Four degrees of preparation: Greater Manchester plans for adaptation

Posted on: 13 June 2012
By: mackene
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This website houses the reports, presentations and papers which are the outcome of the EcoCities research programme to date. Research is organised into five themes: Climate change recent trends and future projections; Impacts of weather and climate; Vulnerability to climate change impacts; Adaptation responses; Scenarios and future perspectives. At each theme page, you will find an overview and the research outputs related to that theme. Related resources from outside of the programme which may be of use are also included. Each section also makes available a link to the GRaBS spatial mapping tool, back issues of the EcoCities Blueprint newsletter and associated media coverage.

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Understanding the second hand market for shared ownership properties,

Posted on: 12 June 2012
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This report, published by the University of Cambridge for housing association Thames Valley Housing, argues that shared ownership is a long term-tenure for the majority of households involved. Drawing on a survey of housing associations, focus groups with shared owners and interviews with mortgage lenders and other stakeholders, this report examines the functioning of the second-hand market for shared ownership homes in England. The research also examines the practice of ‘staircasing’, whereby a shared owner may purchase additional shares of their home.

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EEA Signals 2012: Building the future we want

Posted on: 12 June 2012
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Signals is an annual publication from the European Environment Agency which aims to explain complex environmental issues for a non-expert audience. The 2012 edition explores the environmental impacts of our consumption and production patterns, and ways these can be changed to reduce their effect on the environment.

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Unstructured Sitelines

Posted on: 12 June 2012
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The green cultural network, Fourth Door, has re-launched its main web-magazine, Unstructured, increasing its web-presence, and with the journal, Sitelines, a specific focus on sustainable architecture and the built environment. Sitelines highlights sustainability and its cultural, social and political implications and contexts, in contrast to the more technical approaches often found across contemporary architectural media. The latest issue also contains a special Passivhaus section.

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The Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation

Posted on: 12 June 2012
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The Government has set out secondary legislation that will give industry the green light to bring the Green Deal energy efficiency market into operation, alongside measures to strengthen consumer protection, reduce industry burdens, and implement the Energy Company Obligation (ECO).

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Literature on place branding and marketing

Posted on: 12 June 2012
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This blog provides a short listing of articles on place branding and marketing.

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Land leverage dynamics in property markets

Posted on: 12 June 2012
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This project examines the Land Leverage Hypothesis through a detailed study of data from the city of Perth, Western Australia. Through the land leverage framework, this research paper examines property assets as a form of composite asset where major components of value are commonly classified as comprising a land and an improvements (structural) component as relevant proportions of the total value of the asset. The term, Land Leverage, reflects the proportion of total property value embodied in the value of land as distinct from improvements.

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Housing in transition: Understanding the dynamics of tenure change

Posted on: 11 June 2012
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The first part of this report looks back at tenure change between 1993/94 and 2009/10, using the Government’s Survey of English Housing and its successor the English Housing Survey. This historical look breaks the data down by tenure, region, household type and income. The second part projects trends forward to 2025, and it explores how tenure structures may develop under different economic scenarios. It reports on the core findings based on two scenarios, a continuing weak economy and a cautiously slow economic expansion from the current low base.

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Visit Suffolk: Business Confidence Monitor

Posted on: 11 June 2012
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A survey conducted to gauge the confidence of the tourism industry in Suffolk has shown that despite wet weather and cautious patterns of consumer spending, 23 per cent of businesses are feeling optimistic about the next three months, and 45 per cent are expecting to perform about the same as last year. 37 tourism businesses were surveyed in May 2012 for Visit Suffolk’s Business Confidence Monitor. Whilst 67 per cent admitted that visitor numbers had decreased against the same time last year, businesses were being proactive to keep their offering strong, with 82 per cent making site improvements and 63 per cent increasing PR and marketing spend.

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New orders in the construction industry: 1st quarter 2012

Posted on: 11 June 2012
By: mackene
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Information bulletin of the latest quarterly estimates of new construction orders and some back data. Contains new construction orders (current price and constant price seasonally adjusted) broken down by sector and, in current prices, by region and by type of work.

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