the future in design and materials. The Barbican's Future City offers sometimes outrageous experimental and utopian designs, says Ellis Woodman. Over at the Building Centre, Elaine Knutt discovers cutting-edge building materials.(Forecast: Future City & Materials of Invention)
June 2, 2006... As a title, Future City: Experiment and Utopia in Architecture 1956-2006 may be a bit of a mouthful but it has an extraordinary spread of work to encapsulate. This blockbuster exhibition, opening at the Barbican next week, draws together 50...

It's impossible to put a single label on this master of sixties experimentation.(Hans Hollein)
June 2, 2006... It's easy to see Hans Hollein's early work as not being architectural proposals at all. The fantastic collaged images are so successful as conceptual art: the aircraft carrier in the landscape, the superstructures over Manhattan (a sort of...

Building a future: is architectural imagination the driving force behind new technologies, or do technologies inspire architects? Elaine Knutt reports on the Building Centre's new show that says we need both approaches.(Forecast: Future City & Materials of Invention)
June 2, 2006... The architectural imagination behind many of the ideas in the Barbican's Future City. is unfettered by base considerations of what can actually be built. From the architecture-as-machine aesthetic to the organic shapes of Italian avant-garde...

Innovations in building materials.(Forecast: Future City & Materials of Invention)
June 2, 2006... Nanogel First discovered in 1931, and later used by Nasa to insulate its spaceships, silicon-based transparent Nanogel is 97% air and holds the title of the world's least dense substance. A super-insulator that also dampens sound, it...

Open Eyre.(SELECTOR)
June 2, 2006... Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre is lecturing on Wednesday June 7 as part of the Open House Contemporary Summer Lecture series. 6.30pm, Arup Auditorium, 63 St Thomas Street, Bristol. www.openhousecontemporary.org

Life on display.(SELECTOR)
June 2, 2006... Pankof Bank Architects will eat, cook, sleep and shower in its installation of an architectural office as part of the Architecture Foundation's Renegade City exhibition series. June 2-10, the Yard Gallery, 49 Old Street, London....

The story of China's gateway: a book on Shanghai's architecture peels back the layers of its colonial history.(Culture: Books Exhibitions Events: Building Shanghai: The Story of China's Gateway)(Book review)
June 2, 2006... I was born in Shanghai and brought up there as a child. I well remember the city in the late forties, driving from our house in the western suburbs along Bubbling Well Road, passing all the grand houses on the way and deciding which one I liked...

Street life.(SELECTOR)
June 2, 2006... Photographs of Poundbury bereft of people explore issues of displacement and artificiality in Nonsuch, a show by Steffi Klenz. June 2 to July 15, Photofusion, 17a Electric Lane, London. Tel: 020 7738 5774.

If only they could talk: Chris Hall listens in to the hidden sounds of Brighton buildings.(Culture: Books Exhibitions Events)
June 2, 2006... Rowena Easton had the idea of making the unheard noises of a building audible when she was lying in bed in her flat at Wells Coates' dilapidated Embassy Court in Brighton, now restored to its former glory. "I was thinking about the hidden...

Culture vulture.
June 2, 2006... How would you spend the day indulging in cultural pursuits? I would travel to Berlin and meander through the architectural kaleidoscope of iconic and signature buildings, by the world's most internationally acclaimed architects, while...

Kingspan Insulation limited.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... Kingspan Insulation has launched the latest edition of its Design Manual which has been fully updated to provide comprehensive information on how their extensive selection of Kooltherm[R] rigid phenolic and Therma rigid urethane insulation...

IES.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... IES Limited, the world leading provider of building performance software, is proud to announce that its flexible alternative to SBEM will be launched on Monday 15th May. IES has now passed all of the tests required and will imminently receive...

Aggregate industries.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... Charcon has launched a stunning new washed block paving product, providing the perfect complement to any prestige development. Initially developed as a signature product on a major new North London sports stadium project, shortly reaching...

Ash & Lacy building systems ltd.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... The largest school in the country has received a makeover featuring an Ash & Lacy Ashjack propped rafter over-roof conversion system. Great Barr School in Birmingham, which is based on a single site on the Aldridge Road, has installed a new...

MX Group.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... The MX Group, the UK's leading shower tray manufacturer, is pleased to announce that it has acquired the assets and tooling for the 'Durastone' shower tray range from Polypipe Bathroom & Kitchen Products Ltd. Enquiries 5012 or see...

Trada Technology.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... TRADA Technology has launched 'Timber frame: Standard details for houses and flats'. This unique manual and CD package will save engineers and architects hours of design time. Cost: TRADA members 200 [pounds sterling], non-members 400 [pounds...

Saniflo.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... The Kinelux alcove cubicle from Kinedo is a self-contained shower that is quick and easy to install and completely waterproof. With no need for tiling, grouting or silicone sealant Kinelux can be installed from flat pack to complete...

SAS.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... SAS International, the market leader in metal solutions, has introduced a new fine textured paint finish, SAS FT, for its range of metal ceiling panels and tiles. This finish negates the chance of lighting 'hotspots' (indirect light sources...

Leax Lighting Controls.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... Recognising a growing appreciation and demand for high quality lighting design and control in the domestic market, leading British manufacturer Leax Lighting Controls has launched the state-of-the-art Leax 4x4 programmable wall dimmer switch....

Kawneer UK Ltd.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... When materials were being selected for the external envelope of an award-winning part of the 130 million [pounds sterling] Clacton Schools PFI there was really only one choice for the architect and contractor as far as the curtain walling and...

The real door company.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... Manufacturers of bespoke framed and panelled doors, innovative engineered flush doors and reproductions for historic refurbishments--fully finished or ready for site finishing. We also offer a complete range of high quality door furniture. All...

Marley Floors.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... 18,000 sqm of floorcovering from Marley Floors has been installed in a new 55 million [pounds sterling] PFI hospital at Roehampton, West London. Architects, Devereux Architects specified Marley Floors. Bovis Lend Lease, the main contractor, who...

North 4 Design ltd.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... North 4 Design manufacture a standard range of Vision Panels for doors and walls. Finished in brushed stainless steel, they provide an attractive solution to functional vision requirements. All Vision Panels are designed for simple installation...

Aggregate industries.(Products & Literature)
June 2, 2006... Charcon's premium Andover block paving is in its element at Bristol Harbourside, helping to provide a distinctive identity for one of the South West's most sought after places to live, work and play. With more than 8,000 sq m of public realm...