News
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Autodesk acquires assemble systems
Autodesk has acquired Assemble Systems, providers of a SaaS solution that enables construction professionals to condition, query and connect BIM data to key workflows across bid management, estimating, scheduling, site management and finance
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An appointment at Istanbul City Museum
Following its involvement since the early design stage, international building engineers Newtecnic have been appointed by Salon Architects to coordinate the design of structure, facade and MEP engineering for Turkey's new Istanbul City Museum.
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Invisible Superheroes
Explore the latest technologies and products that civil engineers are using to transform our future at ICE's Invisible Superheroes exhibition |
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Case Studies |
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PARA 55
Vectorworks users Squirrel Design reach the 'Holy Grail' of architectural achievement by designing not one, but two homes in open countryside
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The journey towards BIM
Ana Matic of London based architects, Penoyre & Prasad, recently talked about the studio's growing involvement with BIM at Graphisoft's Key Client Conference in Budapest
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Software Review |
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Chalkstring
Originally developed as an in-house tool, Chalkstring satisfies the needs of all subcontractors for keeping costs under control
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Building control
The Building Control Seminar, held at the Institute of Civil Engineers, explored many interesting issues around the implementation of BIM, writes David Chadwick
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Comment
Malaise aforethought?
The Para 55 piece raises interesting questions about housing issues in this neck of the woods. You might say West Somerset is brimming over with countryside, but you would struggle to find a suitable plot to ‘build your own home in the open countryside’. Quite apart from the predominance of two National parks where planning consents would be well-nigh impossible to achieve, we don’t have many local planning officers to approve the voluminous steps required to meet very specific criteria, and you would have to satisfy an obdurate and partisan District Council planning committee.
At the other end of the scale, the Government has said ‘Go, Build’ and the near bankrupt County Council has complied with plans to build hundreds of houses on local farmland, neglecting to provide the infrastructure needed to support them - a situation slightly assuaged by the fact that 19% of them will be bought as second homes and be unoccupied for most of the year, although the owners will pay council tax on them – (less 50% if the Council is so obliged). It also disregards the lack of employment in the area, and attract those downsizing (down-pricing, actually) from wealthier London and the Home Counties.
So, opportunities here for incomers, especially if you have some fabulous design crying out for a suitable location, and want to pit your wits against the local planning forces arrayed against you, or to buy ready-built with the many amenities we have to offer, if you can reach them on our congested roads – but I suppose the lack of an overall plan for development is no different here to most of the country.
David Chadwick
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