Building News is an information portal for all professional building specifiers. Here you can find all of the latest construction news from around the UK and the rest of the world.

“Operation Skylark” – Massive renewable energy project

“Operation Skylark” – Massive renewable energy project

Multinational construction and Development heavyweights Skanska and Gloucestershire-based green energy company Ecotricity will pair up to invest heavily in UK onshore wind energy. The project will initially unfold in 3 stages, spending up to £500m and beginning in Scotland.

The project will provide a big boost to the UK electricity grid, powering more than 50,000 homes per year.

Dale Vince, outspoken owner of Ecotricity is excited about the joint venture, which will consist of a 50/50 investment from both sides. The company has doubled its number of customers over the past 12 months and for Vince, the future is looking green.

Both parties are keen to get the operation underway as soon as possible. Next year’s general election could have a huge impact on the development, as Conservatives plan to severely reduce onshore wind energy going forward. The belief, however, is that any wind farms in planning before the end of next summer should be immune from political risk.

Despite local and parliamentary criticism, large companies now seem to be getting behind the potential of wind energy; perhaps another blow to long standing Tory critic, John Hayes MP!

Further reading

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New nuclear power station funding sparks controversy across the EU

New nuclear power station funding sparks controversy across the EU

Britain was given approval by EU last week to proceed with the construction of a 24.5bn nuclear power plant, Hinkley Point C in Somerset. This news meets conflicting reviews due to heavy opposition from organised UK protest groups such as Stop Hinkley and Greenpeace.

The power plant is set to house two nuclear reactors and will be built by industry giants EDF Energy. EDF claim that the new site will bring with it a host of benefits, including boosts to local economy, 900+ permanent jobs for the next 60 years and clean, safe energy for 5m homes.

Nuclear power has always been a topic of strong debate, raising not only direct physical issues regarding responsible handling of waste and varying worldwide safeguard quality, but also moral and ethical disputes.

Despite heavy opposition from the British public, 16 commissioners voted in favour of the project, only slightly ahead of the minimum 15 required for the project to proceed.

However, secretary of state for energy Edward Davey said last year that “for the first time, a nuclear station will not have been built with money from the British taxpayer.” This statement now seems poles apart from the announcement made only last week to reduce funding taken from UK taxes.

The incident of Chernobyl and more recently the on-going dilemma at Fukushima have proved historically that despite the new plant being located in Britain, nuclear energy is a worldwide concern. No stranger to controversy, Hinkley Point C raises yet another paradoxical debate about the price that can be paid in the constant endeavour for progress.

Further reading

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Slashing red tape could save millions

Slashing red tape could save millions

Measures will save housebuilders and councils £114 million per year by cutting red tape and ensuring homes are built to demanding standards.

The government has recently published a package of measures to save housebuilders and councils £114 million per year by cutting red tape while ensuring homes are still built to demanding standards, particularly on security, wheelchair accessibility and space.

The current system of rules on how new homes can be built encourages wide differences across the country with councils able to select from a range of standards in a ‘pick and mix’ approach that gives an unlimited number of permutations in local rules. This creates cost, uncertainty, bureaucracy and duplication for housebuilders. The government is consulting today on the details of how it will consolidate this mass of standards into a core range of 5 standards.

Communities Minister Stephen Williams said:
We need to build more homes and better quality homes and this government is delivering on both. It’s now time to go further by freeing up housebuilders from unnecessary red tape and let them get on with the real job building the right homes, in the right places, to help families and first time buyers onto the property ladder.

The current system of housing standards creates a labyrinth of bureaucratic rules for housebuilders to try and navigate, often of little benefit and significant cost. We are now slashing this mass of unnecessary rules down to just 5 core standards saving housebuilders and councils £114 million a year whilst making new homes safer, more accessible to older and disabled people and more sustainable.

Current housing standards required of new development can be unworkable, including demands for solar and wind energy sources that can’t physically fit onto the roofs of apartment buildings, or unnecessary including compliance regimes which add thousands to the cost of building a new home without any benefit.

