Rubbish

Citation

Hoxley, M. (2005), "Rubbish", Structural Survey, Vol. 23 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ss.2005.11023eaa.001

Rubbish

On those rare occasions that I am not gainfully employed, either by my main occupation or by editing this journal, I like to go fishing. I was driving home from a morning’s fishing recently feeling very pleased with myself. Not only had I actually caught some fish (for a change) but I had done so in very pleasant surroundings – the weather had been fine, and I had seen a kingfisher, some bullfinches and a green woodpecker. My fellow anglers had cleared up their litter on the river-bank and as I drove along I was musing upon how precious our countryside is and how important it is that we take care of it. These thoughts were rudely interrupted as I passed a lay-by on a quiet country road and had my senses offended by the sight of what a builder had deposited in it. For there on the grass verge and under a canopy of trees someone had fly-tipped the waste from what looked like the demolition of a domestic outbuilding. This pile of rubbish looked so incongruous in such beautiful surroundings. I really cannot understand the mentality of the idiot who had dumped this rubbish and if there is one offence that the public stocks should be returned for it is fly-tipping!

Rubbish has been preoccupying me a lot recently. My local council in Norfolk has introduced wheelie bins and I have been forced down the route of sorting our domestic waste. I accept that I have come to waste recycling far later than many and I am sure that you, dear reader, will have been engaged in such activities for a long time now. However after only a few weeks of doing it I cannot believe what a sense of satisfaction it is giving me. I suppose it is the knowledge that I am doing my bit to save the planet but each week that I wheel the different coloured bin down the drive my smugness increases. There two recent experiences have set me thinking about environmental issues in a week that has seen the loss of many lives and the inundation of vast tracts of the Southern states of the USA in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Following on from the special issue on flooding in the last volume so ably edited by Professor David Proverbs, I am delighted to announce that Professor Malcolm Bell has agreed to edit a special issue on environmental issues. This special issue will hopefully appear in the next volume and is concerned with further proposed changes to Part L of the Building Regulations.

Papers in this issue

I promise you that there is absolutely no connection between the two headings of this editorial! Sustaining the theme of environmental concerns, Lau and his six co-authors report a field visit to inspect the unique round houses of the remote Chinese province of Fujian. They draw lessons in terms of present-day sustainable design from these earth dwellings. Hunter et al. report the findings of their project to create a whole-life costing tool for use by local government surveyors. Barry Hunt brings us news of a new European standard for roofing slates and Ho et al. present a systematic analysis of the literature on defects in external wall tile finishes. Finally in this very diverse issue, Wilkinson and Hoxley report on the impact that recent education reforms have had on the profession of building surveying in the UK.

Mike Hoxley