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This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. The risk of a bird flu pandemic is rising How worried should we be about bird flu? The past few months have seen some potentially worrisome developments in the US, including the continued spread of the virus among dairy cattle, the detection of the virus in a pig as well as cows milk, andmost concerning of allthe growing number of human infections. We dont yet have any evidence that the virus is spreading between people, but the risk of a potential pandemic has increased since MIT Technology Review last covered this topic a couple of months ago. The good news is we are in a much better position to tackle any potential future flu outbreaks than we were to face covid-19 back in 2020, given that we already have vaccines. But, on the whole, its not looking great. Read the full story. Jessica Hamzelou This story is from The Checkup, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things health and biotech. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday. The moon is just the beginning for this waterless concrete If NASA establishes a permanent presence on the moon, its astronauts homes could be made of a new 3D-printable, waterless concrete. Someday, so might yours. By accelerating the curing process for more rapid construction, this sulfur-based compound could become just as applicable on our home terrain as it is on lunar soil. Traditional concrete requires large amounts of water, a commodity that will be in short supply on the moon, and sending just 1 kilogram of it to the moon costs roughly $1.2 million.Instead, NASA hopes to create new materials from lunar soil and eventually adapt the same techniques for building on Mars. But creating the perfect waterless lunarcrete is easier said than done. Read the full story. Jenna Ahart The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Australia has banned under-16s from using social mediaBut the law is easily circumvented, and could create more problems than it solves. (WP $) + Unsurprisingly, the tech giants arent fans of the ruling. (Fortune)+ Australians reactions to the news appear to be fairly mixed. (BBC)2 US retailers are urging shoppers to buy before new tariffs kick in Its yet another marketing tactic to drive sales during the busiest time for shopping. (WSJ $)+ Are you among the horde of this years Black Friday refuseniks? (FT $)+ How Trumps tariffs could drive up the cost of batteries, EVs, and more. (MIT Technology Review)3 Canada is suing Google for creating a monopoly The suit is following in the footsteps of the US government. (NYT $)+ Its joining calls for the colossal company to sell two pieces of marketing software. (WSJ $)+ Googles antitrust gut punch and the Trump wild card. (MIT Technology Review)4 How China came to dominate the car export market And spook the EU and US in the process. (NYT $)+ Generous government subsidies also played a not insignificant part. (MIT Technology Review) 5 A UK politician says businesses should use robots over migrants Automating tasks like fruit picking would reduce the UKs net migration figures, he claims. (The Guardian)+ Inside Japans long experiment in automating elder care. (MIT Technology Review)6 North Korean hackers have stolen billions in crypto The illicit currency is funneled into funding its nuclear weapons program. (TechCrunch)7 America refuses to give up its dream of soldiers in exoskeletonsIts been testing the suits for decades. Why havent they caught on? (Wired $) + This robotic exoskeleton can help runners sprint faster. (MIT Technology Review)8 Is it really possible to get paid to do virtually nothing?This Stanford thinks one in 10 engineers is doing exactly that. (404 Media) + Big Tech has become preoccupied with identifying and firing freeloaders. (Insider $)9 GitHub can teach you to bake bread Featuring flowcharts, tables, and timelines galore. (Ars Technica)10 Heres how a diamond is grown in a lab Can you tell the difference between them and the real deal? (WP $)Quote of the day It is impossible to be a teen in most parts of the world without social media. Stephen Scheeler, the former head of Facebook in Australia and New Zealand, tells Bloomberg about his doubts whether Australias new ban on social media for teenagers can truly be enforced. The big story Next slide, please: A brief history of the corporate presentation August 2023 PowerPoint is everywhere. Its used in religious sermons; by schoolchildren preparing book reports; at funerals and weddings. In 2010, Microsoft announced that PowerPoint was installed on more than a billion computers worldwide. But before PowerPoint, 35-millimeter film slides were king. They were the only medium for the kinds of high-impact presentations given by CEOs and top brass at annual meetings for stockholders, employees, and salespeople. Known in the business as multi-image shows, these presentations required a small army of producers, photographers, and live production staff to pull off. Read this story to delve into the fascinating, flashy history of corporate presentations. Claire L. Evans We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + Were witnessing a sandwich boom in the UK, and fillings are getting increasingly outlandish.+ Now Thanksgiving is behind us, its time to look forward to Christmas: specifically Mariah Careys smash hit All I Want for Christmas is You + The worlds oldest lizard has been recently uncovered in an unassuming quarry.+ Is it really 25 years since Slipknot first freaked out the world with their masked antics?

