The impact of snow on construction

The winter has landed. Storm Arwen slammed into the UK on Saturday, wreaking havoc with gusts of nearly 100 mph and heavy snow, leaving tens of thousands of homes without power. Strong winds blew down trees, killing three persons and causing damage to buildings and disrupting transportation. How does snowfall affect construction? Buildingspecifier.com editor Joe Bradbury discusses:

Following recent cold temperatures, the Met Office has issued yellow warnings of severe ice throughout huge swaths of England, including Newcastle, Manchester, London, and Cardiff.

It seems the snow is affecting everyone. Heavy snowfall caused lorries to become trapped and ploughs to be used in several areas, and left bar workers and Oasis imitation band Noasis stranded in the Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales since Friday.

…even ‘I’m a Celebrity was cancelled!

But how does snow affect construction?

Although snow and freezing weather make building more difficult, construction workers continue to work anyway. Work is sometimes rescheduled when temperatures drop below zero, but the cold and snow aren’t usually the main worries.

Construction workers are typically more concerned about the mud and runoff than the snowfall itself. Erosion is a major worry, so when the snow melts, it causes water to run, which collects silt in the midst of the project.

Winter materials such as concrete blankets and composite wattles will currently be brought out by workers on site up and down the country.

Often, when snow is predicted, construction workers may stake a giant sock of fabric packed with wood chips down to the ground to protect the work beneath.

Concrete can be poured in the snow, but it cannot be poured on ice. On a frozen subgrade or with frozen aggregates, concrete cannot be laid. To place in cold temperatures at concrete temperatures between 10ºC and 29ºC at the time of placement, the water, aggregate, or both may need to be heated to a temperature of between 21ºC and 65ºC. The contractor must consider how the completed concrete will be protected from freezing and cracking, as well as how curing will be regularly monitored.

When the temperature drops below 4ºC degrees, the contractor will usually cover the concrete with the afore mentioned blankets, and sometimes even heaters. Under the covers, temperature recorders are frequently placed as well. This process can drastically slow down work.

Snow on the project is, in general, an inconvenience. It hides what you’re working on, and getting it out of the way takes a lot of effort. If the snow is only expected to last a few days, the contractor will usually take a few days off. The contractor will move it if it is going to be there for a long period. Contractors are typically given a specific number of weather days every month in their contract. They will normally take the time off if they haven’t previously used these days.

A matter of safety

Wind, freezing rain, and ice can make construction sites risky, increasing the number of accidents and injuries on the job.

Cold stress

Low temperatures, especially those at or below freezing, can be hazardous to one’s health. They have the potential to lower skin and internal body temperatures. Furthermore, if rain causes the skin to become damp, heat will be lost from the body, and the body may not be able to warm up. All of this can result in catastrophic illnesses, including irreversible tissue damage or, in the worst-case scenario, death. If workers are not appropriately protected from the elements when working outside, they may develop trench foot, frostbite, or hypothermia.

Falls

Falls are one of the most common construction site mishaps, and they can occur at any time of year. Winter weather, on the other hand, increases the chance of falling due to ice, damp and slippery surfaces. Ice can form on scaffolding, ladders, walkways, stairs, and work platforms when surfaces become cold. Workers may slip and fall, sometimes from great heights, resulting in injuries such as broken bones, fractures, traumatic brain injuries, and even death if these locations are not properly treated.

Winter driving accidents

Accidents on construction sites can happen just as easily as they do on the road. When working on a construction site, it’s easy to forget that the road’s winter driving restrictions still apply. It’s also worth remembering that, due to their size and weight, construction vehicles aren’t always as agile as cars.

Staying safe on site this winter

We can ensure our workers stay safe this winter by limiting any exposure to the elements by safeguarding construction personnel from injury by covering particular work areas from the elements.

It is also wise to keep up with weather updates and allow adequate time to carry out any necessary procedures to keep workers safe. The following measures can also be taken:

  • Protecting any areas of the site that may be harmed by the weather
  • Keeping construction workers warm by creating comfortable break rooms
  • Scheduling outdoor work to be completed in shorter periods of time, so that workers are not exposed to the elements for prolonged periods
  • Providing appropriate clothing so that while employees work outside, no part of their skin is exposed and they are adequately insulated to preserve body heat and avoid being affected by the cold
  • Educating employees about how to work safely when the cold weather hits and what they themselves can do to avoid mishaps
  • Examine the site for any new dangers that may have arisen as a result of the recent harsh weather

In summary

The construction industry has withstood many changes during the coronavirus pandemic, and now there is no shortage of projects to keep up with. However, as businesses strive to meet their deadlines, it’s critical to take the time to ensure that employees are safe throughout the colder months.

As diligent building specifiers and construction professionals, you most likely have safety procedures in place at all of your locations, but these procedures should be evaluated and updated specifically for the winter to ensure that your employees are as safe as possible.

Remember that finishing projects in the same amount of time as they would normally take in dry summer weather is neither feasible nor safe. It is therefore critical to create realistic schedules that take into consideration the reality that locations may be slippery, snowy, or wet. If necessary, give teams more time to accomplish their duties and remind them not to rush. Having workers trip and injure themselves on-site will simply add to the delay in meeting deadlines, therefore it’s far more productive to stay to a safer pace.

