Planning guidance for housing in rural areas

Posted on: 15 January 2013
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Slides have been made available from MADE’s seminar held in December 2012 about Paragraph 55 of the National Planning Policy Framework (formerly known as PPS7). This concerns the granting of planning for isolated new homes in the countryside.

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UK Real Estate Predictions 2013

Posted on: 14 January 2013
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The latest Real Estate Predictions report from Deloitte argues that the recovery will not be seen in the data until later in the year, and that this return to rising values will mark the bottom of the current cycle.

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Planning and Sustainability Topical Survey

Posted on: 14 January 2013
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This report collates the response of a nationwide survey conducted by CarbonPlan in the summer of 2012 which considered questions related to the planning policy landscape and how it has been altered by the implementation of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the Localism Act. The survey focused on sustainable development, with particular attention given to community led planning, sustainability led target setting for new build developments and environmental assessment methods such as BREEAM and the Code for Sustainable Homes. The survey was sent to County Council and Local Planning Authority (LPA) Planning Departments across England and was predominately (87%) completed by members of staff who work in Planning Policy roles. Participants were asked to answer questions anonymously, in their professional capacity and with regards to the Local Authority they work for.

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Planning Act 2008: Guidance on the pre-application process

Posted on: 14 January 2013
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This guidance sets out the requirements and procedures for the pre-application process and consultation for major infrastructure projects.

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The IFC/COBie Report 2012

Posted on: 14 January 2013
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The Government is committed to Building Information Modelling (BIM) and the use of open-standard data so that the construction industry can deliver greater value and be more efficient. The open-standard data format required for level 2 BIM is defined in the Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBie) data schema. COBie allows information about buildings to be organised, documented and shared in a standardised way. It is particularly helpful to those who come to manage a building. The study wanted to test whether the buildingSMART IFC file format was capable of supporting the creation of COBie datasets. This report presents the outcomes of the trial.

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Thriving or surviving: European Cities Hotel Forecast 2013

Posted on: 14 January 2013
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In this second edition, PricewaterhouseCoopers provide its outlook for 19 of Europe’s most important gateway cities, representing 650,000 hotel rooms and over 85 million international arrivals. The report includes: a review of 2012; the outlook for 2013; the latest trends, issues and challenges for the sector over the next 12 months; the latest economic, travel and supply outlook; and individual city by city forecasts including key hotel KPIs and long term trend data, supply outlook and opportunities in 2013.

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‘Fortress Britain’: high security, insecurity and the challenge of preventing harm

Posted on: 11 January 2013
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Secured by Design is a crime-prevention initiative based on the principles of “designing out crime” launched in 1989. This study, published by the New Economics Foundation think-tank, argues that the application of Secured by Design standards can “create very high security environments which can appear threatening”. According to the report, there is “scant evidence” that the spread of gating, CCTV and defensible space strategies create safe, cohesive and trusting communities.

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Overseas Travel and Tourism: 3rd quarter 2012

Posted on: 11 January 2013
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The Office for National Statistics has published the latest tourism statistics for the 3^rd quarter of 2012, drawn from the International Passenger Survey. This quarter saw the UK host the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics. Estimates conducted by The Office for National Statistics are that a total of 470,000 overseas residents visited the UK with a primary purpose relating to the Olympics or Paralympics (to watch, work or participate) during this period and a further 215,000 people attended a ticketed Olympics or Paralympics event although their main purpose for visit was not related to the Olympics. Despite this inflow of Olympics-related visits less people visited the UK in quarter 3. The total of 8.9 million visits (for any purpose) to the UK by overseas residents was 3% lower than in the same period in 2011.

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Seeds of knowledge: Contributing to climate change solutions

Posted on: 11 January 2013
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The United Nations Environment Programme has published a booklet of 24 case studies from 17 countries on grassroots solutions to the impacts of climate change. With its focus on developing and emerging economies, the publication aims to show that grassroots, community-led responses are already playing an essential role in building resilience to climate change across all regions of the world.

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ClimateXChange Adaptation Briefs

Posted on: 11 January 2013
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The ClimateXChange, which provides advice and expertise on climate change-related research, has published five new briefs for better adaptation, written in response to questions raised by the Scottish Government. These include key adaptation concepts as well as looking at adaptation processes.

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