Building DIY Gardening

Now it is allowed to build small extensions without planning permission. Any building has to abide by Building Regulations on safety and similar aspects. Also extension volumes are now not added together, so you can now have a loft conversion and a rear or side extension without exceeding what is allowed.
You can also build more [...]

For more images of Changi Airport Singapore >
Changi Airport Singapore is a great airport for the user – very spacious, green, fast to get through, and clean.
It has nearly a thousand (919 when built) energy saving skylights (ventilation flaps), a butterfly garden, koi pond and over 200 species of mostly tropical plants and trees.
It [...]

Visited the Serpentine in Hyde Park London today, the Pavilion is worth a visit. Basically a mirrored outdoor roof supported by long poles, there is also an extended roof that flows down to the ground, or near it, resembling an airplane wing. Very shiny mirrored surface which makes for circus trick mirror effects. It is [...]

An example of metal gating, this is a custom artistic design on an old house in London Wandsworth.
It says ‘8 DAYS A WEEK’ which may be a Beatles reference (possibly!) and then spoils the vibe a bit with ‘NO PARKING’.

Manhattan’s High Line is an old railway track that has been out of use since 1980, now greened over with a long park and path.
Friends of Manhattan’s High Line >
It was used as a freight line, so it is emblematic of the way modern cities are converting urban architecture, like the Tate Modern in London [...]

Go see Spider babies running around video >
Just saw these on the shed – very cute. They are all hugging together in a ball, about 2 cm, each spider is about 1.5 mm, if you disturb them at all, they all run off, ie the ball expands and the spiders descend downwards. Then they take [...]

These are at the tube (underground) station. Veyr common now around England. They never seem to grow anything, perhaps they are chemically treated, I will check and get back to you.
See our page on Gabions and Bankshores

We visited the Grand Design 2009 exhibition at Excel London, it was very good.

We have images from it at our new large image photo section in our main website at BuildingDIY photo image library
In four sections:

Build
Gardens
Kitchens and Bathrooms
Interiors
Build was the least busy which indicates the ‘wannabe’ nature of the Grand Designs program. Drool after the [...]