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An update on fuel poverty

We are living in trying times. The rapid rise in energy prices pulls good people into bad debt in order to pay for basic essentials like heat and water. Despite living in an age of enormous luxury, many people appear to be surviving Britain on a day-to-day basis. According to recent surveys, food bank use has risen significantly in the last year, indicating how pitifully welfare funds fail to meet basic living expenses. For many people, the option between heating and eating is a very real one. Buildingspecifier.com’s Joe Bradbury investigates:

What is fuel poverty?

Fuel poverty is defined as a family’s inability to afford to heat their home to a safe and healthy temperature.

Fuel poverty now affects one out of every ten households in England. Low income, high fuel prices, poor energy efficiency, exorbitant housing prices, and poor quality private rental housing are all contributing factors.

According to the most recent definition, the number of families in fuel poverty is 3.66m.

488,000 households are expected to fall into fuel poverty as a result of the current price cap increase, which came into effect on 1st October 2021.

Nearly half of low-income households continue to live in energy-inefficient houses, with activists warning that progress is falling well short of what is required to bring people out of fuel poverty by 2030.

How is it measured?

Fuel poverty is measured in England using the ‘Low Income, Low Energy Efficiency’ indicator. A family is termed fuel poor if they live in a home that has a fuel poverty energy efficiency grade of D or lower, and if they are left with a residual income that is below the official poverty threshold after they spend the needed amount to heat their house.

The fuel poverty gap, which is a measure of the additional fuel expenses a fuel poor family confronts in order to be judged non-fuel poor, is used to determine the level of fuel poverty.

Fuel poverty in a pandemic

Fuel poverty puts households at greater risk of Covid-19’s harshest consequences. Mold and dampness are linked to a 30-50% rise in respiratory issues.

There is “strong evidence on the links between low temperatures and respiratory disorders,” according to Public Health England (PHE). Cool temperatures reduce resistance to respiratory infections and raise the likelihood of respiratory disease.”

Warm homes, on the other hand, assist immune systems fight viruses more effectively, increase the possibility of those with viruses only experiencing ‘mild’ symptoms, and speed up the recovery process.

In order to protect the NHS and care services, it will be critical to reduce preventable ill health caused by cold homes.

 

The economics of fuel poverty

96 percent of fuel poor homes are poorly insulated.

The government has set a deadline of 2023 for improving energy efficiency in our houses in order to help avoid disastrous climate change. However, it is estimated that at this current rate, the Government will miss its target of upgrading all fuel poor homes in England to an EPC Band C by 61 years.

How much would it cost per year to meet the government’s goal of upgrading all fuel-inefficient homes in England to a Band C EPC rating by 2030? The answer is approximately £1.2 billion, significantly higher than the £640 million set aside by the government each year to make the coldest homes more energy efficient.

However, tackling fuel poverty effectively would see a return on our investment. Economists suggest that the return on investment from insuring the UK’s housing stock could be as high as £8.7 billion. Plus, 26% of gas that could be saved if all residences were made more energy efficient (at least Band C).

Heat and Buildings Strategy

The Government’s new Heat and Buildings Strategy was announced last week and has had a mixed reaction, with many anti-poverty and climate change campaigners pointing to significant shortcomings in the final announcement.

The headline announcement in the strategy is a grant to help cover costs of heat pumps up to £5,000. The current cost of a heat pump is between £6,000 and £18,000.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented “For millions of households who desperately want and need to improve their energy efficiency by switching to heat pumps, the promised government money won’t be enough. While costs for heat pumps will come down in time, the level of grant available at present is nowhere near enough for households already in fuel poverty.

“Coming on the back of the damning Committee for Fuel Poverty report, which suggested that government investment is not targeted at those who need it most, it would appear that the Government has yet to learn lessons from the past.

“The government also needs to confirm what has happened to the missing billions, which is the gap between the investment announced and the levels of investment promised in the Conservative Party Manifesto at the last election.

“We hope the Comprehensive Spending Review will offer more support for families in fuel poverty and plug the gap between funding that has been promised and that which has been delivered.”

In summary

Fuel poverty is a yearly cycle of misery for those who are affected. In order to get through the winter, many tenants resort to intermittent use of their central heating or the use of modest space heaters instead. Unfortunately, this frequently results in significant amounts of condensation in a home, with tiny areas of the house being warm while the rest of the house is cold. Mould and moisture thrive in the optimum environment when cold air meets warm surfaces, resulting in ill health and property damage.

Fuel poverty puts a huge strain on hospitals and doctors’ offices all around the country. This is not just due to the physical and mental effects of living in a cold home, but also because it can lengthen the time a vulnerable patient spends in the hospital, with some patients not being freed until their home is refurbished to a habitable state. The NHS is expected to be burdened with £1.36 billion in annual costs as a result of the impact. It’s also a known cause of the 25,000 extra winter fatalities in England and Wales each year. As the population ages and pensions dwindle, so will the health risks and costs associated with it.

Unfortunately, coupled with the price cap, the gap between action and aspiration to provide warm homes appears to be widening. Something must be done. Everyone is entitled to a warm house.

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Building new cities that are fit for our future

It is predicted that we will see an additional 2.5 billion people seeking a place to call home within the cities of our world within the next 30 years, which poses the question – should we expand existing cities or start afresh? Buildingspecifier.com editor Joe Bradbury discusses:

The oldest city on Earth, Jericho dates back 11,000 years. But not all cities grow from ancient roots. Nur-Sultan, the now capital of Kazakhstan was merely an outpost in the early 1900’s. It did most of its transformation into the futuristic metropolis that it is today throughout the 1990’s.

From the ancient city of Jericho, over 11,000 years old to Nur-Sultan the capital of Kazakhstan, just 21 years young

For millennia, people have been constructing new cities from the ground up. Building new cities is a natural human activity.

