Webzine

Recent articles

Perfection: Towards key performance indicators for the indoor environment

Perfection stands for a European Coordination Action on performance indicators for health, comfort and safety of the indoor environment. The goal of this FP7 coordination action is to help enable the application of new design and technologies that improve the impact of the indoor built environment on health, comfort, the feeling of safety, and positive stimulation. In order to monitor and report on the performance of the indoor environment a set of key performance indicators is a necessity.

Sustainability GreenPrint

It can often be difficult to distinguish genuine sustainability from green claims made for marketing purposes. The recently developed ‘GreenPrint’ approach aims to help developers and designers to improve and credibly demonstrate the sustainability of their developments.

The ENBRI Conference - Celebrating 20 years of networking

"Moving the construction sector forward through research, innovation and standardization" held at IMEC, Leuven, Belgium on 2nd October 2008. Over 100 delegates attended the conference "Moving the construction sector forward through research, innovation and standardization" organised by ENBRI to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Visit Cannes in an armchair

The Le Corbusier Immersion Room is unique in the construction sector. The room is designed to facilitate the design, consultation and communication process for plans made by owners and designers, in terms of architecture, town planning and regional development.

A User-Oriented Hospital Space

VTT, Stakes, Finpro, several companies and Tekes have jointly funded a two-year project to develop a 'User-Oriented Hospital Space'. The HospiTool project is a part of the Tekes FinnWell programme within the 'Development of the operational processes of healthcare' topic area.

Modeling of the City Port of Split

Since May 2007 the Civil Engineering Institute of Croatia (IGH) has been contracted by the City of Split to work on a project on the physical modeling of waves and circulation in the City Port of Split. Others working on this important and complex project are from the Civil Engineering Faculty of the University of Zagreb, the Civil Engineering and Architecture faculties of the University of Split, the Croatian Hydrographic Institute, the Institute of Oceanography and Fishing and the Shipping Institute.

Outdoor exhibits on the Innovation Park

The ORGANICS modular house is a Swedish home designed to make sustainable housing accessible to more people. The home offers an affordable, low-maintenance, well designed green housing alternative...

Offsite07 Innovation and sustainable modern methods of construction

In June BRE staged the 4-day Offsite07 at its Garston headquarters. The event was support by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) along with over 10 other commercial sponsors and attracted over 4,500 visitors from all parts of the construction sector...

Monitoring of the energy delivered to multifamily residential buildings

The actual use of energy for heating in residential buildings is usually different to that calculated using reference values. The reason for this is the influence of inhabitants on the energy use. They can overheat or underheat their dwellings, apply different ventilation strategies and install individual retrofit measures such as replacement windows...

Salt crystallisation in plastered or rendered walls

Soluble salt crystallisation causes aesthetical problems and the loss of historic material, degrades health conditions in rooms and often requires high-cost recurrent repairs. In extreme situations, it may endanger the structural safety of old buildings due to a progressive disagregation of the masonry...