This article first appeared in The Checkup,MIT Technology Reviewsweekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first,sign up here. How worried should we be about bird flu? Its a question that Ive been asked by friends and colleagues several times over the last couple of weeks. Their concerns have been spurred by some potentially worrisome developments in the US, including the continued spread of the virus among dairy cattle, the detection of the virus in a pig as well as cows milk, andmost concerning of allthe growing number of human infections. Ill admit that I'm worried. We dont yet have any evidence that the virus is spreading between people, but the risk of a potential pandemic has increased since I last covered this topic a couple of months ago. And once you combine that increased risk with an upcoming change in presidential administration that might leave US health agencies in the hands of a vaccine denier who promotes the consumption of raw milk, well its not exactly a comforting thought. The good news is we are in a much better position to tackle any potential future flu outbreaks than we were to face covid-19 back in 2020, given that we already have vaccines. But, on the whole, its not looking great. The bird flu that is currently spreading in US dairy cattle is caused by the H5N1 virus. The virus is especially lethal to some bird populations and has been wiping out poultry and seabirds for the last couple of years. It has also caused fatal infections in many mammals who came into contact with those birds. H5N1 was first detected in a dairy cow in Texas in March of this year. As of this week, the virus has been reported in 675 herds across 15 states, according to the US Department of Agricultures Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (also known as APHIS). Those are just the cases we know about. There may be more. The USDA requires testing of cattle before they are moved between states. And it offers a voluntary testing program for farmers who want to know if the virus is present in their bulk milk tanks. But participation in that program is optional. States have their own rules. Colorado has required testing of bulk milk tanks in licensed dairy farms since July. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture announced plans for a program just last week. But some states have no such requirements. At the end of October, the USDA reported that the virus had been detected in a pig for the first time. The pig was one of five in a farm in Oregon that had a mix of poultry and livestock. All the pigs were slaughtered. Virologists have been especially worried about the virus making its way into pigs, because these animals are notorious viral incubators. They can become infected with swine strains, bird strains and human strains, says Brinkley Bellotti, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. These strains can swap genes and give rise to new, potentially more infectious or harmful strains. Thankfully, we havent seen any other cases in pig farms, and theres no evidence that the virus can spread between pigs. And while it has been spreading pretty rapidly between cattle, the virus doesnt seem to have evolved much, says Seema Lakdawala, a virologist at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. That suggests that the virus made the leap into cattle, probably from birds, only once. And it has been spreading through herds since. Unfortunately, we still dont really know how it is spreading. There is some evidence to suggest the virus can be spread from cow to cow through shared milking equipment. But it is unclear how the virus is spreading between farms. Its hard to form an effective control strategy when you dont know exactly how its spreading, says Bellotti. But it is in cows. And its in their milk. When scientists analyzed 297 samples of Grade A pasteurized retail milk products, including milk, cream and cheese, they found viral RNA from H5N1 in 20% of them. Those samples were collected from 17 states across the US. And the study was conducted in April, just weeks after the virus was first detected in cattle. Its surprising to me that we are totally fine with our pasteurized milk products containing viral DNA, says Lakdawala. Research suggests that, as long as the milk is pasteurized, the virus is not infectious. But Lakdawala is concerned that pasteurization may not inactivate all of the virus, all the time. We dont know how much virus we need to ingest [to become infected], and whether any is going to slip through pasteurization, she says. And no reassurances can be made for unpasteurized raw milk. When cows are infected with