Tag Archives: materials

Printing 3D Concrete

3D visualisation

If I had a pound for every time I have seen an invention that promised to revolutionise house building I would have at least £32.50 by now. This latest one is a 3D printer for concrete, simply load up the shape and dimensions of what you want to build and watch it chug away building up layer upon layer of …

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Recycle or Cough Up!

Recycle and avoid the landfill

The Government has announced a massive hike in landfill tax and the building industry is up in arms. This is a charter for fly-tipping if ever there was one.

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Rustic Appeal

Snape Maltings

I came across this building up at Snape Maltings on the Suffolk coast. The original building was almost gone and the new owners could have taken it apart bit by bit and rebuilt it with lime mortar importing used bricks to make up the considerable deficiency. …there’s a touch of Antony Gormley’s Angel of The North in letting the metal …

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Precious Scrap Metal

Scrap metal

Have you noticed any increase in the number of scrap metal men doing the rounds? I certainly have, not least because the scrap metal I had set aside recently on one of my jobs walked off after just ten minutes. Two hours later I had another visit from someone who was similarly interested but this time he didn’t particularly care …

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The Unequal Tax Laws Fuelling the Black Economy

year for bricks

I have just heard an item on BBC Radio 4 about the huge increase in the cost of raw materials for the building industry. Bricks and concrete products are reportedly up 20%. While average inflation, according to the retail price index, shows a 2 or 3% rise the cost of ‘trade’ inflation could be much higher. The trouble is that …

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