6 SYKES ON SIX...
Product immigration
Architect Christopher Sykes compares one grey with another, has until now ignored a very knotty problem and begins to examine the essence of imported solutions.
‘GREY IS THE NEW GREEN’ AND ‘FROM GREY TO GREEN’ ARE THE TITLES OF TWO ARTICLES PUBLISHED WITHIN A FEW WEEKS OF EACH OTHER. YOU WOULD BE RIGHT IN THINKING THAT THEY RELATE TO THE SAME SUBJECT. YOU WOULD ALSO BE WRONG. THE FIRST IS ABOUT THE POWER AND NEEDS OF AGING PEOPLE; THE SECOND ABOUT OUR MOST COMMON BUILDING MATERIAL.
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t appears that the UK’s aging population is changing the way we design and build homes and health facilities. Longevity has a significant impact on building, on housing in particular. Apparently it’s all up for grabs – that is ideas to help, innovate and provide new solutions to this section of the population. If you seriously want to help, you need to talk about the 6th utility – the new buzzword which encompasses intelligent systems and assistive technologies delivered by broadband, which could play a vital role in delivering health, educational and social programmes for the elderly, frail and disabled.
In contrast, ‘From Grey to Green’ is all about concrete changing its spots (not the right word) and transforming its environmental image. Clearly, the concrete industry wants to come out of the wood work, well formwork actually.
www.sustainableconcrete.org.uk is a new site managed by the Concrete Industry Sustainable Concrete Forum. It’s designed not only to inform about concrete but to provide detailed guidance and all the answers about sustainability in design and construction. It intends to set the record straight and triumph the real facts about which many may not be aware – manufacture, transportation, on site and waste are indeed laudable achievements. The www is launched to coincide with publication of the Sustainable Concrete report. Clearly there’re big movements in this industry and no longer is anything set in stone – sorry, wrong analogy again.
And something from Japan and Texas.... Specification Product Update is, as confirmed and faithful readers will know, the product- focused sister of this magazine. Its sharp end quarter page stuff presents a host of products to excite and incite the specifier. In the latest issue, two on the same page caught my eye – both are about knots, one actually without any while the other is very knotty indeed - and which some people don’t know much about.
Japanese Knotweed is a growing problem. According to Japanese Knotweed Solutions Ltd the speed this stuff has spread through the UK is nothing short of spectacular. It has caused unquantifiable damage and now occupies a site every 10sqkm of England and Wales and to a lesser extent elsewhere. It attacks hard engineered structures such as concrete, tarmac, brick walls and foundations. It reduces land values, upsets the natural landscapes, restricts access. Soil and waste containing Japanese Knotweed is deemed to have the potential to cause ecological harm. So far only commercial developments have realised the significance of this invasive weed. However, it is reckoned that it is only a matter of time before domestic problems will materialise making this a cause for major public concern. Only equally aggressive measures will solve the problem – excavation, biological control and chemical spraying. There’s even the 10 year old Japanese Knotweed Alliance to help us, highlighting the problems and promoting research to fight this modern Triffid. We have been warned!
The floating village is yet another idea coming from Holland To make an enquiry - Go online:
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