Practice Profile: Simone de Gale Architects

An agile firm with an open-minded remit, Simone de Gale Architects champions a wide range of design typologies, innovation in materials, and diversity in architecture. The practice’s founder speaks to Sébastien Reed Simone de Gale Architects founded her practice in... View Article

The SME Case for Self-Build

Brian Berry of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), explores how and why Government policy designed to aid self-builders can actually help SME housebuilders too. When discussing how to support small- and medium-sized housebuilders (SME), one area that is often... View Article

Can councils deliver on the quality as well as the numbers?

  The importance of getting local authorities building tens of thousands of new council homes has been amply demonstrated by the large-scale cuts made to housing association development programmes in recent weeks. It is also revealed in the growing figures... View Article

Site Lines: Low impact, high materiality

Gavin Maloney of Arup looks at how a house made of expanded cork combines impeccable sustainability credentials with a high degree of tactile beauty Never has public opinion been more interested in how we dispose of the things we produce... View Article

View Point: Katy Barker of Directline Structures

Architect Katy Barker of Directline Structures says that despite the barriers to collaborative working, architects could take a leading role in Design & Build Most people understand the premise of Design & Build procurement – a single organisation undertakes the... View Article

Ask the Architect: Laura Carrara-Cagni

Laura Carrara-Cagni of Edward Williams Architects answers ADF’s questions about the things that drive her, personally and professionally Why did you become an architect? I love travelling and I wanted to become an interpreter, so I actually studied languages first.... View Article

An internal monologue on copper

Copper has seen a dramatic change in use from its historic place roofing prestigious buildings to being a thoroughly modern external skin for contemporary architecture. But its role as an interior surfacing material is also growing, presenting new opportunities and... View Article

Site Lines – Serving student wellbeing needs

Students in the 21st century face a wide range of health and wellbeing challenges as well as technological demands. James Allison of architects Bennetts Associates discusses an example of thoughtful improvement of student wellbeing facilities for Cambridge University In the... View Article

View Point: Camilla Siggaard Andersen of Arup

Camilla Siggaard Andersen of Arup explores how, regardless of the construction industry’s myriad motives, the worth of projects that architects and designers create is ultimately about their social value – how they shape peoples’ lives Why do we build? Depending... View Article

Need for a planned approach to drainage maintenance

When it comes to drainage maintenance, many organisations are still adopting a shorted-sighted strategy which is costing them in the long-term. Contractors and facilities management professionals need to make the case for a planned approach, as Clark Williams of Jet... View Article

Ask the Architect: Margherita Cesca

Margherita Cesca of Saunders Boston Architects answers ADF’s questions on what drives her personally and professionally Why did you become an architect? Art and architecture have always been a big part of my life; from a very young age, I... View Article

Practice Profile: Shepheard Epstein Hunter

Shepheard Epstein Hunter may have garnered a strong reputation in its long history, from an initial focus on high quality public housing, but the practice hasn’t been resting on its laurels. James Parker spoke to two of its directors Evolving,... View Article

Assured solutions in a crisis

Andrew Carpenter of the Structural Timber Association says that the timber solutions already exist for building the energy-efficient low-carbon dwellings the Government is calling for to address the housing crisis, now underpinned by robust assurances Offsite construction presents many new... View Article

Growing opportunities for specifying timber

Kevin Underwood of the British Woodworking Federation discusses the challenges as well as wide-ranging benefits of using wood as a construction material Wood, the world’s oldest and most traditional building material, is increasingly being re-evaluated as a modern-day first choice... View Article

Making builders licenced

For a profession which affects so many people’s lives, arguably more than most others, the housebuilding industry is a strikingly under-regulated one. Doctors have a distinctly profound effect on their clients, namely (normally) improving how their bodies function. With such... View Article

The big question about climate change

The real question to ask about climate change is not whether it’s a problem or how bad it is, but what are you, and/or your company you work for going to do about it? Following the successfully headline-grabbing Extinction Rebellion... View Article

Upward trend for wooden hi-rise

Until recently, there was a growing movement in the UK to build tall buildings using timber. There are ancient Chinese timber pagodas which are many storeys high, but going tall with timber is something the western world has struggled to... View Article

Practice Profile: Maber Architects

After recently turning 35, well-established practice Maber decided to reinvent and ‘reboot’ itself, James Parker spoke to managing director Ian Harris to find out why Maber Architects was founded by keen cricketer Colin Maber in Nottingham in 1983, and as... View Article