Sustainable Housing: The Shift Towards Green Living And Its Impact On The Construction Industry.

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Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.

– Cree Indian Proverb

The current extent of Global Warming has sparked widespread investment in sustainability and while supporting our environment will never be a bad thing, it has prompted some rather interesting development within the construction industry.

Recently implemented standards which require projects to have measures in place for dealing with anticipated emergency and societal requirements have played a role in this but the major defining factor in the industry shift has been the end user.

Shanghai Tower: China’s Urban Jungle

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“Maybe you’re the runner up 
But the first one to lose the race 
Almost only really counts in 
Horseshoes and hand grenades”

– Green Day – “Horseshoes and Handgrenades”

Many people will tell you that second place is really just the first loser but the Shanghai Tower in the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone of China hasn’t let that keep them down.

Taking out the metaphorical silver medal in the World’s Tallest Building Awards, Shanghai Tower is 632 meters tall and has 128 floors above ground and five more below.

It is beaten only by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa which stands 828 meters tall with 163 levels.

Haunting History: The Sordid Past of Mumbai’s Beloved Taj Hotel

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“Light is the left hand of darkness and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together, like the end and the way.”

― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

While this may seem a strange quote to open with, it is surprisingly fitting for today’s topic.

The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai is one of the most elegant structures in history and arguably holds its own as one of the most attractive hotels in India even in the present day.

In the early 80s the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel & Tower was ranked the fifth best hotel in the world for two years running and upgrades made in the 90s ensured that the hotel kept up with the times.

It’s past, however, is nowhere near as beautiful as its façade.

Pink vs Blue: The Unspoken War Within STEM Pathways.

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“I don’t mean to sound sexist, but as far as women have come over the last 40 years, you don’t really see a lot of women hunters. They’re still in the minority in the military, and there’s not a lot of female construction workers. I hope that’s not taken the wrong way. I think women are as smart, resourceful, and capable in most things as any man could be … but they are generally physically weaker. That’s science.”

– Robert Kirkman

The third Thursday of every February is Introduce A Girl To Engineering Day.

While some may say that this is a great initiative, the fact that we even need it says a lot about the way in which the “weaker sex” are still portrayed within certain fields.

Society as a whole is moving towards equality but it seems that some pathways, STEM in particular, are still a “boys club“.

Initiatives such as Introduce A Girl To Engineering Day aim to increase the amount of women in what has always traditionally been a male dominated workforce. But the challenge with this is shifting the toxic culture that seems intent on keeping women down and out rather than embracing innovation and equality.