These are my Delicious Links for September 29th through October 9th:

• List of brownfield sites to drive development | Inside Housing – A new online database of London development sites has been set up by two quangos.
  The London Brownfield Sites Database, set up by the London Development Agency and the Homes and Communities Agency, covers around 2,300 previously developed sites in the capital.
  The database covers over 1,000 more sites than its predecessor the National Land Use Database.
  The HCA is considering how to use the system for other parts of the country.
  The database also lists transport routes, deprivation, social infrastructure, as well as heritage and natural environment assets for each site.
  London boroughs can use the data to inform their policies, site specific allocations, and housing and employment land availability assessments.
  David Lunts, HCA regional director for London, said: ‘It will also be an essential tool for the HCA’s Single Conversation with our partners in the London boroughs. We are already considering how other parts of the country could benefit from this pilot.’
• KDPaine’s PR Measurement Blog: It’s people not tools that matter – Our point is this. There's a new tool released every week. Some are free, some cost money and some are a combination of the two.. All of them do the same thing — reduce the blogosphere/twitter/social media to a giant bucket of words, pull out the relevant ones, count them. and produce some attractive charts and graphs. NONE of them measure reputation, relationships, brand health, brand strength or anything else. In order to figure out what works and what doesn't; where your money is better spent, where you're getting the best ROI, you need a sapient human, familiar with your goals and objectives that can look at those numbers and charts and draw some conclusions and make recommendations.
• Open Streetmap Postcodes – Focusing in on the South East. Brilliant!
• WikiProject UK Postcodes – OpenStreetMap – Even Better, work on UK postcode areas on Open Street Map.
  Hooray!
• Geocoding UK Postcodes with Google APIs Demo – Enter a Postcode and see it on Google Maps

These are my Delicious Links for September 15th through September 23rd:

• Twitter 101 for Business — A Special Guide – Twitter (yes those people) have written their own guide to business use of twitter. Here it is.
• How to write a corporate Twitter strategy (…and here’s one I made earlier) – Neil Williams, Head of Corporate Digital Channels at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills at Downing Street, published a draft twitter strategy template for government departments. It caused quite a stir… you can read it (and some comments) here.
• The green life | Analysis | Ocean Media – We’re all in favour of eco-homes, but do they change lives? Simon Brandon visited some residents of green homes and asked them to spill the beans
• CIMCIG – Lessons in applying Web 2.0 to construction PR and marketing – To help us on our way Paul left us some key lessons:
  1 Start small – take a measured approach. It’s not just about social media it’s about what your organisation is about and how Web 2.0 could fit into your communication strategy
  2 Invest wisely – it takes time, long term commitment, the right people, policies and procedures to make it work
  3 Manage expectations – results don’t happen overnight
  4 Identify issues – don’t do it for the sake of it. Make sure you know you want to achieve and which tools will help you
  5 Be aware of the risks and the opportunities – not all organisations are ready to be more communicative or for the response they may get
  6 Spread the risk – be aware that some tools are at the early stages and may not survive the campaign
  7 Monitor and moderate – ensure updates are appropriate and keep an eye on what’s going on
  8 It can’t be ignored – you need to be aware of the threats to, and the opportunities for, your business. If you don’t do it your competitors will
• Hyde Group calls for new social housing benchmarks on energy efficiency » Housing » 24dash.com – The Hyde Group today called for new social housing benchmarks to focus on the energy efficiency of homes.
  Hyde Group Chief Executive David Eastgate, said: “With energy prices increasing and the threat of global warming having more and more of an impact on daily living it is paramount that a statutory requirement on the energy efficiency of social housing should be included in any new decent home standards.
  “The behaviour of society must be taken into consideration when trying to become more energy efficient and reducing carbon emissions.
  "Tackling carbon emissions from social housing will have a positive effect on environmental standards and will also help fight the scourge of fuel poverty."

