Fenestration is an important part of the building envelope and one that needs careful consideration to ensure that aesthetic appeal is carefully balanced with increasingly stringent performance requirements. Andrew Cooper, National Specification Manager from Senior Architectural Systems, one of the UK’s largest privately-owned manufacturers of aluminium windows, doors and curtain wall solutions, provides a checklist for compliance and how early engagement can help.

There’s more to meeting the latest requirements of Part L than meets the eye and, as John Mellor from leading UK building materials manufacturer Glidevale Protect explains, ‘hidden protectors’, such as reflective breather membranes and vapour control layers, can make a difference to the thermal efficiency of a building.

Behind every modern, imaginatively-designed brick facade is likely to be a range of innovative masonry support. It’s the unsung hero of many wonderful private and public buildings; the unseen aesthetic and structural aid. But what else do we know about these vital, non-visible products? This feature provides an overview of how and why masonry support is needed in buildings and how it has allowed architects to set new parameters in brickwork design, says Ovidiu Bruzan, Senior Structural Engineer at IG Masonry Support.

Rooflights can help flood a space with daylight. However, specifying the right product to comply with Building Regulations is far from straightforward, as Ross Finnie, Sales Director at SIG Design & Technology (D&T), explains.

Three years ago, COVID was a new disease that was hitting the headlines and would lead to a global pandemic and national lockdowns. The benefits of using ventilation to fight the virus were clear from the start, and the vital importance of ventilation in combatting COVID only continued to grow. Specifiers and architects have taken on board the ventilation changes needed for effective infection control, but what do they need to consider going forward? David Cook, Technical Product Manager at Vent-Axia, explains more.