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Residual Standards Content - The growth of the EEC and its intention to provide a common European standards base will ensure that our references to BS ENs increase.  What the standards organizations are striving for, as documents are replaced, is a smooth transfer of all relevant content.

Housing supply and the planning system - The Barker report highlighted the growing gap between housing supply and demand, in response to this the Government has pledged to increase the rate of housebuilding.

Standards glossary - As British Standards are replaced by harmonised European Standards, there is some confusion over the status and citation of replacement, amendment and updating of British Standards.

Country house design - a question of style? - Design issues are given a prominent role in Planning Policy Statement 1, and will have a major impact on the style of isolated new houses in the countryside.

Finding and exploiting information – what's in it for you and your organisation? - Today’s organisations and businesses cannot survive without information, and you need to make sure you're information literate.

Planning gain: developments in the field - The concept of "planning gain" is a contentious but poorly understood one, and reform is in the air.

Planning and accessibility - "Access for all" has long been recognised as a material consideration which planners have to address as part of the planning process.

Internal finishes to sports halls - Today we see a burgeoning growth in various forms of sports hall and "keep fit" facilities. These are complex areas which can cover a broad spectrum of activities and venues, requiring a variety of design solutions. This article deals with facilities for multi-purpose events, excluding specialist venues such as velodrome and ice rink arenas.

Sustainable housing - Sustainable housing is generally used to describe sustainable development as it applies to the housing industry: less waste, more re-use and recycling, together with lower life-cycle environmental impacts and costs, better reliability, less maintenance, and greater user satisfaction.

Public sector building - Adaptable housing focuses on designing housing so it's flexible enough to accommodate future special needs users. This article includes a survey of key adaptability requirements for Lifetime Homes.

A fundamental change? - The government's Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill, launched in the House of Commons by Planning Minister Jeff Rooker in December 2002 is now making progress towards becoming legislation. Royal assent is expected later this year, with a view to commencement in early to mid 2004.

The mail must get through - The mail must go through a lot before it actually gets through - first the postal system, and then the letter box! Fortunately there are British Standards to help both things happen without a hitch.

Re-Approved Documents - The first half of this year will see the most recent set of changes to the Building Regulations. Included with amendments and alignment with European legislation are a number of other significant changes to the Approved Documents (ADs). Here we look at some of the expected changes in the coming year.

Roofing semantics - How often during the course of writing project specifications or product descriptions do we adequately consider the definition of words used? In correspondence and report writing we may strive to avoid excessive repetition by use of a variety of words of similar meaning. However, we must be much more cautious with specifications that become part of contract documentation; in the case of disputes, terms used could be subject to close scrutiny and even legal action.

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