Newton Waterproofing, the UK’s leading independent designers and suppliers of guaranteed waterproofing systems, has added a new Continual Professional Development (CPD) training session to its portfolio, helping architects and specifiers keep up to date with current industry practices.

Architects and specifiers selecting fire doors for residential buildings need to be confident that they will perform as they should. That is where third-party certification makes a difference.

This month, FC&A’s Editor, Rebecca Kemp, sits down with Russell Ager, Managing Director of Crittall Windows, to find out the most frequently-asked questions that he receives from architects and specifiers on choosing Crittall windows and doors for a project.

Product testing and certification is high on the construction industry agenda, particularly in relation to fire protection. Giving specifiers the ability to design with confidence, product certification delivers assurances that the solution has been proven to perform as expected in the event of a fire.

Since graduating from the Welsh School of Architecture in 2002, which included a year out in practice working for Travis McEwen Group (now Architectus) in Sydney, Australia, Gareth Woodfin started his UK professional career at Capita.

With the rise of home working and virtual meetings, the way we work and interact with our colleagues, customers and suppliers has changed dramatically over the last year. We may still need to keep our distance, but as Andrew Cooper – National Specification Manager for aluminium fenestration solutions manufacturer Senior Architectural Systems – explains, close collaboration within the supply chain has never been more important.

Before Myles Taylor first stepped into an architectural office, he was ushered to work on site as a labourer by his step-father – a Property Surveyor who thought that if Myles was going to design buildings, then he should know how they fit together first. Here, FC&A finds out how Myles went from learning on site to starting his own architectural practice and discovers just what he learnt along the way.

The Grenfell Tower tragedy exposed fundamental and deep-rooted issues over competency, highlighting major skills and knowledge gaps amongst those responsible for the design, construction, maintenance and day-to-day operation of buildings. In this article, Jonathan O’Neill OBE, Managing Director of the Fire Protection Association (FPA), explores whether the issue of competency has become clearer since Grenfell, and argues that a greater degree of focus must be placed on fire safety competence and accountability for those responsible for building design.

Sally Lewis describes the start of her career as an exploration of what architectural education could offer. She was a practicing Architect in South Africa by the mid-‘90s, but turned to urban design thanks to a scholarship to study in the UK. By the turn of the millennium, she had completed an MA in urban design and was in the UK for good, building up her career with roles at the likes of Llewellyn Davies, John McAslan + Partners, CABE and HTA. Here, we find out about Sally’s time in South Africa, discover the designs she’s worked on here in the UK and learn more about the opening of her firm, Stitch Architects.

Phil Brown, European Regulatory Marketing Manager at Pilkington United Kingdom – part of the NSG Group – discusses the role glazing can play in modernising heritage buildings while maintaining their original character.