Dr Adrian Bown

The chapter provides an overview of masonry as a sustainable construction material. It deals primarily with clay brickwork and concrete blockwork and describes their manufacture and principal properties with regards to sustainability. The broader issues associated with sustainability are briefly discussed and the current methods for quantifying the whole life environmental performance of masonry walling used in residential and commercial buildings within the UK are examined. Examples of masonry buildings that are 'more sustainable' in terms of their operational energy and/or material usage are given, together with a brief outline of possible future developments in the masonry area. © 2009 Woodhead Publishing Limited All rights reserved.

Winterton House is a 25-storey steel frame building in the East End of London that was reclad with a novel form of vertically restrained, off-the-frame brickwork during the mid-1990s. An analysis of the data obtained from instrumentation installed on the building showed that, in any month, its height varied by between 5mm and 15mm in response to short-term changes in temperature. Although clay masonry is considered to undergo long-term moisture expansion, it was found that the overall height of the building decreased by approximately 10mm over the 3-year monitoring period and, as a consequence, the stress in the restrained brickwork reduced. Modelling of the short-term and time-dependent behaviour of the building suggested that lower values for the creep and irreversible moisture movement characteristics of the clay brickwork were more appropriate than the recommended design values. Details are also given of the brickwork productivity achieved on site.

There is a school of thought that maths set in a real context has greater relevance to students than theoretical maths that is taught without specific application. Using virtual e-learning it is now possible to link theory to practice, creating a more interesting and stimulating learning environment. Notwithstanding the advantage of seeing where maths can be applied, those engaged in pure maths believe that teaching the subject in a context may limit understanding. Advocates of pure mathematics consider that contextual learning is a form of coaching which limits application outside the subject area. However, for many students not being able to see the practical uses can make the study of maths meaningless. Applied maths is relevant and can be interesting. Capturing the interest of those studying maths is a key agenda for government as the general standard of maths in the UK is falling. Construction students that struggle to see the importance of maths and fail to recognise its use may benefit from multimedia applications that present the maths in a real context. In a virtual environment, with images taken from real sites, it is possible to apply maths to construction situations bringing the subject to life. With interactive platforms students can be guided through the maths problems. Working with industry some simple maths tools have been created and evaluated. Workshops with teachers and students were structured to obtain qualitative data on the tools. The interest levels and potential areas of development were a key consideration for the research. Feedback from teachers, specialists and students suggest that maths applied to construction context supported by web based multimedia has potential to capture interest and support teaching and learning in vocational and non-vocational environments. Reflections, criticism and comments from an initial evaluation are presented and discussed and areas of possible development suggested.