Interbuild was dismal last year. Crashed and burned. On Friday I travelled to Birmingham to attend the launch meeting to introduce the new show that hopes to rise out of the ashes. BEST (Built Environment Solutions and Technologies) will be co-located at the NEC 17-20 October, alongside The Infrastructure Show, which I assume replaces CIVILS, and Glassex and Interbuild Offsite. Read the rest of this entry »

Passing through the city of London yesterday, I was tempted to join hundreds of charity fundraisers who racing up the 1,037 steps inside one of London’s most iconic buildings, 30 St Mary Axe, known as the Gherkin. They were aiming to raise GBP125k for the NSPCC’s Child’s Voice Appeal. I decided against running up the 38 floors after taking medical advice from my wife who said ‘don’t be ridiculous, I’m not spending my Sunday at A and E’. Read the rest of this entry »

Video is a great media for the building industry and still a hugely under-used marketing tool. A recent one minute video on how to install ceiling plasterboard had over 250k views on the web. Last week I saw a Knauf video featuring a ‘race’ comparing their MP 75 projection plaster with traditional manual plastering. Knauf was three times faster which means the finishing trades get in sooner and the building is completed quicker. Totally convincing and memorable. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday a government minister fuelled speculation that the general election will be on 6th May. In advance of this, Buildingtalk seem to be getting more briefings from various lobby groups setting out how policies will impact the building industry. For example, the National Housing Federation said the number of affordable homes to be built over the next 10 years could be halved by planned government spending cuts. Besides the affect on jobs and apprenticeships, this would mean adding 1.25 million people to the record 4.5 million people on waiting lists for affordable housing. Not a vote winner. Read the rest of this entry »

I was up in Salford at the weekend, visiting friends and family, as well as watching Manchester United beat Burnley. A great game. Balfour Beatty are building the new Hope Hospital, close to where I was staying and I noticed their motto ‘Zero Harm’ splashed across the building site. It relates to their vision to achieve, by 2012, a health and safety record of no deaths or serious injuries to their workforce or the public, throughout their business including any subsidiary, sub-contractor or partner working anywhere in the world. An ambitious target but they are already making good progress towards it. Read the rest of this entry »

I have chosen the first story to be featured in Buildingtalk in 2010 to help celebrate the opening last week of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, formerly called Burj Dubai, which stands at 828m (2,716ft), twice as high as the Empire State Building. Designed by Adrian Smith from Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, it is also a tribute to Bill Baker, the chief structural engineer for the project. Between them they have created a spectacular and beautiful building. Read the rest of this entry »

At the beginning a new decade we take one last look back with my choice of the 20 top stories on Buildingtalk in 2009. As some are saying that the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference was just a lot of hot air, we begin and end with energy efficient ventilation from Passivant and Monodraught. All the stories in between exemplify the construction industries response to climate change - providing practical solutions rather than just talk. Read the rest of this entry »