H5N1, their milk can turn thick, yellow and chunky. But research has shown that, even when the milk starts to look normal again, it can still contain potentially infectious virus. The most concerning development, though, is the rise in human cases. So far, 55 such cases of H5N1 bird flu have been reported in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Twenty-nine of those cases have been detected in California. In almost all those cases, the infected person is thought to have caught the virus from cattle or poultry on farms. But in two of those cases, the source of the infection is unknown. Health professionals dont know how a teenager in British Columbia, Canada, got so sick with bird flu, either. The anonymous teenager, who sought medical care for an eye infection on November 2, is still seriously ill in hospital, and continues to rely on a ventilator to breathe. Local health officials have closed their investigation into the teens infection. There may be more, unreported cases out there, too. When researchers tested 115 dairy farm workers in Michigan and Colorado, they found markers of recent infection with the virus in 7% of them. So far, there is no evidence that the virus can spread between people. But every human infection offers the virus another opportunity to evolve into a form that can do just that. People can act as viral incubators, too. And during flu season, there are more chances for the H5N1 virus to mix with circulating seasonal flu viruses. Just because we [havent seen human-to-human spread] now doesnt mean that its not capable of happening, that it wont happen, or that it hasnt already happened, says Lakdawala. So where do we go from here? Lakdawala thinks we should already have started vaccinating dairy farm workers. After all, the US has already stockpiled vaccines for H5N1, which were designed to protect against previous variants of the virus. Were not taking [the human cases] seriously enough, she says. We need to get a better handle on exactly how the virus is spreading, too, and implement more effective measures to stop it from doing so. That means more testing of both cows and dairy farm workers at the very least. And we need to be clear that, despite what Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current lead contender for the role of head of the US Department of Health and Human Services, says, raw milk can be dangerous, and vaccines are a vital tool in the prevention of pandemics. We still have an opportunity to prevent the outbreak from turning into a global catastrophe. But the situation has worsened since the summer. This is sort of how the 2009 pandemic started, says Lakdawala, referring to the H1N1 swine flu pandemic. We started to have a couple of cases sporadically, and then the next thing you knew, you were seeing it everywhere. Now read the rest of The Checkup Read more from MIT Technology Review's archive The US is planning to stockpile millions of doses of H5N1 vaccines. But our current approach to making flu vaccines is slow and cumbersome. New vaccines that dont rely on the use of eggs, or make use of mRNA, might offer a better alternative. Flu season is already underway in the US, where bird flu is spreading among cattle. That has virologists worried that a person infected with both viruses could unwittingly incubate an all-new strain of the virus. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has already spread harmful misinformation, pseudoscience and fringe theories about AIDS and covid-19. Some researchers are exploring new ways to prevent the spread of H5N1 in poultry. The gene editing tool CRISPR could be used to help make chickens more resistant to the virus, according to preliminary research published last year. From around the web President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Jay Bhattacharya for his pick to lead the US National Institutes of Health, an agency with a $48 billion budget that oversees the majority of medical research in the country. Bhattacharya was one of three lead authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, a manifesto published in 2020 arguing against lockdowns during the height of the covid-19 pandemic, and supporting a let it rip approach instead. (STAT) An IVF mix up left two families raising each others biological babies. They didnt realize until the children were a couple of months old. What should they do? (Have the tissues ready for this one, which is heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure) (New York Times) Why do we feel the need to surveil our sleeping babies? This beautiful comic explores the various emotional pulls experienced by new parents. (The Verge) Australias parliament has passed a law that bans children under the age of 16 from using social media. Critics are concerned that the law is a blunt instrument that might drive young teens to the dark web, or leave them feeling isolated. (The Guardian) Lab-grown foie gras, anyone? Cultivated meat is going high-end, apparently. (Wired)

