Picture of modern build houses, UK

Planning in 2023

03/01/2023

2023 will see the UK taking some major steps forward with planning policy reform. The UK government has announced measures to place local communities at the heart of the planning system as part of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. The measures aim to build the right homes in the right places with the right infrastructure, ensuring the environment is protected and giving local people a greater say on where new development should be placed.

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Cooler Buildings

27/07/2018

With the current heatwave the UK has been experiencing this Summer and record high temperatures being recorded are our buildings designed in the best way for the potential heat for years to come with the projected/unknown climate change affects ahead?

NewScientist don’t seem to think so with their release of an article this week titled ‘Our buildings make this heatwave worse’. They go on to comment on current trends of light-weight glass buildings not being the best design solution for hot climates and inefficient standards for insulation.

The problem we have in the UK is designing houses which maximise solar gain in the winter to heat our houses in the cold weather yet minimising this effect in the summer months. It is not only the solar gain but generally how to keep the homes warm. The UK has leaned towards a colder climate and the design problem has generally been towards keeping warm rather than keeping cool. With the uncertainty and fear of the unknown with regards to our future climate driven at this current time by the recent heatwave people are focusing on staying cool; this will be the opposite story in the winter months should the same winter arrive from earlier this year.

There are clever design solutions for this and it is nothing new but future house designs need to focus on elements of subtle design more closely as out climate conditions continue to wildly fluctuate during the different seasons of the year. People tend to want natural light flowing through their homes as it makes for a much more pleasant space to experience and living in dark caves is not the solution. There is also the commercial element to this problem and designing houses that are still cost effective for consumers to purchase.

The reality of the situation is that subtle design changes need to be implemented to create more efficient and truly modern houses. It is an ever evolving process as new technology pushes the boundaries of what is affordable and achievable.

Capital Land Research & Development in conjunction with Capital & Country Homes are working on solving and identified design challenges such as these.

Photo: Simon Zachrisson

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Changing Climate for UK Retail

24/07/2018

The retail sales data released by the Office for National Statistics earlier this year showed a further decline and continuing slowdown for the high street. This is likely because of a fundamental shift in the way we live and this is in large due to the internet. This presents a huge opportunity for how future retail parks are designed and creating regional destination centres with a new model.

 

Since the easy access of everything through the internet and mobile devices, people are able to obtain anything they need through a few clicks of a mouse or taps of a screen. It is not only about the ease of being able to obtain almost anything we need online but also in how we are beginning to understand and spend our time. Consumers now no longer need to spend hours of their time travelling and wading through the congestion of others to pick up items when they can simply have them delivered to their door within 24 hours and even hours in certain parts of the UK. Consumers also know that they are more likely to get a better deal online so there is very little, if any, benefit in them using up their finite resource of time and the extra costs associated with buying in store. People are more likely to travel to these retail destinations if it is deemed to be worth the time. Today it is all about the experience.

 

With online sales at 17.4% of the total retail market and continuing to rise it is only a matter of time before the old traditional model of the high street disappears completely. The high street and retailers need to reinvent their stores to create more of an experience for the buyer, you only need to look to John Lewis and Debenhams who now hold more in-store events with the intention of luring shoppers in.

 

Retail Parks being built today have a huge opportunity to adapt to this transitional market creating a more fluid experience for the customer and creating destination places where people want to spend their time. It is not that people do not want to visit places and spend their time out of the home it is that traditional retail parks do not provide the experience the consumer is looking for.

Photo: Lily Banse

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NHS70

06/07/2018

This week on the 5 July 2018 the National Health Service celebrated its 70th year. The founding principles of the NHS were that health services would be ample, national and available to all residents of the UK. The NHS is linked with having some of its founding roots in Swindon.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Swindon Works that built and maintained the innovative locomotives of the Great Western Railway (GWR) set up the GWR Medical Fund Clinic. The healthcare fund made it possible for members or their family’s to access to Doctors, treatments and medicines when needed. The cradle-to-grave extent of this service was later said to be used as a blueprint for the NHS.

Image: GWR Hospital / Switch on to Swindon

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