The NBS BIM Toolkit is designed to help organisations reach Level 2 BIM, but how does it perform under test conditions? The CIBSE BIM Group used the beta version on a hypothetical junior school project and found issues that urgently need to be addressed. Tim Dwyer reports
Category: General
Surviving the boom times: building services consultant survey
Business may be booming in the building services sector, but the pressures of frozen fees, skills shortages and rising construction costs mean industry’s top consultants cannot afford to be complacent. Roxane McMeeken reports on the findings from CIBSE Journal’s first consultant survey and speaks to industry leaders facing an overheating market
University challenge – optimising BMS at Oxford University
When the project team uncovered issues with a new ground source heat pump in a flagship building at the University of Oxford, it prompted a large-scale investigation of existing HVAC systems across the estate. Liza Young looks at how system optimisation is helping the university to cut its carbon emissions
Building by the book – UEL’s award-winning Stratford Library
Soft landings is instrumental in helping Aecom target tough energy requirements for the University of East London’s new library in Stratford. Andy Pearson found out how continual refinement of the building, once in operation, helped it win CIBSE’s New Build Project of the Year (up to £10m) award
Storm warnings – what are the threats to industry?
Hear the views of other key speakers from CIBSEs’s Building Performance Conference on the greatest threat to the design, construction and operation of buildings
In it for the honey
Urban beekeeping has the potential to revive ailing bee populations and provide city dwellers with a welcome taste of the wild. Cundall invited 30,000 honeybees onto the terrace of its London office, and controlled hive temperature and humidity to ensure a bumper harvest for its staff. Harry Barnes and Kavita Kumari report
Kick up the arts
Festivals are known as much for the waste and squalor they create as for the quality of entertainment on offer, but some former music execs are now showing the arts world how to save resources. Liza Young goes for a spin with Julie’s Bicycle
The power of three
New CIBSE President Nick Mead joins fellow presidents Andy Sneyd and Stephen Hodder to discuss how institutions can encourage the professions to break out of their silos and become involved in collaboration. Ewen Rose senses a cultural change at the first presidential debate in Westminster Central Hall
Guide A – CIBSE’s essential guide to environmental design explained
Our three-part series highlights the most important changes to CIBSE Guide A. Tim Dwyer explains the changes on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Part one looks at design stages, use of data and thermal comfort
Florence Nightingale: nurse and building engineer
The Lady with the Lamp was one of the first to recognise the importance of air quality in the treatment of hospital patients, and her recommendations on ventilation rates are similar to today’s CIBSE guidance, says SE Controls’ Chris Iddon