One Plus Partnership Adds Layered Bricks To A Cinema Interior To Resemble Waves In Haikouhtml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Many brick blocks are layered, bringing a three-dimensional atmosphere to the cinema lobby in Haikou, China.The interior space, called Haikou Gaoxingli Insun Cinema, was created by One Plus Partnership, an interior design firm based in Hong Kong.The interior design is made up of brick blocks that are suspended from above and rise from below to give the impression of a beach, with the bricks forming a wave on the beach.Located on the north coast of Hainan Island in China, the project is situated in Haikou, surrounded by the South China Sea.The studio aimed to create a design related to the ocean, as Haikou is surrounded by it. However, the team wanted to ensure their creation was unique.Instead of using blue, the traditional color associated with the ocean, they decided to utilize brick as the thematic material for their design. This choice was inspired by the fact that bricks are made from sand, which is found on the beach."Looking at this, you can perfectly build a story in your mind," said One Plus Partnership."This is timeless, just as bricks can be used to create beautiful and durable spaces that cant be worn down and improve as they blow their birthday cake," the studio added."In this cinema there is sun that shines in. There arent many cinemas with windows that allow the sun to shine in."Bricks were carefully arranged in the studio to resemble waves, which were layered so that you could see them all from any direction. All of the deftly placed lights that blend into the corner and the air vent that guests can only see by looking up."If you looked at it from a certain angle the pieces of brick were placed so no piece would be the same length," the studio added.As they proceeded, guests could observe chairs and tables set up with curved ends flaring out like a bell and wave tips. As the bricks rose to form walls, they were painted in topaz hues.The bricks were rough on the outside, but the atmosphere is softer than the visitors might think if they looked closely at them. Even in complete darkness or in the middle of the day, the lobby's essence can be captured.The bricks are carefully rearranged, resembling the books in a midnight library. Guests stroll around, noticing the small waves on the floor, which are painted gray on the sides and visible from a distance.The lights cast reflections that help prevent trips and falls; this design choice serves not just for aesthetic appeal but also to ensure the safety of guests. If guests look around, they can see how the waves transform into countertops and booths, with curves swooping in various directions.Visitors could taste the blocks of color made from velvety fabric that raced around the ceiling and around the corner. The hues complemented the mood, and the scent of joy was as perceptible as a thought. Like the Iron Ring of Prometheus, rings of light floated around the pillars.Guests can see a bubbly mascot on the floor, dancing, skipping, and floating while staring up at eachother. A copper-blend chair skips over, embracing everyone with the crisp autumnal air."We didnt miss our goal, the colors resemble kids with pastels that paint around in chairs and pillars that keep the areas together like a cage," said the office.The vibrant colors in the first auditorium were swooping around the walls like a paintbrush moving through them. From any room nearby, one could sense the colors and texture. They overlapped with colors that related to the lobby outside, and the dimensional fabric was cut to resemble a new piece of wood.The coziness of the chairs set up in the selected design, which resembles a florist's studio with a subtle lavender and peony aroma. Using unconventional colors and complex ingredients, the studio aimed to create a sensation.The edges of the second auditorium are composed of rough bricks and panels painted to resemble tiger lilies. Margin lines that extended from top to bottom were examples of illuminations.Standing at the top of the auditorium, the curves' silhouettes rose high enough to prevent injuries; this isn't just for show; from a distance, guests can see a faint resemblance to the South China Sea, which envelops