The Shell Builders

Beaufort, South Carolina, is well known for its historical architecture, but perhaps none is quite as remarkable as those edifices formed by tabby, sometimes called coastal concrete, comprising a mixture of lime, sand, water, and oyster shells. Tabby itself has a storied history stretching back to Iberian, Caribbean, Spanish American, and even African roots—brought to the United States by adventurers, merchants, military engineers, planters, and the enslaved. Tabby has been preserved most abundantly in the Beaufort area and its outlying islands, (and along the Sea Islands all the way to Florida as well) with Fort Frederick in 1734 having the earliest example of a diverse group of structures, which included town houses, seawalls, planters' homes, barns, agricultural buildings, and slave quarters. Tabby's insulating properties are excellent protection from long, hot, humid, and sometimes deadly summers; and on the islands, particularly, wealthy plantation owners built grand houses for themselves and improved dwellings for enslaved workers that after two hundred-plus years still stand today. An extraordinarily hardy material, tabby has a history akin to some of the world's oldest building techniques and is referred to as "rammed earth," as well as " tapia" in Spanish, "pisé de terre" in French, and "hangtu" in Chinese. The form that tabby construction took along the Sea Islands, however, was born of necessity. Here stone and brick were rare and expensive, but the oyster shells that were used as the source for the tabby's lime base were plentiful. Today these bits of shell, often visible in the walls and forms constructed long ago, give tabby its unique and iconic appearance. Colin Brooker, architect and expert on historic restoration, has not only made an exhaustive foray into local tabby architecture and heritage; he also has made a multinational tour as well in search of tabby origins, evolution, and diffusion from the Bahamas to Morocco to Andalusia, which can be traced back as far as the tenth century. Brooker has spent more than thirty years investigating the origins of tabby, its chemistry, its engineering, and its limitations. The Shell Builders lays out a sweeping, in-depth, and fascinating investigative journey—at once archaeological, sociological, and historical—into the ways prior inhabitants used and shaped their environment in order to house and protect themselves, leaving behind an architectural legacy that is both mysterious and beautiful. Lawrence S. Rowland, a distinguished professor emeritus of history at the University of South Carolina Beaufort and past president of the South Carolina Historical Society, provides a foreword.

"The Megapodes are an ancient and remarkable group of birds that occur only in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the islands that surround them. Within this group, there are 22 species of mound-builders, three of which occur in Australia in dramatically differing habitats. Mound-builders are unique in being the only birds that do not incubate their eggs using body heat; rather, a variety of naturally occurring sources of heat is exploited such as solar energy, geothermal and, most commonly, the heat generated by decomposing organic matter. This book shows how this remarkable adaptation influences every part of these birds lives, including the development of the embryo, the parentless life of the hatchlings, their social organisation and their survival."--Provided by publisher.

Construction cost inflation is at its highest level for decades. Global supply chains have been tested to the max as coronavirus and the war in Ukraine disrupted materials supply and raised energy costs, at a time when UK trade policy was in the midst of significant change. It’s been a perfect inflationary storm and prices of some materials have soared. AECOM’s overall building cost index has reached record highs. Demand is currently holding up but project viability is coming under increasing pressure and headwinds are strengthening. SPON’S ARCHITECTS’ AND BUILDERS’ PRICE BOOK 2023, compiled by AECOM, still provides the most accurate, detailed and professionally relevant construction price information for the UK. Its unique Tender Index, updated through the year (2015 = 100), gives an ongoing reality check and allows you to adjust for changing market conditions. Although it suits a wide range of project sizes, this is the only price book which sets out a detailed cost base for contracts exceeding £4,000,000 in value. Use the access code inside the front cover of the book to get set up with an ebook of this 2023 edition on the VitalSource® Bookshelf platform, available for access and use until the end of December 2023. As well as the most wide-ranging market testing exercise since the war elevated inflationary pressure, the following new items have been added: An update on the exceptional market conditions currently faced A discussion about recent changes to building regulations for non-domestic buildings Along with the standard features you have come to expect from SPON’S ARCHITECTS’ AND BUILDERS’ PRICE BOOK: 20,000 prices for the most frequently specified items, the majority with labour constants and detailed build-ups Hundreds of alternative materials prices for the more unusual items Detailed guidance on wage rates, daywork, cost limits and allowances, property insurance and professional fees, plus useful formulae, design criteria and trade association addresses Updates free of charge – see inside for registration details. Updates are available online at www.pricebooks.co.uk

The Mound Builders were some of the most advanced Native peoples to be encountered by European explorers. They made their homes in the part of North America along what is now known as the Mississippi River. Their complex, ancient culture is very impressive: the Mound Builders are credited with being the first group of people to rely on farming as a major source of food. This book features photographs of cool artifacts and critical thinking questions to engage readers as they draw their own conclusions while learning about the Mound Builders.

The launch in 1606 of HMS Dreadnought, the worlds's first all-big-gun battleship, rendered all existing battle fleets obsolete, but at the same time it wiped out the Royal Navy's numerical advantage, so expensively maintained for decades. Already locked in the same arms race with Germany, Britain urgently needed to build an entirely new battle fleet of these larger, more complex and more costly vessels In this she succeeded spectacularly; in little over a decade fifty such ships were completed, almost exactly double that of what Germany achieved It was only made possible by the companyÍs vast industrial nexus of shipbuilders, engine manufacturers, armament fleets and specialist armour producers, whose contribution to the Grand Feet is too often ignored. This heroic achievement, and how it was done, is the subject of this book. It charts the rise of the large industrial conglomerates that were key to this success, looks at the reaction to fast-moving technical changes, and analyses the politics of funding this vast national effort, both before and beyond the Great War. It also attempts to assess the true cost- and value- of the Grand Fleet in terms of the resources consumed. And finally, by way of contrast, it describes the effects of the post-war recession, industrial contraction, and the very different responses to rearmament in the run up to the Second World War.

SPON’S ARCHITECTS’ AND BUILDERS’ PRICE BOOK 2024, compiled by AECOM, still provides the most accurate, detailed and professionally relevant construction price information for the UK. Its unique Tender Index, updated through the year (2015 = 100), gives an ongoing reality check and allows you to adjust for changing market conditions. Although it suits a wide range of project sizes, this is the only price book which sets out a detailed cost base for contracts exceeding £4,000,000 in value. Use the access code inside the front cover of the book to get set up with an ebook of this 2024 edition on the VitalSource® Bookshelf platform, available for access and use until the end of December 2024. For the 2024 edition: All prices have been updated via comprehensive supplier engagement combined with AECOM’s market intelligence and a short-term inflationary forecast to ensure you have the most accurate cost data available Activity descriptions and build ups have been updated to reflect changes to standard specifications, Building Regulation changes and emerging practices and changing outputs Along with the standard features you have come to expect from SPON’S ARCHITECTS’ AND BUILDERS’ PRICE BOOK: 20,000 prices for the most frequently specified items, the majority with labour constants and detailed build-ups Hundreds of alternative materials prices for the more unusual items Detailed guidance on wage rates, daywork, cost limits and allowances, property insurance and professional fees, plus useful formulae, design criteria and trade association addresses Updates free of charge – see inside for registration details. Updates are available online at www.pricebooks.co.uk