Although I have learnt about a lot of different sports during our action-packed summer, I remain totally clueless when it comes to motor racing, in particular Formula 1…
It is, however, frequently discussed by colleagues in the office and the big gossip this week has surrounded a man by the name of Adrian Newey – a lot of gossip in fact for somebody who isn’t even an F1 driver! I now know of course that he is a very successful racing car designer who has recently agreed to join the Aston Martin team from Red Bull (I thought that was a drink…). To summarise briefly, Newey-designed cars have won 13 World Drivers’ championships, with his first coming in 1992 when he was just 33 and his most recent in 2023 at the age of 64. During that time the sport has seen a considerable amount of change, yet here is an individual who has demonstrated superbly an ability to adapt to changing technology, methods and regulations – a very useful skill to have I think we can all agree.
If you have been well tuned into your telecommunications news you may well know all about ‘The Big Switch-Off’, that is the switch-off of the Public Switched Telephone Network, which will be completely closed down by January 2027. This means telephone landlines for homes and businesses will no longer be able to run off the old copper wire network and will need to be switched to a fully digital network that uses Internet Protocol across a fibre based service. In a nutshell, BT says the current system is old and difficult to maintain, and that what is essentially a 20th century technology cannot keep up with the demands of 21st century communications.
Although a lot of us now use smartphones, or communicate remotely on platforms like Microsoft Teams or Zoom, many households and businesses still rely on landlines for their phone systems and will therefore need to be updated. If any readers are unaware of all of this and have started to panic, don’t worry. There is plenty of time to take the necessary action and there are plenty of signposts on the Internet to help, including the BT and Openreach websites.
Returning to my opening paragraph it is just another example of using new technology and adapting to the times. Smart technology, which is one of our special features this month, is playing a crucial part in adapting buildings, old and new, to modern demands. Smart technology can be used for an array of building functions and in this issue we have articles discussing, among other things, solar-compatible EV chargers and centrally controlled smart heating systems.
On a final note, I’d like to wish Carhartt a very happy anniversary. The workwear brand is celebrating an incredible 135 years in the business and you can read all about the company’s evolution on page 38. Enjoy the issue!
– Tracey Rushton-Thorpe
Catch up on previous ‘Editor’s Viewpoint’ here
