ArchiMentor Construction Update

PVC link to autism
Feedback welcomed23 October 2009

The results of a research study, published in March 2009, appear to show that Swedish children who live in homes with vinyl floors are more likely to have autism.

• Scientific American News - 31 March 2009
• Abstract from Neuro Toxicology - September 2009

Read the comments to the Scientific American article, most of which show a balanced view of the issue. "Interesting but as yet unproven" would appear to be general consensus.

Site waste management plans
7 April 2008

Abridged from RIBA Practice Bulletin No.440 - 3 April 2008

Site waste management plans became a legal requirement for any construction project, valued at £300,000 or more, from 6 April 2008. Growing out of a voluntary code of practice, the arrival of the new regulations has caught many in the industry unawares although they do not apply to projects planned before 6 April 2008 as long as construction work begins before 1 July 2008.

While the main responsibilities for waste management and disposal will lie with the main contractor, there are clear pre-construction responsibilities for clients, which are likely to be off-loaded onto project designers. Official guidelines suggest that for many projects it will be appropriate for the designer to write the Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP), as this will assist in recording relevant decisions made at the design stage. There are parallels with the operation of CDM regulations, with the plan being passed to the main contractor who assumes responsibility for its updating and compliance. Projects also get a Waste Management Champion. As with CDM, there will be a time and responsibility factor for the new SWMP regime that architects may wish to factor into fees.

• The Site Waste Management Plans Regulations 2008 on the Office of Public Sector Information website at [www.opsi.gov.uk].
• Defra guidance on construction waste at [www.defra.gov.uk].
• BRE SMARTWaste Plan toolkit at [www.smartwaste.co.uk].

Guarding of escalators
Feedback welcomed21 November 2007

A number of architects have questioned their responsibilities for compliance with the requirements of clause 7.3 of BS 5656-2:2004 - see this Extract from BS 5656-2. This is particularly relevant as (a) compliance with British Standards is not mandatory unless the requirements are imposed by laws and regulations (which they are not, currently, in this case), and (b) this particular clause requires the person "responsible for the location of escalators" (and it's difficult to see who this could be other than the architect) to carry out a risk assessment which includes "foreseeable misuse".

Most current legislation excludes misuse as a determining factor for compliance, and the wording of this British Standard appears to be a significant departure from this accepted principle. Anticipating misuse therefore places a very considerable responsibility on the person carrying-out the risk assessment and would seem to make the additional guarding of escalators inevitable in most publicly-accessible locations. The question then arises as to how high such guarding needs to be. Authoritative guidance on this issue is very rare but does include this Article from Elevator World (March 1993) (an American publication).

Pressure effects in insulating glass units
Feedback welcomed11 September 2007

We're currently researching the effects of pressure variations on the visual appearance of insulating glass units. The intention is to provide some feedback on minimising the effects due to day-to-day barometric pressure variations, and also due to the pressure variations between the place of manufacture and the place of installation. We are particularly interested in feedback from situations where the two panes of the unit were significantly different in thickness, e.g. 6mm and 10mm.