Typically people establish new cities when countries develop and markets flourish. Today, however, we’re taking it to new heights. We’ve never spent so much money on so many new cities in so many areas as we are right now.

Since the late 1990s, new dots have appeared on the maps of countries such as China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, and India at an unprecedented rate, and more than 120 new cities are currently under construction in 40 countries around the world.

We’re on the verge of a new city construction boom unlike anything we’ve ever seen historically. People and nations from East Asia to the Middle East to Africa have ambitions and aspirations in these gleaming new metropolises. Will they usher in a bright new urban future or a historic-scale debt-fuelled bubble? Only time will tell.

Why build anew?

Overcrowding, pollution, traffic congestion, housing shortages, lack of green space, and economic stagnation are just a few of the urban and economic difficulties that rising economies face around the world in 2021. Governments seek to move on from their current crowded and dysfunctional metropolitan centres by starting from scratch and developing new economic sectors that will help them leapfrog other nations. For some, city construction can be a tremendously profitable endeavour.

Many new cities appear to openly contradict economic realities at first glance. What are emerging markets, or “poor countries,” doing with some of the world’s most technologically advanced and expensive cities?

The main reason for new cities is that there is so much migration. People from all over the world are flocking to cities in search of work.

By 2050, the UN estimates that 68 percent of the world’s population will be living in cities. This translates to 2.5 billion more city people, with Asia and Africa accounting for 90% of the increase. Alarmingly, half of the required urban area has yet to be constructed.

…In order to meet burgeoning demand, the world might need a few more Delhis, Shanghais, and Lagoses!

We must change the way we build

In the next 100 years, we will generate more metropolitan space than there is now on Earth. If we keep doing things the same way, much of it will be disorganised and less functional than what we already have.

Cario – Designed to house 1 million, currently supporting 20 million

Many of Asia’s and Africa’s existing cities are simply not equipped to handle the influx of people experienced by the cities over recent years. Cairo was originally designed to house a million people, not the current population of 20 million. Subsequently, rings of informal developments (slums) encircle cities like Mumbai, Nairobi and Rio de Janeiro. It’s more difficult and expensive to retrofit these cities with modern infrastructure and utilities than it is to remove a swath of ground and start afresh.

When you develop a new city, you don’t have to move or work around existing infrastructure, rivers, factories, or houses. You also don’t have to work around established political procedures, community groups, civic organisations, or even rules and regulations.

Building new cities is considered by many leaders as more profitable and effective than retrofitting old cities. Land sales contributed for nearly 74 percent of local governments’ revenue in 2011, when China’s new city building boom was at its peak, and parcels of urban construction land were selling at a 40-fold profit. The real estate and construction sectors tend to drive economies in emerging markets that are actively recreating themselves — both physically and in terms of their global image. Building a totally new metropolis is the pinnacle of their ambitions.

Acquiring large swaths of property and then using that area for whatever purpose, including urban and commercial, is easier now than in prior decades. Technology businesses, construction companies, and the real estate industry are using the various issues that cities in the global south face to persuade people that building new cities is a better option than mending old cities, which is less profitable.

The amount of money being thrown at new cities is incredible. The King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia costs $100 billion (£78 billion), whereas the country’s Neom megalopolis is expected to cost five times as much. Forest City in Malaysia was initially valued at $100 billion, whereas Ordos Kangbashi was valued at $161 billion.

Cities must be functional

It’s not enough to build a sparkling jewel of a city, they must have a deeper reason to exist. It’s a classic mistake that has been made time and time again for centuries, to build some structures and palaces and just see what happens. The new cities that are having difficulty are those that are defying market forces – the very economic impulses that give new cities their energy and reason for existence are built-in.

Some new cities could easily be classified as unnecessary, merely custom-built cities for the wealthy. Some of these developments are envisioned as privileged gated communities. Things like that are guaranteed to fail, once the bubble bursts. The streets of Dubai are lined with abandoned, dusty supercars.

They’re also an unsuitable reaction to the true demand, which is for people to obtain a first position on the kind of urban, modern escalator that can help propel them and their children to a better life, not for the rich to have a somewhere to retreat to.

Many of the new cities being planned in Asia and Africa are clearly intended for the emerging middle class. This well-educated, high-spending, and highly mobile segment of society can be a motivating force for almost any country if given the correct opportunity. If those possibilities are not supplied, people are more likely to flee, immigrating to the United States, Canada, and Western Europe in search of better jobs and lifestyles.

The new city construction boom is almost as much about retaining and attracting high-value talent as it is about making room for the hordes of rural migrants looking for their first footholds in a city.

Many new communities are scrambling to attract these global elites by building luxury houses, luxury shopping and restaurants, and infrastructure for their extravagant hobbies, particularly boat docking facilities.

The developer’s purpose is to maximise profits, which he achieves in part by developing luxury condos and villas. Developers aren’t interested since there isn’t much money to be earned in inexpensive family housing.

In summary

Overcrowding is a complicated issue, but statistics can be used to effectively estimate our needs as a society.

If overpopulation appears to be a possibility, efforts to relieve housing pressure can be implemented. Relaxing development restrictions by increasing the amount of multi-family units available for development, allowing single room occupancy through zoning law amendments, and boosting affordability by partnering with organisations to assemble land and write down prices are just a few examples. Cities can build housing policies that address problems before they occur by employing this data-driven preventative approach.

