What Specifiers Want 2017 articles

Unlocking the value of the UK's waste will require investment of at least ten to twenty billion pounds in infrastructure over the period to 2020.

Craig White of White Design and ModCell – one of the firms behind the BaleHaus – explains the difference in ethos between traditional straw bale construction and the semi-industrialised panelised technology used by ModCell.

Sarah Mallagh, head of the Health and Safety Executive's Asbestos Unit, runs through the different types of asbestos, where it can be found, and the diseases (such as mesothelioma and lung cancer) that are caused by breathing in asbestos fibres.

This programme looks at what exactly is required of the Co-ordinator throughout the design and construction process - and how it can be most effectively achieved.

Safety and health should both be intrinsic concerns of good management, and this programme takes a look at the key health issues in construction, some simple steps to reduce the risks of ill health, and some of the benefits of doing so.

In this programme we look at the impact of flood risk on the value and insurability of property.

Graham North, national treasurer of the party wall surveyors' group Pyramus & Thisbe, explains the protocol required for the appointment of a surveyor or surveyors, how notice of work should be served, and how an 'award' is created and what it contains – including the all-important conditions survey.

This programme explores the reality behind the hype, explaining how LEDs work, outlining their history and providing a detailed discussion of the qualities of LEDs within six key categories.

Under its Rainbow Standards initiative, the RICS has created a suite of colour-coded guidebooks that provide a set of minimum professional standards: red for estate managers, blue for residential surveyors, purple for facilities managers and now, a Black Book for QSs. This programme explains the reasoning behind the Black Book.

We’ll be looking at the legal duties that employees could use as a basis for a stress claim against their employer and in particular the law relating to bullying and harassment. This will include an update on the recent changes to the Sex Discrimination Act concerning harassment.

The changes to the CDM Regulations have been in force since April 2007. This programme examines what these changes mean for designers.

Whether you are a client, designer, engineer or contractor, your CDM responsibilities are about to change. New regulations, effective from April 2007, update the 1994 version of the Construction Design and Management Regulations. This programme looks at the main changes from the perspective of client, designer, principal contractor and the new role of CDM co-ordinator.