At the peak of the Alberta’s oil boom in the early 2010s, Horizon North Logistics Inc. couldn’t turn out work trailers and lodges quickly enough. Its manufacturing facilities were kept humming, putting together thousands of camp rooms destined for the Fort McMurray area or other remote project hubs. But as crude prices plunged at the […]
Just over a month before much of the world went into lockdown, at the 50th World Economic Forum in Davos, session after session was devoted to tackling the climate crisis. It’s no wonder. This century has seen 19 of the hottest years ever recorded. In the past year, wildfires ravaged Australia and Brazil, while Arctic […]
To explore the possibilities of mud architecture, Rael San Fratello has created 3D-printed prototypes that take cues from historical earthen construction built along the Rio Grande river. Led by architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, Rael San Fratello created four mud structures as part of its Emerging Objects investigative series into 3D printing. The […]
Off-site eco developer Project Etopia recently announced the acquisition of self-build specialist Tribus Homes. Last year, the two firms formed a partnership under the ‘E-Tribus’ banner, but Project Etopia has now bought the company, including its manufacturing facility in Devon. Tribus Homes was created to help people build their dream homes. To start with, the […]
The Covid 19 pandemic presents unique challenges to all business sectors including construction. One of the most pressing difficulties is keeping up productivity on site while practising the social distancing measures as per government guidelines. Utilising off-site construction as much as possible can be key to achieving project schedules while observing best health and safety […]
When Wuhan, China, began to first wrestle with the outbreak of COVID-19 and the need for medical centers, it turned to modular construction. In less than two weeks, it was able to create the 1,000-bed Huoshenshan Hospital and the 1,600-bed Leishenshan Hospital. Videos of the construction were shown on YouTube. As the coronavirus begins to […]
More than 1,300 people answered a job advert for carpenters, labourers, joiners and shop fitters to work at Darwin Group, in Shawbury, building emergency hospital units to combat the virus. From its manufacturing centre, wards for more than 150 new beds will be built using the companies advanced modular design system. The manufacturing centre will […]
Giulio D’Andrea, marketing director at Green Life Buildings asks: Could MMC be the solution to the UK’s post-coronavirus housing backlog? Covid-19 has turned the world upside down. When you don’t what to think any more, you look for wisdom elsewhere: from Shakespeare, from the Bible or from a football manager. Let’s start by […]
Following the launch of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission’s report, the Housing Secretary has said that he wants to see zero-carbon homes being built “as standard” within 5 years. David Hopkins, Director at the Confederation of Timber Industries, argues we have no time to waste and discusses how switching focus to building homes with […]
Methodology for quantifying the benefits of offsite construction CIRIA and the Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology, University of Cambridge, are pleased to announce the launch of a new guidance report entitled Methodology for quantifying the benefits of offsite construction (C792). Offsite construction offers the potential to deliver a number of benefits including […]