the island like a cozy blanket. It was like euphoria to hear the warmth.2 level floor plan3 level floor planFrom 2004 to the present, One Plus Partnership has created interiors for movie theaters, eateries, shops, clubhouses, sales offices, and commercial buildings.One Plus visualizes different thematic spaces to create the unusual feeling. Although each design is unique, it is easily recognizable as ours. Each design represents a breakthrough, according to the studio.Project factsProject name:Haikou Gaoxingli Insun CinemaProject location: Haikou, China (Mainland)Design firm name: One Plus PartnershipLead designer:Ajax Law and Virginia LungAll images Jonathan Leijonhufvud.All drawings One Plus Partnership.> via One Plus Partnership

Carlo Ratti Associati Reveals Earthy, Sunken Business Canteen In Italys Food Valleyhtml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"International design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati has revealed an earthy and sunken business canteen for Mutti, global leader in tomato-based products.In order to integrate the space with its natural surroundings, a portion of the site's terrain was excavated and raised above ground level to create the expansive, light-filled area.The 1,200-square-metre design, located in Montechiarugolo - near Parma, Italys Food Valley, brings to mind the image of a clod of earth being lifted from the ground. The soil is elevated up to five meters above ground, covering an indoor area of almost 500 square meters for a total area of 1,200 square meters.Both factory workers and outside diners will be served at the canteen, which is run by a culinary team known for its Michelin-starred restaurants. The canteen, which will function as a restaurant by night.This project, named Quisimangia, is an extension of CRA and Mutti's collaboration, which started with the master plan for a new factory and production site and continued with The Greenary, a private home that has grown to be one of CRA's most awarded structures.A green roof constructed from compacted earth that was taken straight from the site atop the new project's dining hall. Eating at the same level as the outdoor meadow, diners are seated in a recessed glass structure, completely engrossed in the surrounding vegetation.ViCook, the catering company of brothers Chicco and Bobo Cerea, who are well-known for their Michelin-starred Da Vittorio restaurants in Shanghai, St. Moritz, and Bergamo, will oversee Quisimangia.It will soon be accessible to the general public as well as Mutti employees. The kitchen of the canteen has been converted from an old tavern that can be seen from the road next to the new dining hall. The canteen will serve as an open area where people can socialize.The 1.1-hectare garden outside, created by Paolo Pejrone, an Italian landscape architect who has won awards, highlights the abundance of the area.In order to allow visitors to fully immerse themselves in nature, the design reinterprets the 18th-century French concept of "ha-ha," which means surprising the viewer by erecting a vertical barrier while maintaining an unobstructed view of the surrounding landscape from the opposite side."This project illustrates our quest to merge the natural with the artificial," said Carlo Ratti, founding partner of CRA, professor at MIT, and curator of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025."This clod of earth rising from the ground creates a constant dialogue with nature. Instead of a djeuner sur lherbe we could call it a djeuner sous lherbe, dining under the grass," Ratti added.The buildings design clearly demonstrates the principles of circularity. Additionally, the canteen has a distinctive floor composed of tomato skins, which are leftovers from Mutti's manufacturing process.This floor is thought to have been constructed using over three tons of waste material. To reduce energy usage, the facility is outfitted with cutting-edge environmental control technologies.By pushing the limits of cutting-edge building materials, CRA's designs highlight the interplay between the natural and the artificial. The Circular Garden installation, which took place during Milan Design Week 2019, investigated the architectural possibilities of fungal root mycelium.A living laboratory for promoting circularity in architecture, the Italian Pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai was created by CRA in partnership with Italo Rota, Matteo Gatto, and F&M Ingegneria. The structure incorporates algae, coffee grounds, and recycled plastics.CRA unveiled preliminary design concept for business canteen in 2022.Project factsProject name:QuisimangiaArchitects: CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati for MuttiCreative lead: Italo RotaCRA team: Carlo Ratti, Andrea Cassi (partner-in-charge), Francesco Strocchio (partner-in-charge), Giulia Tolu, Nicolette Marzovilla, Rodolfo Siccardi, Anna Morani, Mario Daudo, Matteo Zerbi, Gary Di Silvio, Pasquale Milieri, Gianluca ZimbardiStructural Engineering: INGEMBP (Corrado Curti, Marco Bertelli, Giuseppe Coco)MEP Systems Engineering:PROJEMA (Ivan Pavanello, Simone Graziano, Emanuele Lenta, Diego Dellerba)Acoustics:2LD Acustica S.r.l. (Diego Dellerba)Fire safety:ARCHING (Stefano De Pippo)Authority Approval, Health & Safety Lead: Aldo TrombiBuilding Construction General Contractor:Ing.Ferrari S.p.A.Interior & Furniture Contractor: Tecnoarredamenti S.r.lLandscape Contractor: Arcadia Vivai ImpiantiAll images Melania Delle Grave, Agnese Bedini, DSL Studio.> via CRA

The visit highlighted the craftsmanship and traditional techniques used to restore the iconic Parisian monumentSource: The lyse PalacePresident Macron tours Notre Dame on 29 November, prior to the official reopening on 7 DecemberFrench president Emmanuel Macron toured the restored Notre Dame Cathedral on Friday, marking a significant step in its reconstruction following the devastating 2019 fire. Joined by the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, andPhilippe Villeneuve, the chief architect of Frances national monuments, the president viewed the completed interior ahead of the cathedrals public reopening on 7 December.The fire had left the cathedrals roof and spire destroyed and its interiors exposed, requiring extensive repairs undertaken by hundreds of craftspeople. The visit showcased the results of over five years of restoration, including meticulously repaired vaulted ceilings and cleaned stonework, which has revealed the bright, cream-coloured limestone.Source: ShutterstockThe fire occurred on 16 April 2019During the tour, Macron observed key features of the restoration, including the reconstructed timber spire, which involved traditional carpentry techniques using oak beams and wooden dowels crafted by hand. The spires design replicates the nineteenth-century original structure by Eugne Viollet-le-Duc.The president praised the craftspeople and donors who contributed to the 700 million restoration project, calling it the building site of the century. Addressing the workers, Macron remarked, The shock of the reopening will be as great as that of the fire, but it will be a shock of hope. He also paid tribute to the firefighters who prevented the total loss of the Gothic landmark.Source: ShutterstockWork underway on the restoration in July 2024, with the rebuilt replica of Viollet-le-Ducs spire (centre)The reconstruction involved advanced cleaning methods, including the use of latex sprays and gels to remove toxic dust and dirt from the fire-damaged surfaces. Over 42,000 square metres of stonework were cleaned and decontaminated, revealing vibrant stained glass and detailed carvings.The public reopening will include a Mass on 8 December. Before the fire, Notre Dame attracted 12 million visitors annually, a number expected to rise with the relaunch. Visitors will need to book time slots via an online ticketing system, while entry to the cathedral remains free.>> Also read:Notre-Dame will be rebuilt after devastating fire>> Also read:Dont rush Notre-Dame restoration, architects and academics urge Macron

Bids for scheme at locally listed Market Chambers in Accrington must be submmitted by 7 JanuaryHyndburn council is looking to appoint an architect-led design team for a project to transform a locally listed building into a heritage museum.The Lancashire council is encouraging practices to bid for the 225,000 job to renovate the four-storey Market Chambers building in Accrington.Hyndburn council want to transform the Market Chambers building in Accrington into a heritage museumIt said it is looking for the creation of an immersive, multisensory and flexible space in the late 19th century building, which currently houses shops and offices.Bids must be submitted before 7 January 2025, with other consultants including an exhibition designer to be appointed separately.Hyndburn council has already raised more than 800,000 for the development of the scheme, which includes 460,000 in National Lottery Heritage funding.A further 4.5m of funding will be sought in August next year for the delivery of the project once development of designs have been completed.The scheme forms part of a wider town centre masterplan including the neighbouring grade II-listed Market Hall, Accrington Town Hall and Burtons Chambers.

