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An entirely new book entitled ‘Modern Methods of Construction and Innovative Materials’ has just been published by Taylor & Francis / Routledge. It describes the modern technique of constructing building units under factory conditions followed by transportation to the relevant building site. Typically a two storey semi-detached pair of homes comprises just four transportable units to be joined up on site. The technique is also particularly applicable to the medium and high rise construction of student accommodation and hotels where repetitive units are stacked to form the completed building.

The new book also describes a wide range of innovative ecological building materials which are emerging as consideration of global warming becomes high on the international agenda. Some materials including hemp-related products will undoubtedly be of importance within the near future particularly as alternatives to traditional Portland cement-based products. Other research-based materials may never achieve acceptability within the highly risk-averse construction industry.

The sixth edition of ‘Materials for Architects and Builders’ was published in 2020 and the fourth edition of ‘The Architecture of the Universities of Leicester’ which was commissioned by the University of Leicester and De Montfort University was also released in 2020. The edition, highly praised by academics and distinguished broadcasters, has been described as an ‘admirable book’. The text incorporates updated images of the De Montfort University campus and the architects’ visualisations of the University of Leicester Freemen’s Common student accommodation and the Leicester Space Park major developments which have now been completed.

The seventh edition of the ‘Metric Handbook – Planning and Design Data’, published in 2022 by Routledge, incorporates a fully updated section on building materials.

The construction books are all available on the Amazon website. Other texts by the author can been obtained from Waterstones or the Taylor & Francis / Routledge website as appropriate.