Cities must work smarter, not harder, to achieve their goals. Existing cities must carefully manage their housing supply in order to grow sustainably without risking unsafe occupancy levels that endanger lives. Residents are protected through joint efforts to collect housing data and innovative data analysis to enable proactive action and more effective resource allocation once an issue has been discovered.

And the cities of the future must be built on a bedrock of vision, to promote cultural change. The world doesn’t need more gaudy accessories, it must be treated with love and respect and everything we build should be suitable for purpose.

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The evolution of energy

A potted history of the evolution of energy by Joe Bradbury

From fire to water, how mankind’s hunger for manmade energy has evolved from the first spark of flint on stone to process of nuclear fission taking place in nuclear power plant reactors.

 

Life is strange. So strange, in fact, that in a bid to prevent us from freaking out at every little thing, our survival instincts trick us into thinking that everything is perfectly normal. “Keep calm and carry on!” urges the human mind.

Adjust the angle of Earth’s axis by a couple of degrees and the planet wouldn’t sustain life. But set it just right… and see flora, fauna, fish, reptiles, mammals, MacDonald’s Drive Thru’s, cream teas, cars, planes, cities and reality TV stars spring into existence. It’s hard to appreciate the complexity of universal precision and synchronicity that is required for a chicken nugget to happen.

Homo erectus first stumbled upon fire around 2 million years ago. If this early version of man were to stand in the middle of Times Square NY now, all lit up at night, he would not even begin to comprehend the concept of shopping, let alone know how his humble discovery would lead to such an electrified spectacle. His simple world is now a circus.

For reasons outside of our understanding, the development of the human brain coupled with the harnessing of energy and the cultivation of its power has propelled apes to where we stand now, upright, as normal everyday gods.

There’s deep truth immortalised in the Greek myth of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. And lessons to be learned from his fate.

…how on Earth did it all happen!?

In the beginning there was light

Energy has existed since the beginning of time. During the day, the sun provided heat and light, therefore it was the initial source of energy. People rose and slept with the light, relied on wood and dung burning for heat, and water power to generate basic mills.

People lived this way for many years. Things started to change very quickly with the advent of the industrial revolution.

Industrial revolution

Our use of human-generated power at scale began with the Industrial Revolution. The majority of people credit Benjamin Franklin with ‘discovering’ electricity in 1752, when he realised that the sparks created by lightning strikes could be used to generate electricity.

Industrial Revolution, in modern history, can be defined as the process of change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing. This process began in Britain in the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world.

What has come to be known by modern historians as the first Industrial Revolution lasted from the mid-18th century to around 1830 and was mostly confined to Britain. The second Industrial Revolution lasted from the mid-19th century until the early 20th century and took place in Britain, continental Europe, North America, and Japan.

Coal use becomes the norm

Coal has been used to power tools and machines since 1750, and James Watt patented the world’s first coal-fired steam engine in 1769. Steam engines grew more powerful and efficient as a result of this equipment, making them ideal for use in factories and mills where production rates could be increased.

A lot of the lessons we learned from coal generation led to widespread use of gas and its myriad applications.

The gas industry springs up

The gas industry in the United Kingdom began in 1812. When Frederick Winsor founded the first corporation in the world to develop a public gas works and deliver gas to clients through a network of subterranean pipes, Britain was still at war with Napoleon. This company opened up the gas industry, which would change the lives of millions of people as they had their first taste of dependable energy.

 

 

Gas was used to light London’s streets, and ancient gas-powered lamp posts may still be found in St James. By 1827, London’s network had supplied about 70,000 gas street lights.

 

 

 

What did the Victorian’s ever do for us?

When it came to energy, the Victorian era was a time when the world saw tremendous progress. In 1878, the first hydroelectric plant was built in Cragside, England, whilst in 1888, Cleveland, Ohio, saw the first windmill generate electricity. The Edison Electric Light Plant, the world’s first coal-fired power station, was erected in London in 1882 with the goal of providing light and warmth to London residents.

20th Century Toy

Into the 20th century and we see a flurry of electrical ingenuity. John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of the television in 1926 and the BBC then opened its doors in 1927. Electricity was now pumping to people’s homes and thanks to pylons, stylishly designed by architect Sir Reginald Bloomfield, the country is linked with electricity.

This leads us to the opening of The National Grid. A bold ambition, when you really think about it.

The National Grid

In 1935, the world’s first integrated national grid went live. Rather than having a slew of tiny power plants, the UK was divided into seven grid zones. Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol, London, and Glasgow were among them. Energy supplies became more affordable and reliable thanks to the National Grid.

From past to present

Coal and gas continued to provide the majority of energy in the UK as the twentieth century progressed. Coal still provided 90% of all electricity in 1960. At the turn of the century, energy became more environmentally friendly, and the terms climate change and climate crisis became buzzwords. The world’s first windfarm was built in New Hampshire in 1980, while the UK’s first windfarm was built on the windy Cornish coast in 1991.

The push to renewables

All of this advancement (astounding as it may be) came at great cost. We’ve made a royal mess of our planet and now it’s time to clean it up.

The year 2019 marked a watershed moment in history. After years of relying on coal for energy, zero-carbon sources generated more energy than fossil fuels for the first time in both the UK and the US.

We now have a 2050 UK target of net zero total emissions by relying on renewable energy…

…something that wouldn never have even occurred to a 19th century industrialist!

Efficiency is becoming a much larger focus, and as such our energy need to be cost-effective, durable and low impact on the environment. A challenge, no doubt; but one that will benefit us greatly should we overcome.

