Is the German city of Freiburg, the worlds greenest Eco City? Is the Passiv Haus the most effective and efficient Eco-Home? If so why are we not learning for eco-homes and eco-towns in the UK ?
Also, more on Eco Cities at Eco City 2008
Education Guardian reports today on the development of Acharacle School on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in Scotland. The report by Tariq Tahir, should make ‘essential ‘ reading for those involved in school design, construction and in community assets. In addition the school childrens blog ‘they are building outside our class‘ illustrates how construction can be a real educational benefit. One to RSS and watch develop.
And with no eco-bling, no greenwash, this is sustainable development…
The design, illustrating a sustainable future, for two or three generations is based on the use of mass-timber. Architect Howard Liddel from Gaia comments … “the modern school does what it says on the tin but what it has on the tin is a skull and crossbones, and these are toxic fumes. Modern buildings have huge amounts of formaldehyde coming out of the floor coverings, seat coverings, the walls run with condensation.”
“What this project is doing is ticking a lot of boxes in a very subtle manner. There’s no covering the building in ‘eco-bling’ – the gimmicks people put on to make buildings green. It’s really quite liberating for an architect.”
He promised that the new building would provide a much healthier working environment for the staff and 50-odd pupils. “We have an immense problem with toxic materials in buildings – we have 55,000 chemicals we use in building and only 3% of them have been tested for their effects on humans.
“The timber is very good at dealing with indoor moisture passively. In other words, you don’t need a ventilation system when you’ve actually got a material that’s dealing with the moisture. Continue reading
Shaun over at Capable People flagged up the changes to ISO 9001 on his blog over the weekend … Ah, here’s the inside information you’ve all been waiting for.
The changes are so not dramatic that the BSi are giving you … approximately one year after its publication to make any updates. There should not be any major disruption to your organization or your registration and your client manager will guide you through the process.
Sorry, but if the changes are minor, under whelming and very small, mainly relating to clarification, then why give a year to update, and why the need of a client manager to guide you? Is this a case of quality-wash? (We have white and green wash so what colour would quality wash be?)
Without ISO9001 moving forward in line with world of quality, which is now talking in terms of ‘experience’ rather than excellence, or just quality, can the standard remain at the core of the quality management systems paradigm? Or is its day over, and if so what will replace it?
maybe ISO 9004 …
ISO 9004 will undergo a more significant revision but not until end of 2009. According to the BSi the proposed updates focus on the economic sustainability of an organisation. The current suggested title is “Managing for sustainable success – a quality management approach.”
The cynic in me jumps at the sustainable success in the title – surely this will confuse with sustainability in the CSR, triple bottom line sense. Maybe thats the intention – time will tell – but we have to wait over a year to find out.
Meanwhile …
What can we learn from the fact that bidders are pulling out of the next carbon-challenge project at Peterborough? (Shortlisted bidders flee from EP flagship project)
Could it be English Partnerships are using a traditional, cost based procurement route? Even with PQQ and other ability or capability ‘gates’ selection may still be based on cost. This could lead to the all too familiar high price of low cost syndrome, but as long as cost remains the main selection paradigm we are not going to think differently about sustainability, carbon zero, social responsibility and all things green.
What an opportunity we are missing. Eco challenge projects must do the same for our industry as Building Down Barriers did for partnering, collaboration and supply chain management a decade or so ago.
Why cannot the builders, designers and others be selected on improvement criteria (- ability and solutions in reducing carbons to zero, in design and in the construction process) and of improvement in cost – yes reducing cost at the same time through waste and improvement initiatives.
The oft quoted 30% waste (time, materials, energy, value, effort) in construction could more than pay for carbon zero and sustainability improvements.
We have a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate and to learn that we can get close to zero carbon, level 6 and all that without adding costs to the overall project – if combined with basic and proven improvement approaches.
The alternative? continue with business as usual from a construction perspective, with the exception of integrating some natty designs and product solutions, and continue to moan about the costs …
school things on my radar this weekend…
In May the Lancashire Construction Best Practice Club will be held at Devonshire School, Blackpool an exemplar school that is a significant step forward in the design of learning environments for young children. Details of the event and site visit will be posted on the Events pages very soon
but … Building schools for the future is far too slow …. says the the NASUWT
Almost half of all teachers work in schools where water drips from the ceilings and windows do not fit properly, a study by the NASUWT concludes. A third complained of damp and slippery corridors, while one in five said lighting was poorly maintained. Most said they had to work in excessively hot or cold conditions and 30 per cent did not have easy access to drinking water.
