Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties of the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north-west by Greater London, to the west by Surrey, and to the south-west by East Sussex. The county also shares boundaries with Essex along the River Thames’s estuary (which is linked by land via High Speed and the Dartford Crossing) and the French department of Pas-de-Calais via the Channel Tunnel. Maidstone is the county capital.
Following the withdrawal of the Romans, Germanic tribes, most notably the Jutes, settled in Kent, making it one of the first British territories to be settled by them. The Archbishops of Canterbury have had their seat at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England’s oldest cathedral, since the 6th century, when Saint Augustine started the conversion of England to Christianity. Rochester Cathedral is England’s second-oldest cathedral, located in the county of Medway. Kent, which lies between London and the Strait of Dover, which divides England from mainland Europe, has seen violence and diplomacy, including the Battle of Britain during World War II and the Leeds Castle peace talks in 1978 and 2004.
Throughout most of its history, England relied on the county’s ports to supply warships; the Cinque Ports in the 12th–14th centuries and Chatham Dockyard in the 16th–20th centuries were particularly important. In clear weather, Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover have excellent views of France. The North Downs and the Greensand Ridge run the length of the county, and most of the county’s 26 castles are located in the valleys in between and to the south.
Kent is known as “The Garden of England” because of its abundance of fruit-growing and hop-growing areas.
The economy of Kent is diverse, with major industries such as haulage, logistics, and tourism. The mining of aggregate building materials, printing, and scientific analysis are all industries in northwest Kent. In Kent’s industrial history, coal mining has also played a role. Kent is a high-income county since it is located within the London commuter belt and has good transportation links to the capital and the surrounding continent. The North Downs and the High Weald, which make up 28% of the county, are both designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty building merchants kent .
Building materials have evolved over time, from being natural to being more man-made and composite;
- Biodegradable to imperishable;
- from indigenous (local) to being shipped globally;
- from repairable to disposable;
and from being chosen for enhanced fire protection and strengthened seismic resistance. The initial and long-term economic, ecological, energy, and social costs of building materials appear to rise as a result of these trends.
Costs to the economy The selling price is the initial economic cost of construction materials. This is frequently the driving force behind material selection decisions. People often weigh energy savings or material longevity when deciding whether or not to pay a higher initial cost in exchange for a lower lifetime cost. For example, an asphalt shingle roof is less expensive to build than a metal roof, but the metal roof would last longer, resulting in a lower lifetime cost per year.
Some materials may require more maintenance than others, and the costs of maintaining those materials may also affect the final decision. If the building is damaged, such as by fire or storm, or if the material is not as durable as advertised, there are risks to consider when calculating the lifetime cost of a material. The cost of materials should be considered when deciding whether or not to take the risk of purchasing combustible materials in order to extend the lifespan. “If it has to be finished, it has to be done well,” as the saying goes.
Costs for the environment Article in its entirety: The environmental impact Pollution has both macro and microeconomic costs. The macro-environmental pollution caused by extraction industries such as mining, petroleum, and forestry, which are used to make construction materials, causes environmental damage at their source as well as during the transportation of raw materials, manufacturing, product transportation, retailing, and installation. The off-gassing of construction materials in the building, also known as indoor air pollution, is an example of a micro component of pollution. Building products on the Red List have been identified as potentially hazardous. Also included is the carbon footprint, which is the cumulative amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced during the material’s lifetime.
The reuse, recycling, and disposal of construction waste are all included in a life-cycle study. Green building and sustainable development are two principles of construction that account for the ecological economics of building materials. The cost of energy The amount of energy used to manufacture, deliver, and install the material is included in the initial energy costs. The long-term energy cost is the cost of continuing to generate and supply energy to the building for its usage, repair, and eventual removal on an economic, ecological, and social level. The energy used to extract, create, deliver, and instal the materials is referred to as the structure’s initial embodied energy. The use, repair, reuse/recycling/disposal of the building materials themselves, as well as how the materials and design help reduce the structure’s lifetime energy consumption, all contribute to the lifetime embodied energy.
Injury and welfare of those manufacturing and transporting the products, as well as possible health issues for building residents if there are problems with the building biology, are all social costs. As manufacturing facilities close, employment, expertise, and self-sufficiency are lost, and the cultural dimensions of where new facilities are opened, globalisation has had a huge effect on people. The social costs of global building material production include aspects of fair trade and human rights.
In a brush shack, a party of Mohaves.
Brush structures, which are entirely made of plant pieces, were used by primitive cultures such as Native Americans and African pygmies. Similar to a beaver’s cabin, these are made mainly of branches, twigs, and leaves, as well as bark. Wickiups, lean-tos, and other terms were used to describe these structures.
The wattle and daub method is a variation on the brush building concept, in which clay soils or cow dung are used to fill in and cover a woven brush frame. The structure gains more thermal mass and strength as a result of this. One of the oldest construction methods is wattle and daub. Wattle and daub is used as a non-load bearing wall between the timber frames in many older timber frame buildings.
