Archive for December, 2006
Xmas shutdown - back in the New Year
In the grand tradition of the construction industry, I’m hanging up my blogging boots for the festive period and having a Xmas shutdown. See you all in the New Year.
Allerton Bywater Summit House
::via English Partnerships
The Summit House at Allerton Bywater Millenium Community, a local project, has been opened by Yvette Cooper.
The Summit House was first built for national regeneration agency English Partnerships to display at the Sustainable Communities Summit, held in Manchester last year. There it was used to demonstrate how a high-quality, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly home [...]
How to deal with corridors under Part L1A (and IES software approved)
Additional guidance has been published on the NCM FAQ’s page regarding how to deal with shared spaces within blocks of flats using iSBEM:
Each flat is a separate dwelling and must be assessed using SAP (the relevant guidance is in ADL1A). However, the common areas in the flats are not classified as dwellings. As stated in ADL1A paragraph 14, [...]
Stuck for content for your newsletter?
Vilnus Vesma (who I mentioned previously here) has some great resources on his website including the Reditorial, which as long as you credit him, you can recycle the information from into newsletters.
He also has some cartoons, penned by himself including the one at the top of this post.
And finally, a news page which has some [...]
Redefining ‘green’
One of my favourite books of 2006 was ‘The World is Flat‘ by Thomas L. Friedman. It’s a long read at nearly 600 pages, but worth it. The guy can write (he’s got a Pullitzer) and puts forward a convincing case for the flattening of the world and some of the the benefits [...]
More reaction to CSH (Code for Sustainable Homes)
The general flavour of reaction seems to be to welcome the CSH, but with many calls to address existing housing stock.
Friends of the Earth agree that the Code should be mandatory - I think it will be by April 2008.
Places for People believe it should apply to all housing. I would agree in principle, but more research [...]
Finally - The Code for Sustainable Homes is published
It’s been a long time coming (public consultation on the code was between 4 December 2005 and 6 March 2006) and it won’t be enforced until April 2007, but today the Code for Sustainable Homes (pdf, 28 pages) was published. Full technical guidance on how to comply will be issued in April.
Some reaction has [...]
Yorkshire Forward podcasting on Sustainable Development!
There are virtually no podcasts out there which overlap with this blog. (Give it 12 months and things might be different). But I have come across this 48:39 min podcast from Yorkshire Forward featuring firstly George Martin from Wilmott Dixon, who I saw do a similar speech back in June. At approximately 21:14 Andrew [...]
Phase 2 of the DTI’s Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) opens
::via GNN:
The next step in the Government’s drive to increase microgeneration begins today as Phase 2 of the DTI’s Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) opens.
About time too - this has been expected since April. It is the successor to the old Clear Skies program. Notably there is an approved list of 7 suppliers for the [...]
‘Legacy and accountability’ keywords for ODA
In an attempt to avoid the mistakes of some of the Millenium Projects (remember the Dome…) and the fiasco that still rumbles on (Wembley) the ODA are pushing legacy and accountability as key watchwords. They have launched a blog and released some video showing how they are ‘on track’ (Real Player, Window Media Player and [...]