Source: Scandal of Britain’s Crumbling Schools
What happened when Bright Green, an innovative green recruitment organisation brought together leaders from Britain’s top construction firms, sustainability consultancies, schools think-tanks with Kit Rogers, a teacher at Priestlands Secondary School, Hampshire, to discuss sustainability issues in schools?
Source: The Green School Dinner
For those who have asked “why blue” for the Architecture 2030 No Coal campaign, here is the response from Peter over at BYOBlue:
Blue is for clear, clean skies without coal!
The genesis of this theme also comes from the Earth Day Network “Sky Petition” which Architecture 2030 collaborated on, demanding that (the US Congress):
1. Impose an immediate moratorium on the building of all new conventional coal-fired power plants, and require a phase out of 30 percent of existing coal plants by 2030.
2. Require that all utilities generate 30 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030.
3. Require that all new buildings, renovations and developments immediately reduce fossil-fuel energy consumption by 50 percent, and that all new buildings become ‘carbon neutral’ by 2030.
4. Protect the poor and middle class from unfairly bearing the cost of solving the climate crisis.
(thanks Peter)
Meanwhile here in the UK, in Sundays Observer Climate Change special edited by Thom Yorke of Radiohead
Consider all this in the context of the built environment – the demand it places on energy from coal powered stations and the energy it wastes through poor design, construction, maintenance and the slow speed in which we seem to be moving to low carbon thinking …
On Earth Day 2008, 22nd April, Deepdale Farm North Norfolk will be hosting a whole range of eco friendly organisations for an Earth Day exhibition about the environment, including environmental technology installers, advisors, pressure groups and other related organisations.Whether you are looking for solar panels, wood chip boiler, LED lights, ground source heat pump, wind turbine, need some advice about how to green up your home or business, want to know more about organics or just fancy a look around Deepdale’s eco-friendly facilities, … check out the Deepdale web pages
If you are aware of any more UK based Earth Day events happening, please leave details in the comments below.
And if you are attending any Earth Day events – be sure to check out BYOBLue
Building Design asks the question is the code working and carries two viewpoints. Andy von Bradsky sees it as credible tool that will evolve and allow us to lead the field in zero carbon futures, whereas Mark Brinkley sees it as a graveyard of intentions.
The article finishes with a what do you think prompt…
I couldn’t resist replying, and include my post to that page below
Code level 6 is, as I have mentioned more than once, the wrong tool for the wrong job.
Why?
It doesn’t pick up on the wider sustainable communities issues, the triple bottom line and CSR issues that contribute to sustainable homes/developments, ie the eco-home within the context of an eco-place.
More importantly it does not address the construction process as Mark illustrates, allowing business as usual for the builders, other than integrating or assembly new bits of building kit. (I was not surprised to hear that the Hanham Hall project will not be monitoring or attempting to improve the carbon footprint of the construction process)
I also question whether we (the UK) are indeed leading the field in zero carbon futures. Are we not just waiting to be led by legislation, and then complaining when its too hard, too expensive, too different ? (as illustrated by bidders pulling out of the next eco-challenge project at Peterborough). I sense elsewhere they are just getting on and doing it – because it makes good sense, commercially, for image, and for the planet.
Time for a re-think on this one. But then thats what targets are for – to learn and improve.
Postscript:
Jonathan Poritt’s view point on this is well worth a read – as he says, Continue reading
Continuing the coal theme (seam?) … for an astute insight to the coal issue in the UK read George Monbiot’s article Burnt Out, on his blog and published in todays Guardian.
Wear BLUE for Earth Day 2008 to VOTE for No Coal
This blog has commented through many posts on coal, on its significant contribution to carbon footprints, on the relationship with the built environment (coal – safe cigarettes for the built environment) and on the recently approved new coal power station in the UK.
But did you know that the UK Eon power station, the first for 20 years, will add 5% to the UK’s carbon footprint, and that the proposed magic cure of carbon capture, when viable, will take some 40% of the energy proposed just to drive the capture application. (source – Guardian Environmental weekly podcast 12/03/08).
isite has long supported Architecture 2030, a movement in the US that makes the link between design / buildings in use and energy production from coal.
isite is proud to have been asked to promote Architecture 2030’s rallying call to everyone to participate in the BYOBlue campaign by calling on everyone to wear BLUE during Earth Day 2008 to signify a vote for NO COAL. (April 20th)
More details can be found at www.byoblue.org and in Ed Mazria’s article posted at Grist (here).
Details on any UK BYOBlue activities will be posted here.
Fairsnape 