John Butler

Yes, exactly the same here. Affordable housing is desperately needed.

Typo: shot = shout

They could easily fit at least 5 good sized flats in there. There is a shortage of available housing here. Creating one insanely large flat does nothing to help address that. It's 475 m2 for a 3 bed flat. That's ginormous! They'll have to shot across the living room to hear each other.

I just read a planning application to convert a historic storage building into a shop and flat, and now I'm angry. Not because they want to convert it, but because my 84 m2 two bed semi-detached house (which feels like a luxury to have to myself) would fit into their proposed 3 bed flat 5.7 times!

This probably belongs here, really.

Update: social sustainability included at building and works level, not much (anything?) in Standards for construction product level, which is disappointing. Is there anything at raw material sourcing level? About to look.

Moral of this story: always check your facts! Glad I did.

In directly related news: spending this morning reading EN standards documents...

That's EN 15643-2021: Sustainability of construction works - Framework for assessment of buildings and civil engineering works. Detail provided in EN 15643-3:2012 and 16309:2014+A1:2014. Pleased to see social and economic impacts are integral, alongside environmental.

Writing some course material about sustainable building materials. Started writing that the standard LCA approach was detailed on environmental impact but ignored social sustainability. Thought: must check this is true. It is NOT! The framework standard very much includes social sustainability

But you were probably just asking about alternatives to foam, sorry! For new installs expanding foam tape around outside of frame is brilliant, but I don’t see how it could work for windows that are already installed.

If masonry too uneven to tape to then a bead of airtight sealant (e.g. Orcon F - *not* silicone) before the tape might be needed. The paint on membranes are pretty good too, though, and might be the simplest.

It’s a useful insulated gap filler, but that’s about it. There are expanding foams that are meant to be airtight as they don’t shrink, but not sure they bind any better to masonry. I think good ole Tescon Vana tape is unbeatable! Or other pro clima airtight tapes.

Well done! Good to know it’s worked. Good point about sound too. I’m sure a lot of street sound I get is around rather than through the windows. Thankfully it’s a quiet street!

I can feel the draught coming in around the outside of my window frames. This house is only five years old. To fix this properly I'd need to hack into the plaster all around each window and remove the cills. Such invasive work shouldn't be needed in new houses, but frequently is.

This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started

Sees local newspaper post about rising sea levels. Don’tLookAtTheComments Don’tLookAtTheComments Don’tLookAtTheComments.

Looks at the comments.

AAAARGH!

Between Democracy and Dictatorship: Where We Are and How Long We Have There won’t be a day when we wake up and the Wikipedia page suddenly says “The US is a Fascist Christian Ethnostate.”

medium.com/@carmitage/b...

Hybrid regimes. We studied that.

Nope. Stopped using it and locked my accounts quite a long time ago and finally deleted them earlier this year. I don’t want anything to do with anything supporting Musk, and he’s distorted twitter to meet his desires.

Hello! Yes, I have a separate account for creative/performance projects, more personal things and general waffling, to keep this one clear for sust build stuff.

I’ve very much neglected this account. General life pondering and rubbish-talking now happen on my other account. Not sure how many of the Passivhaus/low-carbon/low-impact construction people are still active on here, but just in case: Hello! [waves].

The UK still needs HS2, delivered in full. There's no viable alternative.

Me, from years back, making this point:

If you're not familiar with @thedailytism.com , I HIGHLY recommend becoming familiar with them. They're brilliant. Searingly funny, on a daily basis, making the world better one highly-entertaining satirical article at a time. Having now worked with them, I can confirm they're also just top humans.

Advertorial: Whaaat? This cishet autistic white dude with beard actually has Edinburgh show worth seeing A cisgender, heterosexual autistic white guy with a beard has wowed commentators by having an Edinburgh Fringe show that people actually want to go and see on purpose, it has been claimed.  Do Zombies...

For better or worse I've shared this from @thedailytism.com on my LinkedIn so I might as well share it here too. I am a sensible professional consultant. I'm also a creator of darkly funny musical shows about zombies (@the-woodlouse.bsky.social ). Both are true! thedailytism.com/advertorial-...

I find internal overheating hardest to cope with when there's no air movement. On a breezy day I prefer to keep windows a little open as the cross ventilation makes it feel cooler. Today is still and feels airless, so I'm shifting to closing the windows and breaking out the fan.

It's national Get That Slightly Squeaky Fan Out of the Loft Day for those of use that don't live in a house where overheating risk was properly considered. It's already 24° in my office but the air movement from the fan helps it feel more comfortable, squeak not withstanding.

This episode is amazing. If you want to know what it’s actually like being autistic (as opposed to the stereotypes) it’s a must-listen. I’m autistic & this episode is just about the most validating thing I’ve listened too, ever.

Also, effing funny. Also the best (wholly justified) righteous rants.

It’s definitely decidedly weird, architecturally. My heart sinks a little everytime it starts to loom out the landscape as I drive to Dorchester.

This!

Migrants have not done “incalculable damage to our society”. People scapegoating, othering, and encouraging hatred of migrants (and others) *have* done that.

UK MPs:

1. The Supreme Court ruling is not "the law", nor has it changed existing legislation.

2. The EHRC's interim update is also not "the law". It isn't even "guidance".

3. The upcoming EHRC guidance, likewise, is not "the law". Again, the legislation hasn't changed.

1/