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Ikea is now offering solar panels and home batteries to its customers in the UK. The Scandinavian furniture chain is partnering with solar firm Solarcentury for the venture, with prices for solar battery storage starting at £3,000 (about $3,970 USD).
The home batteries are designed to work with existing solar panels, or as part of a new combined home solar panel / battery storage system that Ikea is selling.
— theverge.com
The Swedish furniture retail giant first starting solar panels in the UK back in 2013 to grow on a (then) heavily subsidized green energy market but ceased sales in 2015 when the British government announced its plans of cutting solar subsidies by up to 90%. Just a few months later, IKEA returned... View full entry
Eighty-two buildings have failed a new fire safety test set up in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, ministers say.
The test examines the safety of building cladding and insulation in combination.
It comes as an independent review of building regulations and fire safety has also been announced by the government.
It will look at current building regulations and fire safety, focusing on high-rise residential buildings.
— BBC
"The new fire safety test is the first of a wave of more comprehensive assessments, which come after previous tests were carried out on hundreds of cladding samples in recent months - many of these failed standards for flammability," the BBC reports and outlines key examination goals of the... View full entry
The manufacturing site of the first London bus in E17 has been converted to celebrate London’s maker culture in SIDESHOW, an installation with interactive, family friendly elements opening mid-August. The project was undertaken by U+I and Blackhorse Workshop, the latter a ‘pioneer in the... View full entry
Peckham’s famous multi-storey car park has a new addition; a new viewing gallery created by Cooke Fawcett. The young practice, based in London’s creative Clerkenwell, was formed just two years ago, by directors Oliver Cooke and Francis Fawcett, after working on the Tate’s Switch House at... View full entry
As any American who tuned into the last British election realized, UK placenames are a bit out there (at least to American ears, that is), from Droop in Dorset to Westward Ho! in Devon. So Dan Ho decided to train a (quirky) AI to generate its own. Here are some of the ones the computer crafted... View full entry
The full scope of work includes architecture, civil and structural engineering, building services engineering, interior design, landscape architecture, lighting design, acoustics and planning.
Since its construction in the mid-1800s, many systems in the palace have never undergone a major renovation, and the heating, ventilation, water, drainage and electrical systems are antiquated.
— GCR
BDP's London studio beat Allies and Morrison, Foster + Partners and HOK in the competition and has been awarded a full interdisciplinary contract for client advisory services for the refurbishment of the Palace of Westminster, the meeting place for the two houses of the UK parliament. The firm... View full entry
In announcing the stamps, Royal Mail said that they celebrate excellence in contemporary architecture and engineering in the United Kingdom and “the renaissance in architecture of the past two decades in Britain.” — Linn's Stamp
One strip of five pictures includes Zaha Hadid's London Aquatics Center, the Library of Birmingham by Mecanoo, Glasgow's SEEC Amadillio by Foster + Partners, Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh designed by EMBT and RMJM, and the Giant’s Causeway Visitor Center in Northern Ireland by Heneghang... View full entry
The viability of building a major new concert hall in London has been widely debated, and the future of the Center was thrown into doubt last November, when the British government withdrew its commitment to contribute 5 million pounds (about $6.4 million) to pay for a business plan. The City of London Corporation stepped in with 2.5 million pounds (about $3.2 million) to allow project to go ahead. — NY Times
The shortlist for the future home for the London Symphony Orchestra and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama was announced on Monday and consists of AL_A, Foster + Partners, Renzo Piano, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Gehry Partners, Snohetta, all of which have extensive experience working on... View full entry
[...] Art Fund Museum of the Year is awarded annually to one outstanding museum, which, in the opinion of the judges, has shown exceptional imagination, innovation and achievement across the preceding 12 months.
The Hepworth Wakefield was selected as winner of the £100,000 prize from a group of five finalists, also including Lapworth Museum of Geology (Birmingham), National Heritage Centre for Horseracing & Sporting Art (Newmarket), Sir John Soane’s Museum (London) and Tate Modern (London).
— artfund.org
Photo: Iwan Baan."The Hepworth Wakefield has been a powerful force of energy from the moment it opened in 2011, but it has just kept growing in reach and impact ever since," said Art Fund director Stephen Deuchar. "David Chipperfield’s building has proved a perfect stage – both for the display... View full entry
The bold addition features the world's first all-porcelain public courtyard, paved with 11,000 handmade porcelain tiles in 15 different patterns. The tiles were manufactured by Koninklijke Tichelaar Makkum, the Netherlands' oldest registered company, established in 1572. — CNN
After six years of construction, the Exhibition Road Quarter, AL_A-designed courtyard space opened yesterday in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, adding 11,840 square feet of column-free flexible gallery space to the museum to help accommodate the V&A's headline exhibitions. Intended as a... View full entry
While no one can claim that they understand where inspiration comes from, most would agree that it doesn't hurt to have an unfettered view of nature in an architecturally inventive setting. Norwegian architects Reiulf Ramstad are among the seven finalists in the Ross Pavilion International Design... View full entry
Wimbledon house in London, UK, designed by Lord Rogers in 1968, was gifted to Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2015 to provide both a residence for the Richard Rogers Fellowship, and GSD's new venue for lectures, symposia, and other events. Restored by British architect Philip... View full entry
Now, although the horror is still raw and much about it is still unknown, it has also become clear that Grenfell exposes in the harshest possible way questions of the current state of social housing, about the accessibility, affordability and quality of homes, and their impact on people’s lives. — The Guardian
The Guardian's feature examines the new documentary Dispossession: The New Housing Swindle which addresses the build up anger surrounding the issue of affordable housing and the failed attempts at combatting it, including Margaret Thatcher's right-to-buy policy and the effects of the 60s and... View full entry
A crowdfunding campaign has been launched for the latest civic development in North London; the Camden Highline. For years, the disused railway has been talked about among local residents, with many wanting to see a little bit of New York in Camden Town. Image Courtesy of Camden Town... View full entry
The 2017 RIBA Awards cycle continues! Advancing from the 2017 London Awards, 49 stunning projects throughout the UK have just been announced as winners in the 2017 National Awards for architecture, which distinguishes the UK's most outstanding buildings and offers insight into construction... View full entry
