Building Weekly Digest - 9 August 2024
Building Magazine
The UK's leading magazine for construction professionals featuring the latest industry news, expertise and intelligence.
After the flurry of announcements from the new government, including a consultation paper on long-awaited planning changes, this week saw the built enviornment news agenda slowdown somewhat amid reflection on Labour's policy direction
In addition to continuing to comb through the announcements (watch this space for more) we also looked at a project to remove RAAC from an Oxford College building, featured construction clients to watch and reported on the latest regarding two potential housebuilder mergers.
How do you fix a grade I listed Oxford college built from RAAC?
It's almost a year since widespread concerns about RAAC - a lightweight form of concrete that can be unsafe in some situations - prompted widespread closures of schools and other buildings. While the media attention of the problem has died down, the construction industry is still very much grappling with the problem.
This week we featured an insightful case study of the issue being tackled in Oxford.
All the roofs at St Catherine’s College were recently condemned thanks to the presence of RAAC.
Thomas Lane reports on how the team came up with a solution that didn’t affect the historical significance of the Arne Jacobsen-designed campus.
Construction clients to watch: what suppliers need to know
Despite the optimistic tone set by the arrival of a new Labour government, construction output is still shaky. While the month of May saw an uptick of 1.9%, the three previous months’ output fell 0.7%, with many construction firms still experiencing challenging market conditions.
There are clients with solid pipelines across the various sectors who look set to weather economic fluctuations. So, who are they and what do they want?
Our quick guide to some of construction’s major clients across different sectors covers pipelines, priorities and procurement routes
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We must retrofit now – there is no time to lose
On Thursday we publishing a rallying cry on retrofit from Smith Mordak , chief executive of the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) .
Mordak calls on the construction industry to stop squabbling among itself and work together to develop sensible, practical solutions to present to the new government.
Events update
Both our marquee London conferences - Housing Today Live and Building the Future have announced a raft of big-name speakers this week making them the must-attend events of September.
On top of that tickets are selling fast for both the Building Awards and the Architect of the Year Awards - so make sure you secure your places today!
From Miesian cool to urban discord: Why the new 1 Undershaft scheme misses the mark
Stanhope's proposals for the tallest building in the City of London have been drawing much criticism.
Here, as developers push for more floorspace at 1 Undershaft in the scheme, former RIBA presdient Ben Derbyshire PPRIBA FRSA HonAIA argues the historic St Andrew Undershaft church and St Helen’s Piazza face significant disruption.
From the newsdesk
Thanks for reading and have a lovely weekend!