The Palace of Westminster’s vast hidden infrastructure will play a vital role in its refurbishment. Liza Young speaks to Henrik Schoenefeldt, the man tasked with uncovering the tunnels and voids
Category: General
Understanding why biomass boilers fail
Successful design of biomass boilers requires a systems approach, says David Palmer, who considers how factors such as oversizing, lack of thermal stores and poor flue-system design can cause boilers to underperform
The challenge of creating a BIM model for an imperfect Victorian home
The BRE’s Dan Rossiter summarises the difficulties of creating a digital record of a 19th century home
The winning formula of CIBSE award-winner EndoTherm
In 2016, heating additive EndoTherm won Energy Saving Product of the Year at the Building Performance Awards. Industry has since been won over with impressive real-life results, says Endo Enterprises’ Dale Edginton
District cooling at King’s Cross
A sliver of land between a rail line and offices was the only site available for a cooling centre at London’s King’s Cross. Metropolitan Infrastructure’s John Marsh, tells how it overcame space constraints to supply up to 12MW of cooling
Debbie Hobbs: Why property firms need more engineers
For property firms to benefit from ethical finance, L&G’s Debbie Hobbs says they must reverse the trend for de-skilling and employ more engineers to ensure buildings perform
The challenge of cooling football stadiums in Qatar
A study of air conditioning in Qatar stadiums has explored the best way to achieve thermal comfort for spectators and players. Cairo University’s Essam E Khalil and Mohamed E Ashmawy share their findings
How a National Trust blog inspired a low-carbon network
A network of companies and not-for-profit organisations has is slashing energy bills by sharing ideas and innovation. Andy Pearson looks at how a blog on heating historic buildings turned into the Fit for the Future forum
The history man: Interview with Professor Alan Short
Professor Alan Short says designers must look to the past to come up with resilient buildings that can withstand climate change. Alex Smith meets the architect who has helped revive the art of natural ventilation
BDP’s Andrew Swain-Smith on the engineering renaissance
BDP’s chair of building services engineering Andrew Swain-Smith says he is feeling bullish about the practice’s growth prospects – and this was before news it had won a prestigious contract at the Palace of Westminster