Wherever next!?

Industrial revolutions continue to take place, hidden in plain view. The third revolution changed the world even further than the previous two, bringing about the rise of electronics, telecommunications and computers. These new technologies altered our reality drastically, opening the doors to space expeditions, digital research, and biotechnology.

Then, in 2017, something historic quietly happened; data finally surpassed oil in value. A new age?

The fourth industrial revolution underway

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is now well underway, and can be described as the coming together of multiple advances within the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, quantum computing, etc.

The term itself describes perfectly the ever-dissolving boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological. As technology and digitalisation gains pace, so too does our newfound dependency upon it; as such many products and services of modern life are quickly becoming indispensable. Where would we be now without GPS, virtual reality, BIM, robotics and social media? Are we hooked on innovation? Will it be the making of us or our undoing? …Only time will tell!

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is definitely paving the way for hugely transformative changes in not only our perception, but also the way we live and work on a day-to-day basis. Change is underway, radically disrupting almost every aspect of life.

It’s in the air. It’s tangible. It can be felt.

In summary

Each generation inherits the world from the last. We are now standing on the shoulders of giants. Our world incorporates vast towns and cities and a population of 7bn, most of which are entirely dependent upon manmade energy for survival. The ethics of this are becoming irrelevant. Responsible management of it is now key.

In order for life on Earth to survive and thrive, we must be open to change.

We’re living links in a chain; turning pages in the ever unfolding human story. Our role in it must not be that of a luddite. I believe we are smarter than that.

We must rise to meet life and take on the challenges of the day with respect and a sense of responsibility.

Right now one of the biggest challenges facing us is how we continue to use energy. Will it spell our doom? That would be the ultimate tragedy, for all of our progress to just stop. Especially when one considers that the rewards and benefits that energy and technology can bring to our lives could be countless.

If we’re here for all but a few blinks of the cosmic eye, we might as well attempt to get it right. Hadn’t we?

 

 

 

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The Risk of Watery Reclaimations

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Buildingspecifier.com’s Joe Bradbury takes a look at the growing issue of coastal erosion around the UK coastline, which is causing untold damages to homes and communities around the country.

Over the next 10 years, it is estimated that around 2,000 UK homes could fall into the sea due to coastal erosion. The wider forecast predicts we will lose over 7,000 properties (some worth over £1bn) will be lost to coastal erosion in England and Wales over the next 100 years.

The county where most homes are expected to be lost from over the next 20 years is Cornwall, with 76 properties considered high risk. Cornwall has also lost the most amount of homes to sea erosion over the last 50 years, with 132 properties collapsing or having to be abandoned due to erosion.

Throughout the course of the next century, six local authorities are expected to lose more than 200 homes each:

  1. Great Yarmouth – 293
  2. Southampton – 280
  3. Cornwall – 273
  4. North Norfolk – 237
  5. East Riding of Yorkshire – 204
  6. and Scarborough – 203

The east coast of Britain, in particular (from Yorkshire down to Essex) is earmarked as particularly soft and vulnerable, due to the composition of the ground and the stronger storms experienced on that side of the country.

Climate change is expected to accelerate the rate of coastal erosion overall.

An estimated 3000 km of UK coastline is eroding at an alarming rate. The UK is considered particularly vulnerable due to the fact that it has around 2300 km of artificially protected coast – the longest in Europe. Annual damages due to coastal erosion are expected to increase by 3-9 times, totalling up to £126 million per year by the 2080’s. Some 28% of the coast in England and Wales experiences erosion at rates higher than 0.1 m/year.

What can be done to help?

The answer to the increasing problem of coastal erosion is anything but simple. There are coastal defence strategies in place up and down the country, protecting 1000’s of UK households from a watery fate. However, coastal defences, such as building a wall of rock to stop waves lapping at a cliff’s base, are expensive and can have unintended consequences, such as hastening erosion elsewhere.

Unfortunately, this often means that for smaller communities in general, it’s often considered not worth the damage to the adjacent sections of the cliff or the damage to the environment that can be caused by building coastal defences.

In Britain, Shoreline Management Plans (introduced in England and Wales in 1993) serve to provide a strategic framework for decision making along the coast, especially with respect to defence, taking account of the natural coastal processes, human and other environmental influences and needs. Today the whole length of the English and Welch coast is covered by such plans; for Scotland only a part of the coast is covered by these plans. In Wales, the extent of enhanced erosion due to climate change affecting sea levels and waves is uncertain and the current view is not to build higher defences, but to utilize risk management approaches and work with nature wherever possible.

 

The approach to coastal protection in the United Kingdom focuses now on ‘sedimentary cells’ to reflect the adaptation needs of a regionally-varying coastline in terms of landscape, sedimentology and coastal dynamics. There are four Strategic Coastal Defence Options:

  • do nothing
  • maintain the existing protection line (while possibly adjusting the protection standard)
  • advance the existing protection line
  • retreat the existing protection line (subsequently referred to as ‘managed realignment’)

The intention is that the Shoreline Management Plans provide a ‘route map’ for local authorities and other decision makers to identify the most sustainable approaches to managing risks to the coast in the short term (0 – 20 years), medium term (20 – 50 years) and long term (50 – 100 years), recognising that changes to the present protection structures may need to be carried out as a staged process.

Methods of defence

There are multiple methods for physical management of the coast to help prevent or slow erosion.

Hard engineering are often considered to be expensive, short-term options. They also have the potential to highly impact on the landscape or environment and can be considered unsustainable.

