Keeping a frame standing saves more carbon than any specification decision that follows it. What it costs you is certainty.

20
Aug
August 20, 2026
4 min read
Daylight is the cheapest thing a building can give you and the easiest to lose. We measured six of our own housing schemes against the rule of thumb we had been using for a decade, and found the rule was costing us an hour of usable light a day.
The Archive
All Real Estate Articles & Insights
Filter by subject. Most pieces come out of a live project, so they tend to be specific rather than sweeping.
Three consultations, two refusals and one approval — what the objections to our Ghent scheme actually taught us.
Every joinery problem we have ever had began as a structural decision taken eleven months earlier.
42% less embodied carbon than the concrete alternative — and nineteen days to erect. Here is the whole calculation.
Half-levels, sunken courts and a ridge that stays below the neighbours — three ways out of a planning constraint.
Whoever drew the detail inspects it being built. It costs a morning and saves a fortnight.

