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What do two forbidden lovers, Shakespeare and The Party Wall etc. Act have in common? Quite a lot, as Senior lecturer in BSc (Hons) Building Surveying, Dominic Bottone, reveals.

Pyramus and Thisbe: the love story behind the ‘party wall’

What do two forbidden lovers, Shakespeare and The Party Wall etc. Act have in common? Quite a lot, as Senior lecturer in BSc (Hons) Building Surveying, Dominic Bottone, reveals.  Pyramus…
Who stole Toad Hall? A curious case of adverse possession - Dominic Bottone - Illustration by Arthur Rackham for Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows (1940). Public domain.

Who stole Toad Hall? A curious case of adverse possession

What do Mr Toad, a gang of unruly weasels and English property law have in common? BSc (Hons) Building Surveying senior lecturer Dominic Bottone revisits Kenneth Grahame's much-loved classic to explore…
Trespassers W: what Winnie the Pooh can teach us about access rights in construction - University of the Built Environment - Dominic Bottone

Trespassers W: what Winnie-the-Pooh can teach us about access rights in construction

By Dominic Bottone Senior lecturer, BSc (Hons) Building Surveying To those of you brought up on Winnie-the-Pooh, you will know that Piglet lived in a tree and next to his…
Claire Hookham from the University of the Built Environment outside Chester Grosvenor Hotel in Chester

The Chester Grosvenor: When the heart of a city falls silent

The temporary closure of The Chester Grosvenor Hotel due to Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) concerns is more than a building safety story. Drawing on personal experience and management expertise,…
Google Data Center, Council Bluffs Iowa Copyright (c) 2019 Chad Davis. All rights reserved.

‘The cloud is physical’: Why concentrated AI data centres are becoming strategic targets

By Linda Serck Much of the resilience planning around data centres has historically focused on cyber security, power reliability and operational redundancy. Yet recent drone strikes on these facilities raise…

Are Energy Performance Certificates letting heritage homes down?

By Associate Professor James Ritson and Professor Graeme Larsen, University of the Built Environment  Energy Performance Certificates play a central role in the UK’s climate and housing policy. However, growing evidence suggests energy…

Awaab’s Law: ‘Legislation requires extra clarity, capacity and capability’

By James Beckwith MA, MSc, LLM, PgCAP, FRICS, FAIQS, CQS, FCIArb, FHEA Senior Lecturer, University of the Built Environment  The introduction in October 2025 of Awaab’s Law marks one of…

Why we must rethink the UK’s obsession with the Energy Performance Certificate

By Jordan Turner, Senior Lecturer at the University of the Built Environment For nearly two decades, the UK has been fixated on one measure of environmental virtue: the Energy Performance…

16 years on, Lakanal House continues to haunt the built environment

While the impact of the Grenfell Tower Fire and subsequent legislation continues to be felt to this day, another fire eight years prior served as an earlier warning sign that…

What is a Principal Designer?

The role of the Principal Designer has been a hotly-debated topic in the built environment. Here's what it means. 2024 has been a big year for the built environment. With…

Everything you need to know about the Building Safety Act

What does the enforcement of the Building Safety Act mean for construction professionals, property owners, and the built environment? The Building Safety Act (BSA) was announced in 2022 in response…

Your guide to the golden thread: the cornerstone of building information

The golden thread is a hot topic in the construction industry as the Building Safety Act comes into effect. Here’s why. To most people, a building is purely a physical…