Building a sea wall

Pros: Protects the base of cliffs, land and buildings against erosion. Can prevent coastal flooding in some areas.

Cons: Expensive to build. Curved sea walls reflect the energy of the waves back to the sea. This means that the waves remain powerful. Over time the wall may begin to erode. The cost of maintenance is high.

Building groynes (a wooden barrier built at right angles to the beach)

Pros: Prevents the movement of beach material along the coast by longshore drift. Allows the build-up of a beach. Beaches are a natural defence against erosion and an attraction for tourists.

Cons: Can be seen as unattractive. Costly to build and maintain.

Rock armour or boulder barriers

Pros: Absorb the energy of waves. Allows the build-up of a beach.

Cons: Can be expensive to obtain and transport the boulders.

Sustainable alternatives

Soft engineering options are often less expensive than hard engineering options. They are also considered more long-term and sustainable, with less of a negative impact on the environment.

 

There are two main types of soft engineering:

Beach nourishment

As well as being attractive to tourists, beaches are our best natural defence against erosion and coastal flooding. Beach nourishment involves replacing beach or cliff material that has been removed by erosion or longshore drift.

It’s relatively inexpensive, but requires constant maintenance to replace the beach material that is being constantly washed away.

Managed retreat

Managed retreat means that certain areas of the coast are allowed to erode and flood naturally. Usually this will be areas considered to be of low value – i.e. places not being used for housing or farmland.

The advantages are that it encourages the development of beaches (a natural defence) and salt marshes (important for the environment) and cost is low.

Managed retreat is a cheap option, but people will need to be compensated for loss of buildings and farmland.

Progress has been made

Back in March, the Environment Agency’s announced that it had reached its target of better protecting 300,000 homes from flooding and coastal erosion since 2015.

The story was picked up in The Yorkshire Post, in East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Star, and highlighted that the £2.6 billion investment in 700 projects had better protected nearly 600,000 acres of agricultural land and thousands of businesses and saved the economy more than £28 billion in avoided damages.

The milestone was reached with the completion of the Hull: Humber Frontages scheme, a £42 million project which will better protect the city of Hull from the devastation of tidal surges which caused flooding to hundreds of properties in 2013.

Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, said “The success of this programme is measured in numbers 700 projects, 300,000 homes, nearly 600,000 acres of agricultural land, thousands of businesses and major pieces of infrastructure, on time and within budget. But the sense of security these protections bring to people, and the benefits to nature, can’t easily be demonstrated on a spreadsheet.”

George Eustice, Environment Secretary, added “This important milestone means that 300,000 households are better protected against flooding and coastal erosion. I commend the hard work of the Environment Agency and its partners in supporting flood-hit communities.

“We know there is more to do, which is why a record £5.2 billion is being invested in 2,000 new flood and coastal erosion schemes over the next six years, to protect thousands more people, homes and businesses.”

 

Work is already under way on the delivery of some of the 2,000 new flood and coastal defences that will better protect a further 336,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion by 2027, which will also see the implementation of the Environment Agency’s Flood and Coastal Risk Management Strategy.

In summary

Perhaps the biggest threat to coastal villages, towns and cities over the next 100 years is the rising sea levels due to climate change. Popular holiday destinations and vital roads in the UK could be wiped out by floods due to climate change, with many coastal and low-lying areas that could be completely submerged in water in thirty years’ time if action is not taken.

Parts of North Wales and eastern England are already predicted to be underwater by 2050 due to rising sea levels and in the south, coastal areas and river valleys would be badly affected with the M4 motorway submerged close to the Severn Bridge.

Coastal defence strategies tackle the symptoms, not the cause. In order to slow the rate that the sea level is rising we must lower our carbon footprint, protect our wetlands and allow enough natural space for rain water to soak in, rather than run off and contribute to the ocean.

Over the next 100 years we will be forced to take greater responsibility for our environment, if not for its protection then for our own!

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The Decaying British Steel Industry

It’s no secret the steel industry is in dire straits. Last year saw the sale of British Steel to Chinese firm Jingye. They paid around £70m for a business whose £1m-a-day losses have been supported by a government indemnity since last May.

Around 3,200 staff were kept on and 400 were let go as a result of the takeover.

Those remaining staff may begin to see big cultural changes in the way the business is run over coming months; Jingye was founded in the 1970s by Li Ganpo, a former Communist party official who built the group from scratch in a corner of the Hebei province famed for the role it played in the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

Whilst British Steel was on life support, there’s something undeniably sad about the loss of British steelworks that have existed for around 150 years to big spenders from overseas. It’s a shame it came to it.

Now, the future of the third biggest producer of steel in the UK, Liberty Steel, also hangs in the balance, following the demise of its major financial supporter Greensill Capital. The Government refused a £170 million request for financial support, spelling uncertain times for the 3,000+ workers.

How important is Steel for Britain?

The importance of the British steel industry cannot be overstated and it’s collapse would apply crippling pressures elsewhere.

Steel is a “foundational industry”. Its products support a range of other industries, such as automotive, construction, infrastructure, etc. Plus, the loss of Liberty’s modern energy-efficient arc furnaces would be a big blow to the hope of ‘a more sustainable future going forward.

State aid

Financial analysists say that the Government is unlikely to step in with financial support given the complexities of GFG’s corporate governance arrangements, coupled with the high degree of risk.

It would be easy to lambast the government for this, yet the general public would undoubtably moan if that is where their money was spent.

