Max Fordham has been designing Passivhaus projects for nine years, including two very different housing projects that won the residential CIBSE Building Performance Award in consecutive years. Gwilym Still chronicles the development of Passivhaus at the practice, and explains why it is integral to Max Fordham’s net zero strategy
Author: Alex Smith
Dark matters: SLL’s Guide to protecting the night time environment
The SLL has published its first, full-blown lighting guide on illumination and the night-time environment. Co-author Benedict Cadbury summarises the new LG 21: Guide to protecting the night-time environment, following a summary by Jill Entwistle
Specifying fan coil units in a post-Covid environment
Why HDR’s Adrian Gray believes infectious disease transmission must be embedded in ventilation regulations
Triple crown: Young Engineers Awards winners revealed
The winners of the CIBSE Young Engineers Awards demonstrated that the building services industry has the talent and drive to deliver the safe and sustainable buildings necessary to meet the challenge of climate change. Alex Smith report
CIBSE and COP26
With the COP26 Glasgow conference fast approaching, CIBSE’s Julie Godefroy outlines the associated events and activities in which the Institution is taking part and supporting, as well as its upcoming guidance
Embodied energy: the whole picture
New CIBSE research shows that embodied energy in heating and hot-water systems accounts for up to 25% of a dwelling’s whole-life embodied carbon. Elementa Consulting’s Yara Machnouk reports on the study that will form the basis of CIBSE guidance TM65.1
Striking the right note
Engineers at London’s Grade I-listed Royal Albert Hall had the challenge of designing a near-silent cooling system in one of the UK’s most important Victorian buildings. Andy Pearson listens in
Unlocking the potential of heat networks
The rollout of heat networks are a key plank of the government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy. To identify the urban areas most suitable for networks, the government has published a new document on zoning, as Andy Pearson reports
Proving competency
The Building Safety Bill proposes new competence requirements for all those working on design and construction. Hywel Davies explains the draft regulations, and asks how clients and the new Building Safety Regulator will know who is competent
What will buildings look like in 2050?
Ahead of Glasgow’s COP26, we asked six leading engineers what a typical building will look like in 2050, and the challenges designers and industry will face in getting to net zero in key sectors