The remaining core of 5 standards will cover:

  • security: introducing a national regulation on security standards in all new homes to protect families from burglary
  • space: for the first time ever, a national, cross tenure space standard that local authorities and communities can choose to use to influence the size of new homes in their local area
  • age friendly housing: new optional building regulations for accessible and adaptable mainstream housing to meet the needs of older and disabled people
  • wheelchair user housing: the introduction for the first time of an optional building regulation setting standards for wheelchair housing
  • water efficiency: the ability to set higher water efficiency standards in areas of water shortage

This is the first time national standards for security, wheelchair accessible housing and internal space have been drawn up.

The consultation published today seeks views on the detailed technical requirements supporting this new approach to housing quality.

The government proposal is for the security standards to become a new mandatory regulation, and for councils to be able to decide whether to apply the other remaining standards to developments built in their areas.

In addition a new zero carbon homes standard will come into force through the building regulations from 2016, building on the 30% energy efficiency improvements already introduced into building regulations in 2010 and 2013. These changes are already saving householders up to £200 on energy bills.

Further reading

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Is the built environment making us fat?

According to a 2007 Foresight report from the Government Office for science, approximately 65% of adults and 33% of children in the England are now obese. It is estimated that over half of the UK adult population could be classed as obese in as little as 5 years. Needless to say, tackling obesity has become a major social, economic, health and financial issue. Does the environment we live in influence our fitness habits?

Put simply, obesity is usually caused by eating too much and moving too little. If you consume high amounts of energy from your diet, particularly from fat and sugars, but do not burn off the energy through exercise and physical activity, much of the surplus energy is then stored by the body as fat.

The environment in which people live can directly influence the decisions that people make; often subconsciously. For the vast majority of people, exercise is merely a by-product of a busy day. We burn calories as we are shop, during our commute, play with our children or walk the dog on a crisp winter evening. The hectic nature of British society leaves people often too tired or with simply too little time to pursue the goal of a smaller waistline.

Can architects and designers become fitness instructors?

As bizarre as this question may seem, there is substance behind it. Bearing in mind that 80% of people are currently not undertaking what experts deem ‘necessary exercise,’ designers could play a vital role in keeping Britain slim by reassessing the environments that we all exist in.

In order to do this, planners would be required to collaborate with a wide range of other professionals across the building and construction sector, as well as fitness professionals and experts within the health field.

With obesity figures so high, where do we start?

So do we need to completely radicalise our infrastructure in order to breed a generation of Usain Bolt’s – with cities interlinked with rubberized running tracks? Surprisingly, no we don’t. Massive changes could be made using only small amounts of effort and a little attention to detail.

The idea would be to maximise the potential for casual exercise throughout the course of a normal day. This could be done by implementing very small changes, such as a well-placed sign indicating the direction of the stairs; all-to-often hidden in many public buildings. If a shop is within walking distance, people are more likely to leave the car behind. Offices can be made more fitness-friendly with the addition of a bike park and a few showers.

By incorporating cycle paths and pedestrian areas into urban designs, people would feel more inspired to walk or cycle to work, tackling the increasing obesity crisis, lowing carbon footprints and taking pressure off our roads, which are the busiest and most congested in Europe.

Parks and other green spaces also encourage people to exercise, as well as generally uplifting a person’s wellbeing.

How do we start?

The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) have today launched a resource identifying the potential for planners and public health officers to work together to support people to live lifestyles that will help them to maintain a healthy weight. ‘Planning Healthy Weight Environments’ presents an illustration of how a healthy-weight environment could be planned.

TCPA Chief Executive, Kate Henderson said “as the nation faces an obesity crisis, we can see that planning has an important role to play in helping to create high quality environments that offer opportunities for communities to make healthy choices and live healthier lifestyles. By reuniting public health with planning, and bringing together built environment and health professionals, we can work collaboratively to identify local health needs and tackle the obesity challenge.”

In summary

So could architects and planners halt the nation’s obesity crisis? Not on their own, but they can certainly help. Nobody wants to be obese; in order to reduce the alarming figures above the British public will ultimately need to change their behaviour, not just their surroundings. However, it’s very difficult to implement real change if our environment doesn’t encourage it.

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