22
May
A Cambridge University spin-off has an innovative solution for ventilating sealed buildings involving mixing fresh (but cold) incoming air with interior air. Read more
All posts in Buildings
17
May
With the potential to reduce carbon consumption and energy costs, retrofitting older schools makes sense. And schools are increasingly discovering the education value of retrofitting too.
retrofitting its school is an investment that Impington Village College, near Cambridge in England, can’t afford not to make. Especially given that its annual carbon emissions – currently at 101.33kgCO2/m2 – are double the national average. Read more
07
May
The energy that comes out of solar panels is renewable, but what about the panels themselves? Not so much - today’s leading solar panels owe their high sunlight-to-electricity conversion rates to the use of rare elements. The pressure is on to find a way of making solar power even more sustainable. Read more
Reaching over 140,000 followers, our recent #citytalk on Business and Sustainability drew over 90 participants from across the world. Here are 6 ideas for businesses to consider on the journey towards sustainability.
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Last week saw a bit of a first for This Big City. After hosting 14 successful #citytalk tweetchats with various collaborators, we did our first ever tweetchat mashup with the #builtheritage chat. We called it #cityheritage and our topic of discussion was building reuse. Read more
Many buildings, landscapes, and structures in cities are built for specific purposes. Yet they might become valuable in some other way over the course of their lives. As such, instead of being demolished or built over once their original use ceases, they can be adapted to a new use. Read more
No product evokes a sense of solidity and sturdiness the way concrete does. However, the tiniest of cracks will inevitably lead to structural degradation, leakages and costly repairs. It is precisely this problem that two Dutch researchers from Delft Technical University have been working on. Read more
Soon after Grand Central Terminal opened in 1913, it was viewed as an one of the great public spaces in America, an icon of modern travel. Thirty years later, developers wanted to take a wrecking ball to Grand Central and replace it with an office tower. Yet the station survived, recently turning 100 years old. Read more