Dalston Works

I read recently about the completion of the world's largest cross-laminated timber (CLT) building in Hackney, east London. Since I've posted many times in this blog about wooden skyscrapers, I had to go have a look.

From the outside, the Dalston Works don't look any different than other new buildings in the area; they have a brick facade and steel balconies.

But underneath, they're solid wood, which brought a number of advantages. Because the site is above two major tunnel projects, the weight savings of a wooden building (opposed to  concrete) made the foundation work much simpler and allowed the building to be taller.

The environmental impact of building with wood is also significant. The time it took to work on site was shortened, and the wood itself stores carbon, as opposed to the carbon impact of concrete. It also helps that Hackney council has a "timber-first" policy for new buildings in the era.

Further information is on the architect's website and also the builder's. Their pictures are a lot better than mine too!

Pluspuu Finnish homes

Sooz found a Finnish company that makes a range of prefabricated homes.

Pluspuu's website has a whole bunch of different designs. I've had a lot of fun clicking through all of their photos.

Weekend visit

We managed to squeeze in a 4-day weekend to catch a bit more of the summer. It was still plenty warm and dry—nice for a holiday but not good for our island. We had some significant thundershowers blow through twice, which brought quite a lot of rain, although those sharp storms don't really help the drought in the long-term.

I installed a mast amplifier on our TV antenna, which greatly improved our signal, much to my delight. We also found a nice little 'beach' on the western side of the island that made for a nice spot to watch the sailboats go by.

As usual, I put up a few pictures. We'll be back in September for a last visit and closing up the house for the winter. The next time we're back after that, we'll be there for a much longer visit!

July's weather

It was hot.

July was the warmest since records began 260 years ago. The average temperature in Stockholm was 22.4°C (72.3°F).

The archipelago is usually a bit cooler, especially earlier in the summer, owing to the chilling effect of the Baltic. My weather station's July average was 21°C.

It also continued to be worryingly dry. We had a couple of thundershowers, but those brief heavy rains don't help much. We need a nice wet fall and winter to help replenish the plants and animals on our little island.