Construction blog 5
Books
Timber
Probably the best blog on all things wood can be found at englishwoodlandtimber.co.uk. They have recently featured Air dried products and a free online course in Wood Science at the University of Virginia.
www.uk-timber.co.uk has a great website that helps you find and price timber for just about any external application.
Inspiration
I’ve mentioned Austin Kleon previously, his books S”teal like an artist”, “Show Your Work”, & “Keep Going” should be essential reading for all designers. His newsletter and blog on substack are also worthy of your time. A recent post on the garden of ideas offers a tenuous but nevertheless distracting read.
Regulations
There are not many regulations, when compared to other disciplines connected to the construction industry, that apply to gardens and landscapes. Principle amongst those that do apply are the Building Regulations (Codes). The Regulations (also known as the Approved Documents) are freely available from here. It is important to stay in touch with updates and changes. Routledge Taylor Francis publishing have created an annual briefing document that highlights changes, although you will have to establish how any changes might impact on your own projects. They also have a companion Building Regulations Pocket Book.
Site information
A pretty amazing resource you might never have heard is MAGIC. It is a government website that provides information about the natural environment from multiple sources. Need to check if a project is in a National Park/ SSSI/ Conservation Area? This website will show you. It takes a bit of practice and often reveals interesting facts. It is essential when undertaking diligent predesign analysis; and its free!
Steel
A nice article on the difference between mild steel and corten when used as edging.
Soil
Not enough is said about soil in relation to construction. Why you can’t build in topsoil, how should it be managed and reinstated and what classifications are there? A good introduction to this subject was written by Bhavesh Ramburn, Construction Technology of Topsoil.
Podcast
Matt Sprague (from Trimble – owners of SketchUp) hosts the Connected Construction Show podcast (Spotify) which will keep you up-to-date on the latest construction technology happenings. He talks about connected construction a lot, including the death of drawings.
If one new podcast isn’t enough consider something from left of field. The Structural Engineering Podcast (Spotify) with Zach & Max, is more entertaining that it sounds and there is a wealth of information in every episode: new material, carbon emissions, 3D printing to list a few recent topics.
Sustainability
It’s coming, a new way to manage the materials we consume and inform future owners and contractors of the decisions we made of the make of structures we designed. It’s called the Digital Product Passport. The EU is developing methodologies for communicating and embedding information into every type of product and material. Trials have already been run within the textile industries and building construction is currently assessing how to record, store and communicate product and material content from everything from an entire building down to pimple pavements. The BBC has a digestable overview