Who really controls the sustainable future of the built environment?
Opinion Piece by John Adams, Head of Product, Glider Technology 25 June 2021 Who really controls the sustainable future of the built environment? In these changing times it’s not certain what the built environment of the future is going to look like. What is certain, is that with population increases expected until a predicted peak […]
Opinion Piece by Neil Thompson, Construction Innovation Hub
Opinion Piece by Neil Thompson, Programme Director, Construction Innovation Hub 18 June 2021 The case for digital has never been stronger Information Management can lead to significant benefits for organisations in the built environment and the wider economy – if we act now. The challenges we face as a sector are well […]
Opinion Piece by Elaine Lewis, Managing Director, Cadventure
Opinion Piece by Elaine Lewis, Managing Director, Cadventure 11 June 2021 Finding a solution to bridge skills gaps, could apprenticeships be the answer? With an ever-growing skill shortage among architects, engineers and construction professionals, we are increasingly aware, as an industry, of the need to encourage young people into our arena. But […]
Opinion Piece by Ian Rippin, CEO, MCS
Opinion Piece by Ian Rippin, CEO, Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) 04 June 2021 In our recent landmark report – Renewing Britain – MCS provided a comprehensive analysis of the changing landscape of small-scale renewable energy since 2008. What we found is that the landscape for small-scale renewables has changed dramatically over the […]
Opinion Piece by Laura Bishop – GSHPA
Opinion Piece by Laura Bishop, GSHPA 24 May 2021 Since November 2020 when Boris Johnson announced the much vaunted ‘600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028’, the conversation surrounding the decarbonisation and electrification of heat has increased enormously. There are many benefits of switching to heat pumps including carbon emissions reduction by […]
Opinion Piece by Paul Capel 540 World
Opinion Piece by Paul Capel, Founding Partner, 540 WORLD 14 May 2021 My ongoing journey from student to policy influencer It is heart-warming to see how Cradle to Cradle® principles and applications have developed since I had my life-changing exposure to them more a decade and a half ago. In 2008/9, while […]
How do we measure true value
Opinion Piece by Ron Lang, Impact Director for Value at Construction Innovation Hub 30 April 2021 How do we measure true value Value. It’s a simple word, but what does it really mean? How do we measure true value beyond pounds and pence? Getting to grips with the seemingly innocuous issue of value continues to […]
Self-healing materials – fact or science fiction?
Opinion Piece by Dr Merryn Haines-Gadd, University of Exeter 23 April 2021 Self-healing materials – fact or science fiction? A field of interest for over 20 years, self-healing materials are those with the ability to repair themselves when damaged. They can be classified into two types: extrinsic self-healing – whereby healing agents inside micro-capsules or […]
Concrete for a net zero world
Opinion Piece by Claire Ackerman, The Concrete Centre 15 April 2021 Futurebuild’s Game Changers campaign has recently inspired me to think back through the key innovations in concrete design that have truly changed the face of the built environment. Concrete is undoubtedly a game changing material. Throughout history it has helped to support our economy, […]
Martin Hurn, Futurebuild – Revealing industry’s game changers
Opinion Piece by Martin Hurn Futurebuild 09 April 2021 Revealing the industry’s game changers The products and technologies that will influence the future of construction Can you imagine living everyday life without your smartphone, central heating, or lightbulbs? We didn’t know how much we needed these products until they were invented — now we can’t […]
Jackie Maginnis, MPBA – Modular Technology and The Golden Thread
Opinion Piece by Jackie MaginnisChief Executive, MPBA 02 April 2021 Modular Technology and The Golden Thread In her report ‘Building a Safer Future’, Dame Judith Hackitt highlights the need for a system-based approach with a golden thread of information running through the lifecycle of each project. Here Jackie Maginnis argues the case for modular technology […]
Sue Riddlestone, Bioregional – Now is the moment to use our voices and influence policy
