Visitors to Grand Designs Live, proudly sponsored by Anglian Home Improvements, will have the chance to watch a live build take place, as they create a home using the U-Build concept as developed by Studio Bark with help from Structure Workshop and Cut and Construct.

​In addition to being able to watch the construction grow each day, attendees can take part in assembling components to be used in the final build. Studio Bark will be asking members of the public to put on Fologram AR headsets to help them imagine the brand’s WISA plywood U-Build stand, in its finished state at Grand Designs Live between 4-12 May in ExCeL London, as a part of National Custom and Self Build week.

Door seal specialist Norseal has taken the hard work out of finding the right acoustic door seal with the launch of the latest version of its Acoustic Selector. They have carried out
more than 400 sound attenuating tests with a variety of door types and seal configurations, so that specifiers can quickly and easily find the perfect door and seal combination to match
their project’s acoustic requirements. Doors with an acoustic rating are being increasingly specified in commercial, healthcare, education and industrial settings, as well as residential.

Fusion Building Systems, the offsite manufacturer of light gauge steel frames has been awarded a contract by Solus Homes to provide a two-storey superstructure for the renovation of Morley Street Mill in Loughborough, Leicestershire.

The former home of the Morley hosiery factory is being sympathetically redeveloped by the Loughborough housebuilder to provide luxury apartment accommodation across six storeys, for sale on the open market. Northampton-based Fusion Building Systems’ contract is to design and manufacture offsite, the light gauge steel superstructure which will form the upper two floors of the development, to be positioned on top of the existing 18^th century structure.

Foam tape sealing company ISO CHEMIE has extended the scope of its specialist services with the launch of new 3D BIM (Building Information Modelling) technology.

The move will enable architects and designers to integrate high quality scaled digital information around window and door sealing solutions as part of their 3D visualisations and client presentations.

BIM is playing an increasingly significant role in the design and delivery of large and complex fenestration projects and installations in the UK.

Product information and specification data from the company’s joint sealing tapes, multi-function joint sealing tapes and in-front-of-wall installation systems such as Winframer will be available initially for downloading free as BIM-ready items via www.portal.iso-chemie.eu or an external database. 

GEZE UK is to sponsor the prestigious Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) Awards Dinner for the fifth consecutive year.

The glittering event, showcases the best of Scottish architecture and will take place at The Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, on 30 May.

A total of 82 entries have now been shortlisted to 19 projects which must go head-to-head in order to win accolades for architectural achievement.

Grand Designs Live will return to London’s ExCeL from 4 – 12 May 2019, showcasing an amazing variety of the latest innovations, trends and brand-new products across each of the five sectors of the show, which span across Build, Kitchens, Bathrooms, Gardens and Interiors. Set over 9 days, this unique event is a must-visit for anyone looking to gather information and learn about the world of interiors, design and self build.

Visitors to the show can hear from an array of industry experts at the Grand Theatre, where an engaging line-up of talks will take centre stage across every day of the show; with seminars ranging from interior design to busing the myths of Self Build to adding value to existing homes and much more.

Roof window manufacturer VELUX® has been awarded “Best Services Product” at this year’s Housebuilder Product Awards for its innovative smart home technology product, VELUX ACTIVE.

Recognising the impact products have on the health and well-being of homeowners, the “Best Services Product” category also looks at market potential and the benefits the product can offer house builders.

Launched less than a year ago, in collaboration with esteemed French tech company NETATMO, VELUX ACTIVE marked the company’s first venture into the smart home market.

From the 4th – 12th May 2019, London ExCeL will play host to Grand Designs Live; bringing the height of home and design innovation to London for the 14th year running.

Whether you are starting out on your first renovation, building a new home, redecorating a room, installing a new kitchen or simply looking for ideas, Grand Designs Live is the must-visit event for anyone wanting to learn about the world of interiors, design and self-build. Proudly sponsored by Anglian Home Improvements, the show will boast a range of new features, along with all the usual favourites, as design guru and TV broadcaster, Kevin McCloud leads the event.

Dragons’ Den success story, Gripit plasterboard fixings have announced that they will be launching their first ever national TV advertising campaign, only 5 years after receiving Deborah Meaden’s investment on the hit BBC show. The 30 second ad titled ’10 heavy objects’ is scheduled to run the 4 weeks leading up to Easter and will feature Gripit’s new DIY packs.

Yorkshire based British designer and manufacturer of quality fitted furniture, Daval Furniture, scoops ‘Highly Commended’ at Insider’s 7th annual Made in Yorkshire Awards 2019, awarded in the ‘Manufacturing Innovation Award’ category.

Rewarded for its exclusive Option-i production technology, Daval introduced this manufacturing process for the sole benefit of maintaining high levels of innovation and creation for its customers, and the Made in Yorkshire Awards 2019 acknowledged this market power by honouring Daval Furniture with a ‘Highly Commended’ award classification.

The Made in Yorkshire Awards 2019 took place on the 7th March 2019 at the Hilton Hotel, Leeds.

Scotscape offers ‘The Complete Green Solution’. As multi-disciplinary landscapers and nurturing horticulturalists we offer all landscaping services for commercial and domestic projects, living walls, living wall maintenance and landscape maintenance. We also develop bespoke smart greening solutions to meet the demand for intelligent urban greening.

Our Smartscape division designs stunning living walls to green up the grey of the urban landscape, this part of the Scotscape Group is essential for retro-fitting planting into our growing cities.
What is the Process?

Scotscape offer a very well received CPD to architects and specifiers covering all elements of living wall design considerations, installation and ongoing maintenance. We offer two CPD’s one about the Scotscape living wall system (constructed from Fytotextile) which we use for a high aesthetic finish and also Flex MSE the biodiverse living wall product which enables a retaining wall of biodiverse plants to be installed in large civil engineering projects.

H+H Celcon Foundation Blocks are being used in a major development in the North West. Jones Homes, a local regional housebuilder, is transforming a site once home to a local college in Horwich, Bolton. Forty homes are currently being constructed by main groundworks contractor Matthews & Leigh Civil Engineering in Phase One of the development which is expected to comprise of 139 two, three and four-bedroom homes aimed at families and first-time buyers once complete.

Developer Jones Homes often work with Matthews & Leigh so allow them to make the decision on which supplier to use and the new development at Rivington Grange is no exception.

Company Buyer Alan Lines explained: “As we already have a fantastic working relationship with H+H, we automatically go to them for our block supply. The decision to go with H+H is based on three main factors: the technical support available, the availability of the blocks and competitive pricing.”

• New research reveals that 69% of the UK do not love their homes
• National Home Improvement Month begins this month
• Win £750 of goodies to get you started

This April is National Home Improvement Month (NHIM), and as the name suggests – it’s an awareness campaign organised by the British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) encouraging people to improve their homes during the month of April.

After research conducted by BHETA found almost three quarters of us (69%) across the UK don’t love our homes, only 21% feel proud of our homes and 10% of us feel embarrassed by their homes – NHIM have called upon home-dwellers to make one change – big or small.

Leading HVAC group Groupe Atlantic UK has raised over £38,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support, following a sustained fundraising drive.

Macmillan Cancer Support is the nominated charity across Groupe Atlantic UK’s brand portfolio, which includes Ideal Boilers, Ideal Commercial, Hamworthy Heating, Keston, Gledhill and Atlantic Heat.

From sponsored cycling and mountain climbing to community events and charity raffles, £38,594 has been raised since the start of 2018. As well as taking part in official events organised by Macmillan, the business has organised a number of its own fundraising challenges, and collected more than £2,600 in donations alone at its group-wide UK, ROI and North America conference.