Delivering buildings that are truly fit for purpose. Liverpool, 11-12 April 2013

Posted on: 24 April 2013
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This technical symposium, organised by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, aimed to highlight the latest practice and research and provide a glimpse of future developments across the world with regard to reducing the energy dependence of buildings whilst maintaining lifelong performance. Papers and presentations are available online.

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Building producers in a resource efficient world. London, 17 April 2013

Posted on: 24 April 2013
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UCL’s Institute for Sustainable Resources, in partnership with the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP), hosted this seminar for policy makers construction professionals, product manufacturers and suppliers. As the most significant consumer of the Earth’s natural resources, the construction sector will need to get ‘more from less’ if it is to respond to the increasing pressures of cost, availability and environmental impact. The ASBP believes that this will require a move away from commodities, generic materials to a value added model, which encourages and rewards product innovation and intelligent design, for both resource efficiency, as well as building performance. In this seminar, a panel discussed physical resource limits, options for reduction and reuse and examples of current best practice and how it can be encouraged. Presentations are available online.

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The Low Carbon Routemap for the Built Environment

Posted on: 15 April 2013
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The Green Construction Board has developed the Low Carbon Routemap for the Built Environment to serve as a visual tool enabling stakeholders to understand the policies, actions and key decision points required to achieve the UK Government target of 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment against 1990 levels by 2050. The Routemap also sets out actions, together with key performance indicators that can be used to deliver and measure progress in meeting the 2050 target. The Routemap covers both infrastructure and buildings sectors, and addresses segments of operational and capital (embodied) carbon emissions.

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Sustainability: Improving performance in existing buildings

Posted on: 11 April 2013
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This report, available from the RICS Bookshop, outlines a road map for integrating sustainability into existing buildings and aims to assist building surveyors in explaining the appropriate options available to clients. The guidance covers the following areas: initial appraisal; metrics, benchmarking and standards; concept design; detailed design and implementation; and completion (in use). Price £20

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Sustainable refurbishment: a toolkit for going green

Posted on: 10 April 2013
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This guide is designed for building owners who may be contemplating renovating their property, either in part or in whole, who want to be able to improve the environmental performance of their building but are not quite sure where to start or what to prioritise first. While this toolkit is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to retrofitting your property, we hope that both you and your appointed consultants will find it helpful in assessing your options and opportunities.

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CEEQUAL Sustainability Assessment and Awards Scheme 2013

Posted on: 8 April 2013
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CEEQUAL is the evidence-based Sustainability Assessment and Awards Scheme for civil engineering, infrastructure, landscaping and the public realm, and celebrates the achievement of high environmental and social performance. CEEQUAL’s Outstanding Achievement Awards were presented on 11 March 2013. The Outstanding Achievement Awards acknowledge projects or contracts that have demonstrated pinnacle best-practice performance in any of the twelve sections or sub-sections of their CEEQUAL Assessment. Details of winners, and highly commended, are available under the following sections: Project and contract management; Land use; Landscape; Ecology and biodiversity; Historic environment; Water resources and the water environment; Energy and carbon; material use; Waste management; Transport; Effects on neighbours; Relations with local community and other stakeholders.

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Low energy case studies

Posted on: 8 April 2013
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AECB, the sustainable building association, was commissioned by the Zero Carbon Hub to produce a series of four case studies which are now available on the AECB website.

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NBS Videos from Ecobuild 2013

Posted on: 4 April 2013
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During Ecobuild 2013, NBS (National Building Specification) hosted a series of BITESized talks in its auditorium. These 15 minute talks were delivered by a host of leading authors and high profile guests, covering a wide range of topic areas such as the power of CPD, sustainable design, sustainable construction, BREEAM, careers advice, and a large number of items talks on BIM.

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Mainstreaming Innovation

Posted on: 3 April 2013
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A consortium of nine Scottish universities, led by Glasgow Caledonian University, will deliver a joint one-year pilot project “Mainstreaming Innovation”. The project aims to reduce carbon emissions through research and application of integrated sustainable infrastructure in the existing built environment that could be replicated on existing and new building estates (e.g. housing, education, healthcare and other building estates). It is a follow-up of the project CIC Start Online whose focus was on sustainable building design and refurbishment. The ouptuts of the CIC Start Online project can be searched through Knowledge Base on the project website which will remain accessible. The project will support development, testing and application of innovative low carbon technologies for improving: landscaping and biodiversity; energy efficiency in existing buildings; energy generation from renewables, storage and decentralized systems; water harvesting, saving, recycling and flood prevention; waste reduction, reuse and waste-to energy; low and zero carbon transport; and ICT/BMS systems for monitoring, reporting and management of low carbon infrastructure.

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Scientific support to EU growth and jobs: Efficient buildings, vehicles and equipment. Brussels, 26 March 2013

Posted on: 3 April 2013
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The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has launched an initiative on scientific support to growth and jobs, starting with a conference dedicated to “Scientific support to EU growth and jobs: Efficient buildings, vehicles and equipment”. Europe faces unprecedented challenges, and the need to return to economic growth and job creation is critical to recovery from the current crisis. European efficient buildings, vehicles and equipment are three key sectors that present a real opportunity to boost Europe’s competitiveness and contribute to economic development while promoting long-term sustainability at the same time. They have the potential to trigger investment and innovation, leading to economic growth and jobs. However, on the way to shifting to a more efficient approach, there is still a need for additional scientific support from the public as well as the private sector. The main aim of this event was to identify where scientific support is needed.  Presentations are available online.

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