Extra schools building and Green Deal funding plus UK top solar PV growth Growth in construction continues apace with English schools building programme now boosted by an extra £2bn  on top of the allocated £2.4bn for repairs; UK house building is experiencing the longest period of continuous growth in 8 yrs; and aggregates and asphalt[…]

World-first whole-house retrofit success Google smart homes Saint-Gobain Salford House Effective city-wide urban retrofit is still the Holy Grail for a truly sustainable future. It is a big challenge and needs research-based solutions and perhaps some ‘blue-sky thinking’. Saint-Gobain’s support for a ‘world-first’ whole-house retrofit research project at Salford University is featured below. It is[…]

Zinc spares Stonehenge blushes + is R&D the key to profitable building? New Visitor Centre at Stonehenge Last week I visited Stonehenge, once voted Britain’s most embarrassing tourist attraction. This iconic pre-historic archaeological site used to be surrounded by car traffic and one million mostly overseas visitors were serviced with a couple of old portacabins[…]