These are my Delicious Links for August 26th through September 10th:

• Presentation Zen: If your idea is worth spreading, then presentation matters – "Any professional in their field can ramble on for an hour or two. But 20 minutes to tell your story, to give it your best shot? That takes creativity.
  If you're going to have ideas worth talking about — and your ideas are, right? — then you've got to be able to stand, deliver and make your case."
  A taste of Gar Reynolds' book on his blog, together with a selection of exemplar presentations with his comments about them.
• Twitter Friends Network Browser – Visualisation of twitter networks. Type in a user name and click and drag away. See who is connected to whom. It could do with some way of clicking through to profiles, but what a tool.
• Why Architects should Twitter | Business on Twitter – A blast from the past (Feb 09) but still ever so relevant:

  Everyone is talking about Twitter The Daily Mail, Jonathan Ross, Chris Moyles and Stephen Fry.… ok, ok, heard it before?
  …
  Hang on a minute, there must be a reason. Twitter is attracting people who want to use it for social reasons and that is why it is growing, but there is more to Twitter than headlines and celebrities. It’s a tool for communication, and any tool for communication has business uses.
  I’m Su Butcher and I run a practice of UK Architects. I’ve been networking online for about 5 years and started using twitter about five months ago. Here’s my take on Twitter, why I use it and why I think it’s a great tool for construction professionals.

• The Building Blocks of Social Media for Business – Where do you start? That’s the question I get often when I’m asked how to help a company market using social media tools. The people who contact me are smart. They tell me things like, “Yeah, they said we should start with a blog, and we said, ‘like the blog we already have?’” But what comes next is rarely a simple choice. I wanted to take you through some thoughts on what the basic building blocks of social media might be for a business (in the context of marketing, but then stretching a bit further out).
• Who’s Driving Twitter’s Popularity? Not Teenagers – NYTimes.com – Almost everyone under 35 uses social networks, but the growth of these networks over the last year has come from older adults, according to a report from Forrester Research issued Tuesday. Use of social networking by people aged 35 to 54 grew 60 percent in the last year.

These are my Delicious Links for August 18-26

• Writing good apology letters – The main thing to remember about apology letters is the fact that you are addressing them to very angry, and often irrational, people. If you’ve run over your next-door-neighbour’s cat, embezzled millions from the bank, or sold one of your customers a pair of exploding trousers, the chances are that they will want to crucify you.Whilst it’s good to straighten things out, never make more concessions than you actually need. And above all, never admit to other personal weaknesses in your apology (”I once ran over my own cat/ stole my own money/ wore combustible lederhosen” will not help your case). Admissions like this will be used against you. Often.

  By @benlocker

• When It Comes to Résumés, Remember: You Are the Brand – Human Resources, Architects, Business – Architect Magazine – The job hunt starts with a pitch-perfect résumé, and design consultant-slash-headhunter Marjanne Pearson is the ultimate judge. She knows the business from the inside—despite a lack of architectural training, she’s been partner in a firm—and her ability to communicate and network are legendary. Pearson’s first client when she launched her own consulting practice in 1987 was Frank Gehry. Today, she offers a seemingly uninterrupted feed of news, information, and advice for designers as @NextMoon on Twitter.Thousands of architects are looking for work right now. What’s the best way to go about it?
• FT.com / Companies / Construction – Cost of green homes proves punitive – Barratt’s prototype building is surprisingly low-tech: there are photovoltaic and hot-water solar panels, a heat exchanger and an electronic climate control system, but most of the energy savings come from minimising heat loss through the walls and windows, using heavy concrete floors to store warmth, and venting air on hot summer days.Even so, it would barely be feasible as a commercial design. Barratt won’t confirm the price tag, but visitors touring the BRE are told it cost £1.2m ($2m).
• The Accidental Salesman » Blog Archive » Sell your expertise and not your knowledge – A common mistake experts in business development is that they try and sell their knowledge to clients, thinking this is what they want. An endless stream of knowledge has no value in its own right. The real value is in your experience of applying knowledge to solve problems.Once you start to understand your target audience and begin to focus on their problems, selling gets a whole lot easier – provided you have the expertise to help them solve their problems. A prospect takes a big risk when buying services – they are never sure exactly what they will get for their money until they have got it. A key way of limiting the risk is by working with people that have experience in solving similar problems. The bigger the risk the more that tried, tested, and trusted drives the decision making process. Its the old cliche – ‘You never got sacked for buying IBM’

  This is why I advise people I work with to focus on their area of maximum credibility when seeking new clients.

