Technology giants Johnson Controls and Cisco have merged the BMS and IT technologies at a Cisco HQ in the UK on a single platform, and are generating savings of £120,000 per building per year. Alex Smith reports
Category: General
Building Performance Awards 2016 shortlists
Four new project categories in the 2016 Building Performance Awards have attracted a wide range of exemplar case studies, making the judges’ job even tougher this year. Alex Smith had a ringside seat at the shortlisting session to find out which entries made the final round
Hall of fame – Liverpool’s St George’s Hall
Neil Sturrock, from CIBSE Heritage Group, explains why Liverpool’s St George’s Hall was the first air-conditioned building
The right tool for the job? Testing the BIM Toolkit
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
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