Opinion Piece by Sue Riddlestone, CEO, Bioregional 26 March 2021 Now is the moment to use our voices and influence policy The UK Government is actively deliberating how to achieve net zero carbon in the built environment and reverse biodiversity loss as part of a slew of new policies. Those of us in the Futurebuild […]
Ann Marie Aguilar, IWBI – The new WELL rating is a real boon
Opinion Piece by Ann Marie Aguilar, Senior Vice President, EMEA, International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) The new WELL rating is a real boon, originally featured on Property Week 19 March 2021 As we think about the tools required to beat Covid-19, now more than ever our buildings are a critical part of the public health […]
May Winfield, Buro Happold – Overcoming the Challenges and Obstacles to Successfully Implement Technology, Digitisation and Digitalisation
Opinion Piece by May Winfield, Head of Commercial and LegalBuro Happold Overcoming the Challenges and Obstacles to Successfully Implement Technology, Digitisation and Digitalisation 12 March 2021 The construction industry is undergoing a significant (but rather slow…) transformation as it progresses towards Construction 4.0, with greater digitalisation and more automated production and assembly processes. The last […]
Sarah Mukherjee, IMEA – Sustainable building
Opinion Piece by Sarah Mukherjee, CEO, IMEA Sustainable building 05 March 2021 I have been involved in and reporting on environmental policy for more than 20 years now, and perhaps rather depressingly, the main ask, be it carbon credits, green infrastructure or green skills, has stayed the same throughout this time, which is to enable […]
Keith Clarke CBE, Active Building Centre and Constructionarium – Time to stop trying harder and do differently
Opinion Piece by Keith Clarke CBE, Chair, Active Building Centre and Constructionarium Time to stop trying harder and do differently. 26 February 2021 Over many decades the construction sector (defined in the widest term of all those involved in creating our built environment) has had numerous programmes (Latham, Egon, etc) to improve our quality, productivity, […]
the Edge- Positioning ourselves for COP26 and beyond – a plan for the built and natural environment
Opinion Piece by The Edge Positioning ourselves for COP26 and beyond – a plan for the built and natural environment 19 February 2021 Discussing Covid 19, Sarah Gilbert, the creator of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, has said, “We had been warned. But again we weren’t ready”. Unfortunately, and over a much longer period, the same is […]
Nick Tune, Atkins – The Golden Thread is not just a nice to have, its a must for all projects
Opinion Piece by Nick Tune, Digital Director, Atkins The Golden Thread is not just a nice to have, its a must for all projects. 29 January 2021 Most of us will have heard of the phrase Golden Thread due to the Hackett review into the Grenfell Tower disaster, so what is it and why is […]
Ana Ruiton, Mott MacDonald – Digital Transformation to build back better
Opinion Piece by Ana Ruiton, Consultant, Mott MacDonald Digital Transformation to build back better 22 January 2021 “Building back better” phrase is everywhere right now, from presidential campaigns slogans to pandemic recovery programmes, and we will be hearing it even more in 2021 with the potential of becoming a global motto in the years to […]
Justin Peckham, Accsys Group – ‘Greenwashing’
Opinion Piece by Justin Peckham, Head of Sales, UK, Ireland, Baltics, India and PortugalAccsys Group Greenwashing 04 December 2020 You may have heard of the term “greenwashing”. A play on the term “whitewashing”, greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound. […]
Dr Don McLean, IES – The Three Levels of “How” to Decarbonise
Opinion Piece by Dr Don McLean, Founder & CEO, IES The Three Levels of “How” to Decarbonise 27 November 2020 The Decarbonisation of the Built Environment could be a much more expensive exercise and less effective than it needs to be. To prevent this, we need to consider the three levels of ‘How’ to decarbonise. […]
Julie Godefroy, CIBSE – 10-POINT PLAN FOR A GREEN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Opinion Piece by Julie Godefroy CIBSE 10-Point plan for a green industrial revolution 20 November 2020 Government have published this week their 10-point plan to a green industrial revolution, which is meant to support the UK’s net zero carbon target as well as creating and supporting up to 250,000 British jobs and “levelling up” the […]
Hadeel Saadoon, Coventry University – Augmented Reality, Virtual reality and Mixed Reality technologies