• To Get More Done, Slow Down – Peter Bregman – HarvardBusiness.org – “In the entrepreneurial world, if we all just stopped with our oversize egos and focused on getting quality work done, rather than how much we worked, maybe than attorneys, accountants, and other “fixers” would have less work.”
• “Do you Come Here Often?” The ten best (and worst) ways to start a networking conversation – One of the most common suggestions was to ask the question “What do you do?”. Regular readers may know that this approach is one of my pet hates! To me, “what do you do?” is the networking equivalent of asking an attractive woman “do you come here often?” when you see her in a bar! You’re not genuinely interested in the answer, it’s just a way to get chatting.In other words, it’s an icebreaker, and that’s fine. After all, icebreakers are what we are discussing here. However, do you really want “what do you do?” to be asked of you as an icebreaker, when the person asking isn’t interested in the response? I know I don’t. I want people to have a genuine interest when they ask me that, based on having got to know me and a desire to know more. However generous our spirit when we attend events, we are rarely in that position as soon as we approach people.
• Second time lucky: the Sigma II eco-house – Building – When the Sigma eco-home at the BRE Innovation Park failed to hit the upper bands of the Code for Sustainable Homes, the blame was laid squarely on the building fabric. Now its maker is having another go.In June, housebuilder Stewart Milne published a warts-and-all assessment of the Sigma home it built at the BRE’s innovation park near Watford. Sigma was the first house in the UK to meet level five of the Code for Sustainable Homes and was intended to serve as a prototype to identify the challenges and solutions to building near-zero-carbon, affordable homes. But as the two-year post-completion study shows, housebuilders still face plenty of hurdles.
• The Effect of the Recession on Partnering in the Construction Sector – Don Ward’s slides from the AEC Network meeting in London.
  I particularly like slides 31 and 32 on Price – how to escape the ‘lowest price tender trap’ and also 36 on customer benefit.

  The question is, how to sell to the smaller client and the smaller contractor how to implement collaborative working? In RSLs there needs to be movement within the management structure to implement it.

These are my Delicious Links for July 20th through August 18th:

• House 2.0: New Homes Too Small – "Doesn't it start at planning stage where there appears to be a basic assumption that smaller is more acceptable?

  We build small homes, then the ones next to them cannot be seen to 'dominate' the street scene, so we build smaller still… let's face it, we're ashamed to build decent sized homes."

• 10 superb social media presentations | Blog | Econsultancy – Everything you wanted to know about social media (and about good presentations too)
• Suggestions For Improving Your Research Process – Below is a presentation I gave today to a group of Honors students at Victoria University's School of Architecture and Design. The presentation covers what I have learnt during my time doing my PhD and the mistakes I made, especially around the research process.

  The primary message of the presentation is that research is by no means easy and when things get difficult you need to focus on MUPPET:
  Motivate - Eureka moments only take you so far.
  Undertake - Write something every (other) day.
  Plan - Conciously identify your rainbow (objective), horse (process) and cart (interest).
  Ponder - Understand how your actions relate to the research.
  Exchange - Talk to everyone (relevant) about your research.
  Test - Continually evaluate what you have done and where you are going.

• Social Media Marketing Maps – Maps & diagrams always help us find our way and understand better the social media era for marketing and business.
  A slideshare presentation of 80 maps describing social media. Fantastic resource.
• Taking The Planning Initiative – Many of our clients are looking at planning options at the moment – why is that? They are taking the initiative in order to make the most of the current climate, and to stay ahead of changes which are on the way. Here are some examples.