The British population is currently in a heightened state of disproportionate fear. They want their taxpayers’ money to be spent on keeping them safe from a virus with a mortality rate that falls somewhere between 0.5% and 1%.

The government has had to borrow and spend many billions of pounds to fight coronavirus and protect the economy. Lockdowns have reduced the amount of money the government raises in taxes, even though the WHO themselves have questioned the effectiveness of them as a means for controlling the virus.

In the first year of the pandemic, from April 2020 to 2021, Britain borrowed £299bn, the highest figure since records began in 1946. The government is expected to borrow less in the current year, April 2021 to 2022, though the figure could still be more than £200bn.

How will the debt be paid?

…By increasing our taxes and cutting spending!

So as long as this cycle of fear and debt continues, one cannot expect much state aid for the protection of assets, such as the British steel industry, meaning that unfortunately it is often being left to die or slapped with a ‘For Sale’ sign; a sad fate, for a once thriving industry that still employs over 33,400 people in the UK today.

It’s not just the steel industry that is affected

Steel itself is vital for just about everything we use. In buildings it makes up metal roofing, steel beams, reinforcing steel and mounting brackets. It is used in the creation of our vehicles. Our infrastructure is reliant upon it. Think bridges, steel safety barriers for roads, lighting and high voltage pylons, railings and railways etc.

The loss of an industry has a domino effect on other industries. Many argue that this is not just a crisis for the steel sector, but one affecting UK manufacturing in general, which accounts for roughly 10% of UK economic output. The plight of the British steel industry impacts on other allied sectors, such as steel processors, distributors, scrap metal dealers, metal traders and other metal product manufacturers. Not to mention the impact it will have on construction!

Are we expected to outsource all of our steel, post-Bexit, in a time of great scarcity of materials? …sounds expensive!

What can government do?

The industry claims that it knows what it needs: reduced business rates, a relaxation of carbon emissions targets for heavy manufacturers, (which doesn’t sound very progressive long term), more compensation for high energy prices, and a commitment that British steel is used in major construction projects.

At a steel summit held in Rotherham in October, Government argued that it has already taken clear action to help the industry, through cutting energy costs, taking action on imports, government procurement and EU emissions regulations, meeting key steel industry asks.

But industry trade body UK Steel, says it still needs to do more. Gareth Stace, Director of UK Steel, told the BBC: “The work it’s doing to help us is good but we need much further action taking place to tackle the imports, the flood of Chinese steel into the UK and the European economy.”

“We need to see government and the European Commission tackling that head on and quickly.”

In summary

According to the ONS, in 2014, the Great British steel industry employed 34,500 people – 0.1% of all those in employment.

However, the 1971 census of employment recorded 323,000 steel workers, representing 1.5% of all in employment at that time. By 1981 this had almost halved to 167,000 (0.8%). This decline in employment continued and is particularly noticeable between the late 1970s and mid-1980’s, with the biggest drop recorded between 1978 and 1981, when employment fell from 271,000 to 167,000.

Employment in the steel industry fell below 100,000 in the late 1980s and, after that, declined gradually throughout the 1990s and 2000s, reaching 37,000 in 2008.

This seems so contradictory to a layman like me, when one considers that demand for steel has increased exponentially since the 1970’s. Even now, amidst our self-destructive reaction to the pandemic, worldwide steel demand will grow 5.8% to exceed pre-pandemic levels, according to the World Steel Association.

Nobody seems to have the answers.

To me, an outside observer of the construction industry and its various sectors, what is happening to UK steel is a tragedy, playing directly into the hands of overseas competition. If left to continue, we will become entirely reliant on imports at a time when we have burned many bridges.

Let’s hope something is done by government quick before we lose an industry that we are reliant upon and should be proud of.

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A Chink in Britain’s supply chain

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Britain needs buildings more than ever. As such, confidence within the sector is sky high. However, does the current state of our supply chains pose a risk to us capitalising on growth? Buildingspecifier’s Editor Joe Bradbury investigates:

 

According to IHS Markit/CIPS, output growth has risen in line with increased commercial, domestic and civil engineering projects. These works have largely come in the form of restarting delayed projects, critically around office development, leisure and hospitality.

Residential new build has also experienced a significant boost, alongside domestic renovation, with higher spends reported in both areas of the industry.

Output among private sector housebuilders has surged by nearly 141 per cent since its low point 12 months ago. Infrastructure work has also long since soared past its pre-pandemic level. Whilst government statisticians have confirmed that 2020 was the worst year on record for UK construction, that milestone is now thankfully behind us as contractors and their suppliers continue to gear up for a sustained surge of demand throughout the course of 2021.

This great surge in demand is great news, but like all great waves it brings with it a degree of risk.

Higher demand for construction and trade services has a real-world trickle down to small and medium trade businesses. This, coupled with the current stresses on the UK supply chain in the wake of Covid and Brexit, is cause for concern.

 

Materials shortage

When lockdown struck Britain in March of last year, the material supply lines for the whole of the UK were put on pause for a number of weeks. As we scrambled about creating toilet paper and flour shortages for one another, similar panicked antics afflicted the construction industry.

The delays caused in the initial weeks of lockdown resulted in a shortage of plasterboard, cement and many other essential construction materials. Subsequently, this has resulted in price increases for these products as availability decreased.

We can’t just lay the blame at the door of COVID-19 for these short-term supply constraints. Brexit laid the groundworks for disaster.

