Useful Links

Organisations

ECAN - Edinburgh Chartered Architects Network
ARB - Architects Registration Board you can search the Architects' Register online
APS - The Association of Planning Supervisors
ABS - Architects Benevolent Society
ICE - The Institution of Civil Engineers
IStructE - The Institution of Structural Engineers
RIAS - Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
ASA - Aberdeen Society of Architects
GIA - Glasgow Institute of Architects
DIA - Dundee Institute of Architects
IAA - Inverness Architectural Association
SSA - Stirling Society of Architects
RIBA - Royal Institute of British Architects
RICS - Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
RTPI - Royal Town Planning Institute
Scottish Assessors Association search their online Council Tax and Valuation Roll database.
Historic Scotland search their Listed Building database.
Building Research Establishment search for documents published by the BRE.
British Standards Institution search for documents published by the BSI.
The British Board of Agrément search for certificates published by the BBA.
Construction Industry Board useful site with plenty of links.
Health &Safety Executive
Her Majesty's Stationery Office search for Statutory Instruments published by HMSO.
The Scottish Timber Trade Association the Scottish arm of the UK Timber Trade Federation.
Scottish Building Regulations What? Yes, the Technical Standards can be browsed online and downloaded as PDF files. Handy when you've left them in the office.
English Building Regulations and the Building Regulations Approved Documents are available here.
Edinburgh World Heritage Trust Conservation and Planning in Edinburgh's Old and New Towns.
ScottishArchitecture.com A national resource for information, communication and outreach within the field of Scottish architecture and the built environment, generally. Brought to you by The Lighthouse.
CABE is the government's adviser on architecture, urban design and public space. It works with architects, planners, designers, developers and clients, and offers guidance on projects.

Schools of Architecture/Architecture Students

Edinburgh College of Art Department of Architecture, linked with Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh University Department of Architecture Homepage
Edinburgh University Student Architecture Society - presents a varied and interesting lecture programme
archaos - national student architecture society established in 1999 by the two student representatives on RIBA Council who saw that there was a need to create a society which represented students and gave them a means of communication with the RIBA. Membership of archaos is automatic and free for all students of architecture in the UK.

Sustainable Development

www.sust.org a Scottish website dedicated to Sustainable Design in architecture and the built environment, providing access to a wide variety of information and resources.
Recycling by Design is a research project which aims to raise awareness and understanding of recycled materials and products amongst graphic, product and architectural designers.
www.strawbalefutures.org.uk Find out how to design and build a house of straw.
www.designforhomes.org For information about home design including news, events and an architect search facility.
Ecoflush is water saving device which retrofits to cisterns.
Natural Building Technologies suppliers of products for breathing constructions.
Green Building Store suppliers of sustainable building materials.
www.msarch.co.uk/ecohome a description of a 'green' retro-fit house in Nottingham.
www.segalselfbuild.co.uk the Walter Segal Self Build Trusts' website provides advice, information, training, support and a range of other services for the selfbuilder.
www.sustainableconstruction.co.uk a resource for those interested in sustainable building.
www.cat.org.uk the Centre for Alternative Technology has information in its AtEIC building.
CIDDA the Cast Iron Drainage Development Association are pushing the environmentally friendly advantages of cast iron drainage.
The Ecology Building Society promotes sustainable housing and communities, and has some useful links.
Solartwin sell solar water heating systems.
[Proven Engineering a Scottish company with world beating wind generator designs.
Scoraig Wind Electric a great resource for information on wind turbines, including how to build your own from scrap!
WaterTurbine.com a micro hydro turbine generator, I want one!
PowerPal.com another micro hydro turbine generator, this time from Asia, which looks even simpler.

Construction Industry Databases

Barbour Index information on the popular red book.
Building Focus a searchable site for construction industry links.
Building Online another searchable site for construction industry links.
LeonardoUK another searchable site for construction industry links.
What's New in Building a searchable site for new products.