These are my Delicious Links for July 4th through July 7th:

• Marketing Handbook for the Design & Construction Professional
  “These days, driving new business is the key to your survival, and this highly acclaimed marketing tool is your key to driving new business …

  “This all-new and thoroughly revised handbook covers every aspect of marketing in the design and construction industry from initial market research, to getting leads, to making presentations, to website development. If you're not a marketing professional, then you really need this book.

  “In a clear, no-nonsense manner, it shows you how to:
  • create winning proposals and presentations
  • take full advantage of low-cost public relations activities
  • develop a winning plan for getting the most from trade shows
  • create a high-profile website on a budget
  • get your staff to take a market-oriented approach to everything they do”

• PlanningAlerts.com | Email alerts of planning applications near you
  Do you know about Planning Alerts yet? Find out when a planning application is registered near any postcode by setting up an email alert. Fantastic piece of coding making good use of the openness of the planning system.
  Don't forget to pay them something towards their new server, they need our support!
• Creative Energy Homes: University of Nottingham
  The project is “a showcase of innovative state-of-the-art energy-efficient homes of the future. Six homes constructed on the University Park are being designed and constructed to various degrees of innovation and flexibility to allow the testing of different aspects of modern methods of construction (mmc) including layout and form, cladding materials, roof structures, foundations, glazing materials, thermal performance, building services systems, sustainable/ renewable energy technologies, lighting systems, acoustics and water supply.
  “The project aims to stimulate sustainable design ideas and promote new ways of providing affordable, environmentally sustainable housing that are innovative in their design. Several companies including: Stoneguard, Roger Bullivant Ltd, EON, BASF, Tarmac, Saint-Gobain have agreed to fund elements of the project.”
• Blogs, Twitter, social networking: your new business tools – Construction Manager
  “Su Butcher, officer manager of Ipswich-based architect Barefoot & Gilles (pictured), uses Twitter to spread the practice’s brand online. ‘In our industry, people move in quite small circles.

  But going online explodes those limitations – you can network with people all over the world, many with expertise not in your field,’ she says.

  And contacts often cross the line between the virtual and real worlds. By marketing yourself as an expert, invitations to speak at events or contribute articles to publications might follow. Butcher, for instance, has been invited to present the practice’s affordable eco-houses at two property industry events.

• Daniel Libeskind’s 17 words of architectural inspiration | Video on TED.com
  Thanks to Rosemary Slosek for flagging up this talk by Daniel Liebeskind whom I saw speak in Liverpool when I was a student. The discussion below his video is marvellous and articulates some of the debates going on in our industry at the moment.

More than anything else, it is the support of other bloggers that has helped me in my blogging. One of these is Mel Starrs, specialist in sustainability and green buildings who blogs at Elemental. With her help I’ve started to save the links I want to share at De.licio.us and now (with consent) I’ve stolen her idea to share them on my blog. Like everything, I’m experimenting with this, and I’d like to know if you find it useful.

These are my Delicious Links for June 19th through June 27th:

• South Cambridgeshire Planning services – Including online Planning application search, links to planning policy and development control
• Royal Mail’s online Postcode finder – Find a Postcode for any address. Really useful tool!
• Search by Map Care Homes in the UK – Map of Care Homes in the UK – not sure how accurate this is but precursory investigations suggest its pretty good
• UK Care Home Groups Index – All Care Home Groups/Owners with 2 or more Care Homes are listed below, with the number of Care Homes that belong to the Group/Owner in brackets. Please click on the Group/Owner Name to list all of the Care Homes that are owned by that Group/Owner.
• James Cooke Coaching: Managing in a Recession. We are entering a sustained period of economic recession that will place considerable strain on the management of professional firms. The RIBA has commissioned James Cooke and John Toppin to write a monthly column in their Journal giving advice to the leaders of architectural firms. We have published them here together with the first in a series of papers designed to help you deal with the difficult management issues ahead. Please use them and don’t hesitate to contact me for any futher help.