Opinion Piece by Hadeel Saadoon Estates Digital Services – BIM Manager Augmented Reality, Virtual reality and Mixed Reality technologies in the time of location independent working 13 November 2020 AR ,VR and MR technologies are becoming widespread and are evolving the meaning of visual communication. Every industry will be affected by AR and VR technologies. […]
Grant Findlay, Sir Robert McAlpine – How strategy, data and collaboration can facilitate the path to post-COVID recovery
Opinion Piece by Grant Findlay, Strategy Director, Sir Robert McAlpine How strategy, data and collaboration can facilitate the path to post-COVID recovery 06 November 2020 When business leaders retrospectively reflect on the impact the COVID-19 crisis has had on their respective industries, many are quick to reference the role the pandemic has played in triggering […]
Opinion Piece by Gillian Charlesworth
Opinion Piece by Gillian Charlesworth, Chief Executive Officer, BRE Build back better The phrase Build Back Better has become one of the political rallying cries of 2020 in response to the global pandemic. In America, the US Presidential candidate Joe Biden unveiled the phrase as his campaign slogan in July, around the same time as […]
Opinion Piece by Allan Simpson
Opinion Piece by Allan Simpson, Strategic Growth Manager, Anglian Water Looking after water can help us all The water cycle is an example of a natural circular economy, with used water ultimately being recycled back to the environment and for further use by people and businesses. Yet too often we take the availability of water […]
Opinion Piece by Julia Park
Opinion Piece by Julia Park, Head of Housing Research, Levitt Bernstein Finding the right balance These are, without doubt, extraordinary times. We will need a period of reflection before making long-lasting changes to our way of life, but it is already clear that a re-evaluation of how we live, work and interact with those around […]
Opinion Piece by Erin Walsh
Opinion Piece by Erin Walsh Homes for Healthy Ageing: the role of innovation The social and economic impact of COVID-19 across the UK (and indeed the whole world) is truly unprecedented. It has also been hard-hitting demographically, not least for our elderly population, whose vulnerability to the pandemic has been exposed in the starkest terms. […]
Opinion Piece by Dr Dorte Rich Jørgensen
Opinion Piece by Dr Dorte Rich Jørgensen Learn from COVID-19 for Climate Change Crisis Your invitation to join the ‘Great Transition’ towards living within planetary limits For the COVID-19 pandemic, not much was prepared to deal with it. Yet the crisis showed what accelerated responses are possible when acting with urgency. Examples are working from […]
Opinion Piece by Will Kirkman
Opinion Piece by Will Kirkman The sustainable home in the age of consumerism Modern, developer-built homes can be substandard, unsuitable for your needs or even a health hazard. Whilst doubts are cast over our faith in safe food, clear-air and benevolent technology, the focus is beginning to shift towards our castle and the place we […]
Opinion Piece by Michael Walters
Opinion Piece by Michael Walters The changing face of office space A global pandemic, a UK national lockdown and a seismic shift to daily lives and what people considered normal, be it where and how we work, how we shop, where we live, how we travel and how we best support our day to day […]
Opinion Piece by Tom Reynolds
Opinion Piece by Tom Reynolds The Prime Minister’s proclamation that the UK will “Build Build Build” to recovery provides both opportunities and challenges for the construction industry and its supply chain. The opportunities are obvious – if Boris Johnson delivers on his aspiration there will be a massive uptick in demand for the whole sector. […]
Opinion Piece by Mark Elton
Opinion Piece by Mark Elton “It’s not the despair. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand!” Designers involved in the retrofit of our existing buildings, a group once christened the ‘retrofitterati’, will have felt that sense of hope for a sustainable retrofit industry before, only to see those dreams fade away […]
Opinion Piece by Elaine Toogood
Opinion Piece by Elaine Toogood Concrete: let’s separate the carbon facts from the fiction As we collectively begin to map our recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, the ways the UK will achieve the target of net-zero carbon by 2050 is coming into sharper focus. The UK built environment sector’s aspirations to ‘Build Back Better’ are […]
Opinion Piece by Dr Oliver Jones
