Construction & Building Materials

From tackling loneliness among older people to ensuring children have safe places to play, development is now more than bricks and mortar, as Huw Morris discovers

The 2024 Surface Design Awards were the culmination of 160 entries from 20 countries brought together to celebrate innovation in material use in architectural design projects around the world.

Callum Thornton, Fenestration Product Manager for SFS UK, explains why social housing specifiers and managers should consider continuity of insulation around window openings.

CABE Built Environment 2024 winner the Sky Innovation Centre is a masterclass in workplace wellbeing, as Peter Crush discovers

Traditional buildings with natural material choices can help to keep people healthy, David Humphreys tells Matt Lamy

This year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition saw a prototype sustainable and scalable home from Holcim and the Norman Foster Foundation.

All-new hubs, co-located expos including ones dedicated to the roofing sector and the on-site hire industry are just some of the new experiences for visitors at the UK’s largest built
environment event, UK Construction Week (UKCW), when it returns to Birmingham’s NEC from
1-3 October.

The project of 85 social dwellings in Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona) built from wood by the Peris+Toral arquitectes practice has won the Construmat 2024 Prize, which recognised the best works erected according to sustainability criteria.

Three research initiatives led by the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) have received a £14m funding boost through Glasgow City Region Innovation Accelerator programme. The projects are supported with £5.4m from the UK government and up to £8.6m from industry partners.

CABE Built Environment 2024 winner Turnstones was celebrated for ARCO2 architects’ ability to rise to a challenge, as Matt Lamy discovers.

From mud bricks to smart concrete, Instarmac gives a brief history of how building materials have changed over time.

The Mission Possible Partnership aims to make net-zero emissions in concrete and cement a reality

Dura Composites was awarded a King’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category for its glass reinforced polymer walkway grating products. The range has up to 33% less embodied carbon and is fully recyclable and lightweight – making installation safer, easier and more cost-efficient.

An unusual steelwork connection found during a fit-out of a high-specification building has prompted safety concerns.

A member of the public who leaned on iron balustrade on a seaside promenade fell four metres onto the beach when the railings gave way. Another member of the public below narrowly avoided being struck by the person and the falling railing.

A report from the National Access & Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) has revealed that 80% of scaffold accidents among its members are due to manual handling, slips, trips and falls from height.

Leeds Beckett University will work with YORhub to create a supply chain engagement toolkit. This aims to increase the number and diversity of regional SMEs with access to public sector procurement frameworks, reducing the over-dominance of large firms and introducing innovative solutions in a sector that is slow to change. It is a two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership part-funded by the government through Innovate UK.

From 29 June M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, will present I. M. Pei: Life is Architecture, the first major institutional retrospective of Chinese-born American architect Ieoh Ming Pei (1917–2019).

Group Director for Architectural Conservation Professionals (ACP) and CABE Fellow David Humphreys has worked in the global built environment sector for more than 30 years. CABE’s judges commended him for working tirelessly to promote best conservation practice and raising standards in his native Ireland and also internationally.