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Climate resilient infrastructure: Preparing for a changing climate
Posted on: 10 July 2011
By: mackene
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This report identifies significant opportunities for contractors in retrofitting old infrastructure, as well as developing technologies for use on the projects of the future. The cross-government report outlines the challenges to the transport, energy, water and ICT sectors. The report also sets out what action needs to be taken by infrastructure owners and operators, regulators, insurers and Government. Actions identified in the report to prepare infrastructure for a changing climate include:
- Owners and operators of infrastructure should include measures to improve climate resilience in the maintenance schedules for their assets, and ensure climate impacts are considered in the design of new infrastructure;
- Potential infrastructure investors should demand more information from companies on the climate risks to their assets and measures taken to reduce them as part of their ‘due diligence’ processes;
- Professional bodies should consider if their members have the right skills to help prepare infrastructure for climate change; and
- Engineers should look to develop new materials, techniques and designs to improve the resilience of infrastructure projects to severe weather.
A synthesis of the independent studies that the project commissioned has also been published.
Impact study on developing local capacity to reduce vulnerability and poverty: Disaster risk reduction in central Vietnam
Posted on: 10 July 2011
By: mackene
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This report presents findings of a study commissioned by Development Workshop France (DWF) with support from the Building and Social Housing Foundation to assess the impact of the DWF project in Vietnam to promote the prevention of typhoon damage to housing and public buildings over the last ten years. Conducted in five communities in central Vietnam, the study shows that DWF principles of safer construction have achieved social and official appropriation based on their effective mitigation of the impact of typhoons and this has led to widespread adoption.
Financing the resilient city
Posted on: 10 July 2011
By: mackene
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The ICLEI white paper on Financing the Resilient City has just been launched at the Resilient Cities 2011 world congress held in Bonn, Germany on 3-5 June 2011. This report provides a conceptual framework for better understanding how to integrate climate and other risk reduction measures in urban areas and systems. Here resilience is offered as an economic and performance model with far reaching implications. The report calls for more locally responsive climate financing investment strategies and instruments. It also sets the scene for and provides a valuable contribution to the ongoing international discussions on climate financing for adaptation; how it can be mobilized, leveraged and innovated for the local level.
State of the Environment Report for London 2011
Posted on: 8 July 2011
By: mackene
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This report looks at how London’s environment has changed over the last 10 years, and what challenges the city still faces. This is the first joint State of the Environment report for London, produced by the Greater London Authority, Environment Agency, Natural England and Forestry Commission. The report looks at how the environment has changed over the last decade using a series of environmental indicators, highlighting the improvements that have been made and the challenges we still face. This environmental health check has shown that despite a rising population and challenges from climate change, the quality of London’s environmental is improving. In particular, there have been significant improvements in waste and recycling, public transport, wildlife habitats and urban greening. For the first time, the evidence base used to determine change over time has been published alongside the report, on the London Datastore website.
Implications of the Affordable Rent Model in London
Posted on: 8 July 2011
By: mackene
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This report from the London Assembly’s Planning and Housing Committee sets out a number of issues relating to implementing the Affordable Rent Model in London. The new model gives housing associations the flexibility to raise rents for new tenants to provide funding for new affordable homes now that government grant has been reduced. The Committee found that raising enough income through higher rents to build new affordable homes and setting rents at levels people can actually afford will be particularly difficult in London, where rents and need are already so high.
Green streets, Strong communities
Posted on: 8 July 2011
By: mackene
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Communities working together are more likely to encourage reduced domestic energy use and increase the popularity of renewable energy technologies than individual green pioneers or even government campaigns. The finding comes from IPPR’s independent assessment of the British Gas Green Streets community challenge, an initiative which saw 14 communities receive funding and expertise to install micro-generation and energy efficiency measures in households and community buildings.
A guide for assisted living: Towards LifeHome 21
Posted on: 8 July 2011
By: mackene
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This RIBA/BRE Guide on Assisted Living aims to provide authoritative guidance for architects, other design professionals and many other interest groups on the appropriate design of new and refurbished homes to create the right sort of detailing and services both within the home and adjacent to the home that will enable those living with long term chronic conditions to remain in their homes and to lead independent lives for as long as possible. Creating flexible and adaptable homes will include the installation of digital services to create a safe and comfortable internal environment and, of course, to support the occupants’ health and wellbeing and their contacts with friends, family, carers and the wider community. The first section addresses building fabric and space issues, while the second looks at approaches to the integration of digital infrastructure into homes and small communities such as residential blocks. Presentations from the report launch, held on 30 June 2011, are available here.
The natural choice
Posted on: 7 July 2011
By: mackene
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England’s natural environment will be better protected, restored and improved according to new plans published by Defra. The proposals set out a detailed programme of action to repair damage done to the environment in the past, and urges everyone to get involved in helping nature to flourish at all levels – from neighbourhoods to national parks. The proposals outlined in the first White Paper on the natural environment in 20 years, are directly linked to the research in the National Ecosystem Assessment published last week that showed the strong economic arguments for safeguarding and enhancing the natural environment. The White Paper also acts on the recommendations of ‘Making Space for Nature’, a report into the state of England’s wildlife sites, led by Professor John Lawton and published in September 2010, which showed that England’s wildlife sites are fragmented and not able to respond to the pressures of climate change and other pressures we put on our land.
Re-imaging Garden Cities for the 21st Century: Benefits and lessons in bringing forward comprehensively planned new communities
Posted on: 6 July 2011
By: mackene
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A new report by the Town and Country Planning Association calls for Britain to re-discover its planning heritage in creating high quality, beautiful and inclusive places. It argues that we must re-discover and re-imagine the garden city principles if we are to overcome the stigma of building new communities that has come from too many poor developments with inadequate infrastructure provision.
Warmer Bath: a guide to improving the energy efficiency of traditional homes in the city of Bath
Posted on: 6 July 2011
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The city of Bath, which is a world heritage site, hopes to show preserving heritage and tackling climate change are not mutually exclusive and could be used in other cities. The guide is the final product of the Low Carbon Bath project, a collaboration between the Bath Preservation Trust and Bristol’s Centre for Sustainable Energy, funded by the government’s Department for Communities and Local Government. It aims to make Bath’s historic buildings more energy efficient.
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