Now in its eighth year, the Museum of Architecture-led exhibition has this year been curated around the theme Recycled City with biscuity buildings including retrofits of London icons including the London Eye, the Royal Opera House, and Smithfield Market.Among the sugary schemes are Buro Happolds sectional gingerbread model of its Battersea Power Station retrofit, Chris Dyson Architects gingerbread Truman Brewery boiler house, and HCL Architects colourful recreation of Finsbury Tower, a 1960s office building in Islington.Zaha Hadid Architects, meanwhile, whipped up an edible version of its own Striatus 3D Printed Concrete Bridge scheme for the display.AdvertisementZHAs design for the 2024 Gingerbread CityOther designers of the confectro-fits include Atkins, MICA Architects, WilkinsonEyre, Studio Bark, Stride Treglown, Haworth Tompkins and Urban Mesh.The Museum of Architecture, a UK-based charity dedicated to finding new ways for the public to engage with architecture, hopes this years Gingerbread City will inspire conversations about cities and how we live in them.The charity said the designs showcased the transformation and conversion of old places and buildings into something new and revitalised, offering opportunities to address challenges like housing, education, transport, culture and climate.The gingerbread metropolis will be on display throughout December at the Gaumont in Chelsea itself a 14-year redevelopment project, which has reshaped one of Londons iconic shopping destinations, according to the Museum of Architecture.Sponsoring the exhibition are Cadogan, Finsa, PDP, Hornby, Smack, U-Build, The Invisible Agency, TM and Tibbalds.AdvertisementMuseum of Architecture founder and director Melissa Woolford said: For centuries, cities like London have been transforming and converting old places and buildings into new and exciting spaces.The Gingerbread City brings together leading architects and designers to inspire us to think about sustainable design, breathing new life into our environment while preserving its heritage. Source:Luke O_Donovan2024 Gingerbread City

The project-tracking expert estimates that construction will grow by 8 per cent in 2025, and by 10 per cent in 2026.The number of construction starts, which had been dropping but has stabilised since the July general election, will continue to strengthen as the UK economy regains momentum in 2025-26, Glenigan said.The company said recovery and renewal was the key takeaway from its two-year industry forecast, published this week.AdvertisementEncouragingly, Glenigan found that private sector work in the construction industry had gradually risenthroughout the second quarter of 2024, and a promising project pipeline showed main contract awards were 7 per cent up on 2023 figures.Glenigans economic director Allan Wilen said the growth was being fuelled by a combination of improved consumer confidence, increased household spending, and strategic fiscal changes announced in the recent budget, which in turn will drive activity in consumer-related verticals such as private housing, retail, and hotel and leisure.He added that the budgets adjustments to fiscal rules, allowing for higher levels of capital investment, would unlock significant public sector and infrastructure projects, providing a much-needed boost to government-funded initiatives over the next two years.After being on a downward trajectory for most of the year, activity in the private housing market has stabilised in the second half of 2024, and could see a 13 per cent growth in 2025 with a further 15 per cent growth in 2026, according to Glenigans analysis.The company says government planning reforms are anticipated to reverse the downward trend and pave the way for an uptick in housing approvals, while improvements in household incomes as the economy grows may prompt buyers to take advantage of reasonable house prices.AdvertisementThe total value of project starts on private housing schemes, which amounted to 28.1 billion in 2023 and 26.8 billion in 2024, could total 30.2 billion in 2025, and 34.7 billion by 2026, according to Glenigan.The total value of project starts on social housing schemes is set to see slightly less growth, from 8.9 billion and 7.5 billion in 2023 and 2024 respectively, to 8.4 billion and 9.2 billion in 2025 and 2026 (11 per cent year-on-year growth from 2024).However, new government policies are anticipated to increase development activity over the next two years, including an extra 500 million funding for the Affordable Homes Programme. A government shake-up on right-to-buy rules will enable local authorities to retain the full value of council houses sold, which they can then use to fund new social housing.And student accommodation, which has had a poor year with a 15 per cent fall in project starts compared to 2023, is likely to see a reversal of fortunes and an expansion driven by easing interest rates and rising demand for purpose-built developments as buy-to-let investors leave the market.Industrial starts, which saw a strong rebound post-pandemic but plummeted sharply in 2023 (down 30 per cent) and weakened further in 2024 (down 6 per cent), are predicted to grow by 5 per cent in 2025 and 8 per cent in 2026, fuelled by a renewed demand for premises to support online retail.Hospitality project starts, which fell by 13 per cent in 2023 and a further 14 per cent in 2024, are set to grow slightly in 2025 (1 per cent), and see strong growth in 2026 (9 per cent) in line with household incomes.And office starts, which fell by 14 per cent in 2023 and by nearly a quarter (21 per cent) in 2024, are set to grow by 18 per cent in 2025, and by a further 4 per cent in 2026.The sector, which includes data centres, is expected to benefit from arise in refurbishment and extension projects over the next two years, as hybrid working remains an important driver for landlords and occupiers to accommodate changing working patterns.It is also set to be boosted by 6.3 billion of investment in data infrastructure announced by the government in October, with demand for data centres expected to keep rising in line with the rapid advancement of AI.2024-11-29Anna Highfieldcomment and share