About Designing Buildings
Put all construction industry knowledge in one place and make it available to everyone for free
Construction in the UK employs 2.4 million people in 340,000 organisations, each one of which is creating and accessing a vast amount of expert knowledge. Everything from how to prepare a brief for a new project, right through to getting tax breaks for water efficient taps. But that knowledge is inaccessible, fragmented and dispersed. If we integrate it into a single resource that is easily accessible by everyone, the construction industry will be more efficient, more collaborative, more innovative and it will make fewer mistakes.
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Designing Buildings is the most comprehensive construction industry knowledge base in the world. It gives free access to 18,000 articles about the planning, design, construction and operation of built assets. Users can find articles about things they don't know, and write articles about things they do.
The knowledge it holds is curated, structured and linked together to create a single, growing, evolving resource. Thousands of construction terms and industry acronyms have been defined and hundreds of thousands of internal links help users get to the knowledge they need as quickly as possible.
Designing Buildings is supported by:
- The Chartered Institute of Building
- The Institute of Historic Building Conservation
- BSRIA
- The Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists
- ECA
It is owned by Designing Buildings Limited, a company founded by project manager David Trench CBE FCIOB , designer and project manager Dr Gregor Harvie, construction law solicitor Richard Winward LLB FCIArb FCInst CES and chartered banker and finance director Martin Cantor.
It's refers mainly to processes and practices adopted in England and Wales, although much of the content is also applicable in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and users in many other countries will find it helpful.
- To get started see our Quick Start Guide.
- For information about using the site see our Help page.
- For guidance about writing style see our quick style guide.
- For terms of use see our terms and conditions.
- You can contact us by emailing [email protected].
Featured articles and news
What they are, how they work and why they are popular in many countries.
Plastic, recycling and its symbol
Student competition winning, M.C.Esher inspired Möbius strip design symbolising continuity within a finite entity.
Do you take the lead in a circular construction economy?
Help us develop and expand this wiki as a resource for academia and industry alike.
Warm Homes Plan Workforce Taskforce
Risks of undermining UK’s energy transition due to lack of electrotechnical industry representation, says ECA.
Cost Optimal Domestic Electrification CODE
Modelling retrofits only on costs that directly impact the consumer: upfront cost of equipment, energy costs and maintenance costs.
The Warm Homes Plan details released
What's new and what is not, with industry reactions.
Could AI and VR cause an increase the value of heritage?
The Orange book: 2026 Amendment 4 to BS 7671:2018
ECA welcomes IET and BSI content sign off.
How neural technologies could transform the design future
Enhancing legacy parametric engines, offering novel ways to explore solutions and generate geometry.
Key AI related terms to be aware of
With explanations from the UK government and other bodies.
From QS to further education teacher
Applying real world skills with the next generation.
A guide on how children can use LEGO to mirror real engineering processes.
Data infrastructure for next-generation materials science
Research Data Express to automate data processing and create AI-ready datasets for materials research.
Wired for the Future with ECA; powering skills and progress
ECA South Wales Business Day 2025, a day to remember.
AI for the conservation professional
A level of sophistication previously reserved for science fiction.
Biomass harvested in cycles of less than ten years.
An interview with the new CIAT President
Usman Yaqub BSc (Hons) PCIAT MFPWS.
Cost benefit model report of building safety regime in Wales
Proposed policy option costs for design and construction stage of the new building safety regime in Wales.
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