As existing buildings age, nearly half of all construction activity in Britain is related to maintenance, refurbishment and conversions. Building adaptation is an activity that continues to make a significant contribution to the workload of the construction industry. Given its importance to sustainable construction, the proportion of adaptation works in relation to new build is likely to remain substantial for the foreseeable future, especially in the developed parts of the world. Building Adaptation, Second Edition is intended as a primer on the physical changes that can affect older properties. It demonstrates the general principles, techniques, and processes needed when existing buildings must undergo alteration, conversion, extension, improvement, or refurbishment. The publication of the first edition of Building Adaptation reflected the upsurge in refurbishment work. The book quickly established itself as one of the core texts for building surveying students and others on undergraduate and postgraduate built environment courses. This new edition continues to provide a comprehensive introduction to all the key issues relating to the adaptation of buildings. It deals with any work to a building over and above maintenance to change its capacity, function or performance.

This scholarly and well-researched study of the building industry documents the interplay of new materials and technologies, costs and the changing social and economic forces that affected the decision-making about our built environment over the last two centuries. The author provides a succinct and readable survey of the growth and development of British building which will be of interest to all building specialists and those training for a career in the construction industry.

The years between the end of World War II and the mid-1960s have usually been viewed as an era of political and social consensus made possible by widely diffused prosperity, creeping Americanization and fears of radical subversion, and a dominant culture challenged periodically by the claims of marginal groups. By exploring what were actually the mainstream ideologies and cultural practices of the period, the authors argue that the postwar consensus was itself a precarious cultural ideal that was characterized by internal tensions and, while containing elements of conservatism, reflected considerable diversity in the way in which citizenship identities were defined. Contributors include Denyse Baillargeon (Université de Montréal), P.E. Bryden (Mount Allison University), Nancy Christie, Michael Gauvreau, Karine Hebert (Carleton University), Len Kuffert (Carleton University), and Peter S. McInnis (St Francis Xavier University).

This new edition of Understanding Housing Defects has been extensively revised and includes new and revised graphics, many more photographs, and an extended text. The book is a natural companion to The Construction of Houses (first published in 1990 and now in its 3rd revision). Understanding Housing Defects provides a concise, coherent and comprehensive introduction to the causes, investigation and diagnosis of housing defects. It is aimed at all those students and practitioners who require a broad understanding of housing defects as part of a wider sphere of academic or professional activity. The book has three specific objectives, to explain why, and how, defects occur. To enable the reader to recognise and identify building defects and to provide, where appropriate, guidance on their correct diagnosis. The authors have worked in both public and private sectors and have, between them over 75 years’ experience in dealing with housing and general building defects. Currently, they are all lecturers at the University of the West England, where they teach on a variety of undergraduate and post-graduate courses. They are also actively involved in carrying out research and consultancy for a number of property owning organisations throughout the UK.

This comprehensively rewritten, updated and extended new edition of this established text focuses on what has become the most important single facet of the quantity surveyor's role - cost management. The scope of the book has been broadened to take account of the widening and more sophisticated cost management and control service that clients now require. The book examines the factors influencing building costs and how the precontract costs can be estimated, analysed and controlled, to ensure that buildings can be completed within the agreed budget and timescale, and be of acceptable quality, function effectively and provide value for money. A new chapter on value management has been added, together with an introductory chapter on cost modelling; the chapter on life cycling costing is extended, while the sections on energy conservation and occupancy costs are expanded. Throughout the text many new case studies, with supporting tables and diagrams, are included in order to enhance the value of this book to the student and the practitioner.