Jane Embury, director, looks back to look forward Last week, the UK marked a year from the first Covid-19 lockdown. It was a solemn milestone, looking back on tragic events within families and communities. But looking back is also an opportunity to look ahead with a new perspective, whether as individuals, companies or countries. Because […]
public sector
Codifying for social safety
Jane Embury, director, welcomes a white paper on safety in social housing. Sometimes it takes a disaster in which lives are lost for building or fire regulations to change. Over the years it has come to be called ‘codifying by catastrophe’. It sometimes seems that it’s the only way in which improvements to public safety […]
A toxic legacy for public building design?
In a two-part article, Jane Embury, director, looks at the future of architecture in civic building. Here, she looks at the toxic legacy of COVID-19 that may shape civic architecture. Coronavirus has touched every aspect of our personal and working lives. Its effects will probably be felt for years to come. While the country struggles […]
First signs of optimism
After the worst of times, we may now be seeing better times ahead for the construction sector. As we’ve said, the value of the construction industry is often overlooked, even by the Office of National Statistics. But, as the Chartered Institute of Building makes clear in a new report, the sector accounts for about 6% […]
Arson in schools
Chris Peters, chief design manager, looks at arson in schools and some simple steps to minimise risk and damage. Last November fire badly damaged Peebles High School in the Scottish Borders. At its height, some 70 firefighters worked to contain the blaze. However, the good news is that pupils will start to return to their […]
