zero carbon ‘floating’ development for Preston

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Green, innovative and zero carbon project development on our doorstep in Preston, Lancs, !

The RIBA have recently awarded a zero carbon design as the visitor center at the new Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Nature Reserve in Preston, to regenerate a former quarry site into a major visitor attraction.

The project called “A Floating World”, consists of zero-carbon floating buildings (the name coming from the fact that the zero-carbon buildings will be built on an island of floating pontoons)

Adam Khan Architects, won the RIBA design competition to work on the ‘jewel in the crown’ of Britain’s largest eco-regeneration scheme. The project is zero-carbon in both use and production, with materials of low embodied energy – thatch, willow, timber, with off-site prefabrication and on-site energy generation and waste treatment.

Floating world will feature cafe, shops, gallery, education areas and meeting rooms and is part of the £59 million Newlands Scheme, a project that will turn 900 hectares to community woodland and green space.

On announcement of the winner, Peter White, Head of Infrastructure & Development at the Northwest Regional Development Agency said:

“This site has the potential to become an important visitor attraction for the region, building on its rich natural assets and impressive biodiversity. The Agency is supporting its development through Newlands, a wide reaching scheme that aims to reclaim brownfield land and transform it into thriving community open spaces, and has so far invested £800,000 in Brockholes. The chosen design will not only create an inspirational open space for the local community to enjoy but will also enhance a key gateway into Lancashire and attract further investment into the area. We look forward to working with our partners to progress these plans.”

More on this as the project develops …

can data centers power all homes …

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How green is your data center? Stumbled upon an amazing post and comments over at The It Sanctuary

According to figures from IT market research company Forrester Research, a data centre with 2,500 servers – relatively small compared to many out there – will devour enough electricity over the course of one month to power 420,000 homes for a year. *

That’s bad news for the environment – and it also takes its toll on a company’s bottom line. Analysts at IT market analyst firm Gartner calculate that energy expenditure typically accounts for about 10 per cent of the IT budget, and is likely to rise to as much as 50 per cent over the next few years, as energy prices continue to soar.

As the comments on the post hint at – how well is IT covered within an organisations ISO 14001 scope, impact and assessment exercises? Or even within their CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility remits? With something like 60% of a buildings / organisations energy requirement being IT related, it needs to be a central theme.

But its the ability of data center energy to power homes that needs urgent investigation. If these numbers are correct thats a staggeringly high, unbelievably high, number of homes and would resolve the domestic electricity demand at a stroke. I will check the research and invite Forrester Research to comment here,

a second life transition town

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Just joined a transition town group within second life:

a group for like minded people that are adopting a Transition Model (in RL or SL) for responding to the twin challenges of peak oil and climate change.

to develop a framework for the 2021 Energy Descent Action Plan, providing information and ultimately a 2021 sim city, a model town living an oil-free sustainable manner.

isite radar 30 april

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Prime Minister, Gordon Brown MP has become the latest politician to give his support to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) “Building a Greener Britain” campaign. (press release)

Homeowners are not informed or prepared for the lifestyle changes needed to live in zero carbon homes, according to research launched by the NHBC Foundation. (April 2008)  The report, Zero carbon: what does it mean for homeowners and housebuilders? identifies the attitudes of homeowners and builders towards the 2016 zero carbon agenda and the Code for Sustainable Homes. And draws the obvious conclusions – home owners dont want zero carbon, 100% sealed homes, and, builders think they will be too expensive.

Raven Housing Trust, housing association,  the first inhabited flats in the UK built to “level 5” on the Code for Sustainable Homes scorecard.

new online construction carbon calculator

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A pre-design carbon calculator has been launched in a bid to boost the green credentials of the construction industry. The free online tool will allow the industry to evaluate sustainable options at the earliest stages of construction and covers various building sectors. Developed by Faithful+Gould, the tool will ensure costs associated with carbon saving techniques are properly budgeted for at the very start of a project.

There is also a more detailed Excel version for download

more information at Faithful+Gould,

isite will use and review shortly.

isite in second life

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To enable the second life discussions around isite themes of built environment sustainability, isite now has a new meeting facility within second life courtesy of the Public Works Island.

In addition to adhoc discussions with second life friends from around the world, it is planned to hold structured, but still informal events, exchanging ideas and approaches to sustainability in its very widest sense.

Join us in second life – we are here

To join Second Life through the Public Works Group

ecological cities

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Now the Eco City World Summit 2008 has concluded there is a rich source of live blog reports, reviews and videos over at the Eco City blog.   Go view and mine the collective source of global views on the future of cities

If you take away one thing from the summit : the ecological city message is summed up in the BBC Interview on the World service with Richard Register.

Other recommendations:

worldchanging ecocity highlights

Holly Pearson live blogged:  An incredible assemblage of the world’s brightest minds that are working to build greener cities and towns gathered for three and a half days of presentations, discussions, city tours, arts & culture, and celebration. As an urban planner for whom the sustainable cities movement is not only a passion but also a raison d’etre, professionally speaking, I found the conference to be nothing short of mind-blowing.

A Convenient Truth: Urban Solutions from Curitiba, Brazil

documentary focusing on innovations in transportation, recycling, social benefits including affordable housing, seasonal parks, and the processes that transformed Curitiba into one of the most livable cities in the world.

Brent Toderian – City of Vancouver’s Director of City Planning,  many projects related to the 2010 Winter Olympics, and visioning/CityPlans, including the new “EcoDensity” – the most livable city in the world, removing car facilities from the city, through a travel plan than favours walking.

Jaime Lerner Key Note

odd link

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After mentioning Thoreau … yesterday

From Torontoist:

“This year, a more cryptic stencil has appeared on the Humber Bay Arch Bridge, boldly proclaiming “ISBN 486-28495-6” for all to see and ponder. This International Standard Book Number turns out to be a paperback edition of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden; Or, Life in the Woods.

In Walden, Thoreau wrote, “A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.”

Photo by Val Dodge.

Posted by marc at 10:30 AM

From Marc Schillers excellent Woostercollective blog, 29 April 2008. Now awaiting some sort of explanation!

new CSR blog

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Welcome to a new blog from Fabian Pattberg:  CorporateResponsibility.Net

Its purpose  is to provide the reader with a selection of news items that are informative and useful without the corporate spin of a normal press release. I have signed up to a lot of news services and website newsletters and will select the news items I feel are useful and provide an added value for the Corporate Responsibility interested reader.

and there is an RSS feed too!

bloggers greenwash kit

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Thanks to Mel over at Elemental for pointing out the Greenwash Guide (pdf) at Futerra – very timely as I prepare for a workshop today. 

Three even easier steps for
communications agenci

Now we have the 10 signs of greenwash, Six Steps to avoid Greenwash, a Greenwash Healthcheck  and 3 even easier steps for communication agencies, the original  six greenwash sins,  and greenwash misleading adverts regulations.