Construction Industry

Access Panels of all varieties, including concealed tiled access doors and panels.
eisenwareswann architectural ironmongery.
European Profiles profiled metal cladding.
Donaldson Timber for timber engineering.
Forbo-Nairn 'Marmoleum' linoleum manufacturers.
Nexfor timber products, formerly CSC Forestry Products.
Owens Corning rigid foam insulation.
Redland Roofing download CAD drawings and literature.
Sandtoft Roof Tiles
Trojan Products design and manufacture GRP products of use to the architectural and construction industry.
Velux Windows need no introduction.
Production Glassfibre in Kirkcaldy also design and manufacture GRP products of use to the architectural and construction industry.

Computing &IT

Coevolution is an Edinburgh-based consultancy that uses its expertise in computer generated visualisation to present your project with the care you would take, in the time you don't have.
OpenOffice.org is both an open-source Office Suite application and a project. It is free. It runs on all major platforms, and comes with word-processor, spreadsheet, drawing and presentation tool applications.
Ad-aware Standard Edition ad removal tool is free for non-commercial use.
The GIMP GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software suitable for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
AutoTrace is a program for converting bitmap to vector graphics. AutoTrace is free software.
Inkscape is an open-source scalable vector graphics editor. It is free software, distributed under the terms of the Gnu General Public License. It works under most versions of Unix and Windows.
CutePDF Printer is freeware that allows you to create PDF files on Windows PCs, and it behaves like a printer driver. Download it and use it for free.
Blender is open source software that allows you to do complex 3D modelling, animation and rendering. Download it and use it for free. Versions available for Mac OSX, Windows and Linux.
Wireless MeshAP from LocustWorld looks interesting. Create an ad-hoc mesh wireless network for your community. Purchase ready-built hardware, or download the open source software for free, and build your own Access Point.
SME Server is a GPL gateway and communications server. It can manage firewall, NAT, email and file server functions. Best of all, it's free to download and use.
QCAD is an open source 2D CAD program, which runs on Linux or Windows. The Linux version is available free under the GNU/GPL
The OpenDWG Alliance is an association of CAD vendors committed to promoting Autodesk AutoCAD's DWG drawing file format as an open, industry-standard for the exchange of CAD drawings. Probably not supported by Autodesk then...
DWG Viewer inViso is a free utility to view DWG and DXF files on a Windows computer. For a modest price, there's a version which can view and print DWG/DXF plus 20 more formats, including HPGL, DWF, CGM, DGN, TIFF, CALS, and SolidWorks.
CADView another free CAD file view and print program. Caters for FastCAD, EasyCAD, DWG and DXF formats.
Volo View Express was Autodesk's free, downloadable application for Windows that let you view and print basic design drawing formats, including DWG, DXF, and DWF files. Nice. Update Nov 2003 - AutoDesk are no longer maintaining this handy product - "Although Volo View Express 2.1 is still available for download, it will no longer be updated and does not support the new AutoCAD 2004 DWG file format." You can purchase a version that will though...
The Icon Factory for great icons and desktop pictures for your Mac.
IPCop firewall and router project. Build your own secure connection to the Internet by recycling your old 486, and save a bundle.
Redstore.com buy PC components over the internet, and save money. Why not build your own PC?
Xandros Linux which is a desktop distribution based on Debian.
SuSE Linux is a better supported distribution, and very easy to install.
Linux Format or Linux User are magazines for those interested in using Linux.
SETI@home Join in the world wide effort to analyse data for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at Home. Use spare processing capacity, maybe find out if we are not alone...

Useful Information

Which didn't really fit elsewhere...

Edinburgh Holidays Listings of future public holidays etc. from the City of Edinburgh Council website.
Ordnance Survey download some free roadmaps of the UK for your personal or business web use, or a map of the coastline of the UK in various file formats.
BT PhoneNetUK search the UK online phone directory.
Royal Mail search for UK postcodes and addresses. (Free registration required before you can access Postcode and Address information, and you are limited in the number of searches you can do each day. Unfortunately).
streetmap.co.uk has online streetmaps of the UK. Search by postcode or grid reference.