Buildings go up and down.
Project management in modern building construction is one of the classic and widespread applications. There are many project managers and people and organisations with project management skills involved and available in London throughout the life cycle stages of construction projects and the lifetimes of the resulting buildings in definition, design, delivery and operational uses and occupations. Buildings tend to go down sometimes and usually upwards on a fixed location. Infrastructure tends to be horizontal below, at or above ground level.
Many of the buildings with sector purposes are covered in their sectors elsewhere in this collection.
This section covers particular building construction techniques and logistics.
The centre of London probably has the most mixed collection of building construction types and ages in the world. However as one proceeds out of the centre so the building types and styles become more uniform – reflecting the progressive growth of the city notably along transport lines in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Institutions
There are many organisations that have interests and responsibilities for many buildings in London. Information is available on their websites. These include: National Trust; English Heritage; the Preservation of Rural England; Museum of London; Design Museum; and then there are the London Festival of Architecture; New London Architecture; and Open House.
Explain about Listed Buildings?
There are a number of professional bodies and trade associations related to the built environment located in the greater London area or having active Branches including: Association for Project Management (APM); Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB); Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE); Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE); Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA); Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS); and other members of Construction Industry Council (CIC), for highways, structures, landscape, safety, fire, research, town planning etc.
Some Tips
Back in the centre of London here are a few tips to take in and appreciate the riches of this building construction variety:
- Just walk or cycle the streets! But stop frequently and look up. (It is difficult and possibly dangerous to walk or cycle and look up at the same time.)
- Take a red London double decker bus and sit upstairs at the front – looking up, down and sideways.
- Take a river trip and observe the diverse buildings on both banks and close behind.
- Look for the tower cranes – track down the construction sites – observe the efforts on tight site pitches, with difficult accesses, going down into the ground, and rising into the sky; with the public passing immediately adjacent.
- For the very latest and recent completed exemplar buildings there are the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Awards, the British Council of Offices (BCO) Awards, Civic Trust Awards and others – as well as previous finalists and winners.
- There are also the Open House London opportunities to visit a wide range of available properties, premises, installations, gardens and facilities from many eras for a weekend in September each year.
- The Building Centre on Store Street – with an impressive model of London and for everything that goes into buildings – with talks and events.
These days there is virtually no new build on fresh “green field” sites. Everything is on reclaimed “brown field” sites or is refurbishment or change of use or regeneration – and going upwards rather than sideways. Empty sites are a rarity; usually something has to be knocked down to put something up in its place.
People
Walter Segal
– (1907-1985) a Swiss architect who championed self-build housing with standard components. Project management lesson: keep it simple, cleverly simple.
Giles Gilbert Scott
– (1880-1960) Architect of iconic London symbols including Bankside Power Station – now Tate Modern; Battersea Power Station – now undergoing compete […]
GLC Architects Department
For cohesive, repetitive, yet adaptable solutions for example with libraries, schools, fire stations, housing.
Sir Christopher Wren
– architect – taking the opportunities after the Great Fire. 52 Churches, St Pauls, plan for development – not adopted owing to […]
John Nash
– Regency Architect – having a vision.
Thomas Cubitt
– (1788-1855), part of the influential Cubitt family, he was the first major contractor to employ a permanent workforce – which project […]
Adam Family
John, Robert, James, William.