Quality, Consequences and the Construction Industrial Complex (part 187). The Commissioning industry is utter chaos. Competence levels are all over the place, there is no central, agreed definition of Commissioning nor is there a generally agreed central qualification analogous to a C.Eng, PE or P.Eng. Recently I was asked to…
Quality, Consequences and the Construction Industrial Complex (part 186). Our guest this episode is Edward Arens PhD, Professor Emeritus of Architecture at UC Berkeley and Director of the Center for Environmental Design Research, the University’s research unit for building science and resource efficient urban design. If you…
Anyone with children or who wants to try and understand the enormity of climate issues in a globally, interconnected world must read this book. It does a great job of explaining how environmental degradation and climate issues are a classic “tragedy of the commons” situation. If you think being vegan and driving a…
Quality, Consequences and the Construction Industrial Complex (part 185). What are you willing to give up to live or work in a smart building? IMHO, there are two possible futures, one cool (maybe) and the other dystopian. Which one are we moving towards? A smart building is the convergence of…
Quality, Consequences and the Construction Industrial Complex (part 184). You have a technical degree plus five years training and a professional engineering license or certification, are you a skilled professional or are you in sales? IMHO you are both, everyone is in sales! Sometimes I see Engineers and Technologist basking…
Quality, Consequences and the Construction Industrial Complex (part 183). Why is building integrated systems testing (IST) not explicitly specified in specifications? Owners assume their building systems have been tested as an integrated whole i.e all systems cause & effects, including their software and hardware interfaces work as designed. This assumption…
Quality, Consequences and the Construction Industrial Complex (part 182). Canaries were taken into Victorian coal mines as an early warning for gas leaks. If the canary died you had to run like hell and get out. I am calling it, the Australian property market canary has died ( https://voiceofthemarkets.blogspot.com/2019/02/australia-real-estate-its-economy-is.html )…
Quality, Consequences and the Construction Industrial Complex (part 181). Our guest this episode is Steve Burrows CBE, our first guest with an IMDB.com page! This was an inspiring podcast and Steve believes, and now we do, his life is more exciting than Elon Musk’s. Steve might be…
Quality, Consequences and the Construction Industrial Complex (part 180). Property is a capital intensive business and cashflow is a perennial problem for most firms. How you and your firm are paid impacts ultimate success or failure. Over the last 38 years I have seen firms go bust even when they…
Quality, Consequences and the Construction Industrial Complex (part 179). Is the built environment plus “IOT” an opportunity for cyber security firms such as Palo Alto Networks? Current State of Play Big players such as Siemens, Honeywell and Johnsons dominate building automation. They are increasingly providing one stop, integrated solutions…