Opinion Piece by Dr Oliver Jones Our sector has played an important role in the response to the pandemic. From the design and delivery of healthcare facilities, to urban interventions designed to accommodate new behaviours and stimulate economic recovery. But we have a much bigger part to play if we are to deliver a greener, […]
Opinion Piece by Paul Foulkes
Opinion Piece by Paul Foulkes Collaboration – where the engineer can lead the field Being able to manage multiple buildings or departments with different occupancy requirements, optimising energy use and monitoring and scheduling maintenance is becoming a normal requirement for managing effective, healthy premises. This can only be achieved using the correct hardware, an effective […]
Opinion Piece by Simon Sturgis
Opinion Piece by Simon Sturgis Glass facades – An obsolete typology Glass facades for buildings have been a staple of commercial architecture since the 1950s, and the advent of two New York buildings in particular: the Seagram Building, designed by Mies Van de Rohe, and the United Nations Secretariat Building, designed by Oscar Niemeyer and […]
Opinion Piece by Peter Barker
Opinion Piece by Peter Barker Look internally to fuel your digital growth With the downturn in global markets as a result of the health crisis we have been battling over the past few months, many organisations are confronting the daunting challenge of rebuilding their business in very crowded and competitive environments, with narrowing profit margins […]
Opinion Piece by David Hopkins
Opinion Piece by David Hopkins Biophilia, Brexit and Buildings The pandemic has certainly put us back in touch with nature: there’s less pollution, we’re able to hear birds sing, and there’s a growing appreciation of the importance of biodiversity in our surroundings. The Biophilia movement in construction is also happily gaining ground. Greater use of […]
Opinion Piece by David Philp
Opinion Piece by David Philp Serious about transformation Our Built environment has a powerful influence on all of our lives from enhancing well-being, providing essential infrastructure and impacting on our national economy. How we define, create, and shape our built environment should therefore be a priority for all of all of us especially in the […]
Opinion Piece by Rebecca De Cicco
Opinion Piece by Rebecca De Cicco Creating a mirror of the world: The evolution, development and documentation around Digital Twins and the National Digital Twin (NDT) in the United Kingdom. Based on the work I have been doing in the smart cities/BIM Space, I felt it was important to also include support and research around […]
Guest Editor Piece- Chalin Tamrin Church
Opinion Piece by Chaline Tamrin Church, MA Interior Architect & Designer Chaline Tamrin Church – MA Interior Architect & Designer Director, FreeSpace Design (Healthy Interior Architecture), Lecturer & Brand Specialist, Founding Partner of 540 WORLD and Ergotec Health. Covid has resensitized us. Our heightened sense of other – of the planet – of workers and […]
Opinion Piece by Ian Rippin
Opinion Piece by Ian Rippin, CEO of MCS The Future of Clean Heat – Will a move away from RHI work? MCS, and the industry it works with, face interesting times. The UK domestic renewable energy sector has radically changed since our organisation was formed in 2007. Since then nearly 1.2 million homes have been […]
Opinion Piece by Bill Dunster
Opinion Piece by Guest Editor – Bill Dunster With probably up to 50,000 deaths anticipated in the UK and more possible with a second wave – we all have a duty to try and turn this huge sacrifice into positive social change. We all have an imperative to turn a negative into a positive opportunity […]
Opinion Piece by Marie Grieve – Data Driven Social Media Marketing
Opinion Piece by Marie GrieveData Driven Social Media Marketing Data Driven Social Media Marketing We’re living in a social media phenomenon; with on average, per day, over eight billion daily video views on Facebook, one billion YouTube users and 500 million twitter posts, social content dominates our lives – and it’s only getting bigger! But […]
Industry Insider Newsletter – Guest Editor, Duncan Baker Brown
Industry Insider Newsletter – Guest Editor, Duncan Baker Brown These are utterly incredible times for everybody. Governments all over Planet Earth are responding to the Coronavirus pandemic like no other human-made event in history. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to think that this ability to pass legislation, to mobilise people and resources for good, could lead […]