 

Before COVID there was Brexit…

I believe that people should be wary of forming too strong an opinion on the decision to leave the EU, because a) it has resulted in both good and bad outcomes and b) what works for a construction company may not work for a North Sea fisherman… so it isn’t black and white.

One of the negative outcomes of Brexit is that it has lengthened the supply lines for a number of core supplies from Europe. A significant majority of materials required by UK trade and construction are manufactured or processed in mainland Europe.

As COVID-19 did the rounds almost all major countries suffered shortages in stock. Now however, simply because it makes logistical sense, manufacturers are refilling the supply chains that are closer to home first, with the UK naturally falling to the back of the queue.

This is expected to ease up in time, and whilst it’s positive to see a host of efforts to move material production to the UK, there is no quick fix to this ongoing problem.

Unfortunately, SMEs are feeling the brunt of this, as bigger companies with more purchasing power have been able to buy in these products at higher prices, monopolising the materials industry, to the detriment of their smaller competitors.

Many large firms are also opting to stockpile, to future-proof their business. This has resulted in an in-balance of supply availability, and given that larger companies often rely on much smaller contractors to operate, a more collaborative approach to the sharing of materials would enable to construction industry to weather the storm as a team. Large firms should not use their leverage over smaller ones. This is bad for economy and will ultimately come back around to bite them regarding their reliance on the SME sector for contract staff.

 

Hold-ups at the border

Another thing impacting our supply chains is the increased regulation and paperwork that can now be seen at the borders. New customs and export documentation resulted in huge delays, even before Brexit was finalised. These delays are forcing many companies to re-engineer their supply chains.

Manufacturers relied on complex and interconnected supply chains, that weaved across Europe and beyond to move materials, components and finished systems between locations and suppliers. Then COVID-19 and Brexit hit these highly tuned avenues for transport hard.

The construction industry depends heavily on fast supply chains offering ‘just in time’ delivery of components, often across multiple borders. Increased regulations surrounding Brexit and COVID-19 are already having a significant impact on how goods are brought into the UK, with delays being reported across the sectors.

In summary

In summary, the construction industry supply chains were dealt two huge blows, firstly by Brexit and then by a pandemic.

However, it has shone a light on our resilience. In spite of hardships, there is much to be optimistic about. Consumers have enthusiastically returned to the high street, glasses have been raised to the opening of outdoor dining and drinking as restrictions ease and the vaccination programme continues at pace. Normality feels just around the corner… whatever that is! This can only be good for the economy!

Whilst some of the issues currently blighting our industry will naturally clear with the passing of time as the threat of Covid and Brexit reduces, the short-term impact on the smaller contractor market threatens to derail these good weeks of growth.

The construction industry would do well to work together when it comes to sharing materials fairly, otherwise it will only deal more blows to itself, preventing us to capitalise fully on this latest wave of optimism and growth.

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How electric vehicle uptake will impact the built environment?

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By 2025, it’s estimated that one in six of all new cars worldwide will be electric. How will this affect the way we construct our built environment and what changes will need to be made to our existing infrastructure in order to accommodate the shift? Building Specifier’s Joe Bradbury investigates:

The last four years have seen a remarkable surge in demand for electric vehicles in the UK – new registrations of plug-in cars increased from 3,500 in 2013 to more than 214,000 by the end of May 2019. There has also been a huge increase in the number of pure-electric and plug-in hybrid models available in the UK with many of the top manufacturers in the UK now offering a number of EVs as part of their model range.

Figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) each month show that electric car sales in the UK have risen dramatically over the past few years. While only around 500 electric cars were registered per month during the first half of 2014, this rose exponentially to an average of 5,000 per month during 2018.

By the end of 2018, almost 60,000 plug-in cars had been registered over the course of the year – a new record. This significantly improved upon the previous record, set in 2017, increasing it by more than 13,000 units. By the end of the year, plug-in cars as a proportion of total UK registrations reached 3.8%, and averaged over 2018 electric cars represented 2.7 per cent of the total new car market in the UK.

The electric car market continues to grow quickly, with more than 164,100 pure-electric cars on UK roads at the end of September 2020 – and over 373,600 plug-in models including plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).

Government are backing the shift towards electric vehicles, with the Department of Transport recently announcing a government boost of £50 million to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles. The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS), which provides up to £350 towards a charge point, has also recently been expanded to include people in rented and leasehold accommodation, and the Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) will also be opened up allowing charities and small businesses such as B&Bs to benefit from funding, boosting access to EV charging in rural areas.

How will this affect our built environment?

The rising number of electric vehicles on our road will undoubtedly have an effect on the built environment. The infrastructure we are all used to would need to evolve with the changing times.

It is to be expected that petrol station numbers will gradually reduce or adapt to provide electric vehicle charging facilities. Coupled with this would be appropriate amenity services for drivers and passengers whilst waiting for their vehicles to charge. (Many major fuel companies are already adapting stations in anticipation of this.)

The service stations, roadside restaurants and hotels that line our motorways are all going to need to adapt to receive large numbers of clientele in electric vehicles and businesses will also need to consider installing charging points on site so that employees can charge their cars whilst they work.

The most notable change to cities will be the addition of charging points. Charging stations will become commonplace on car parks, municipal and multi-storey, private or public, outside supermarkets and restaurants etc. Since many potential electrical vehicle owners don’t own their own garages or driveways, retailers will capitalise on vehicle charging a great way of securing regular, captive customers.

The UK government is also set to introduce new legislation whereby all new-build homes will need to be fitted with electric car chargers. This will have cost and technical implications if all new apartments have to have a charging point with their allocated parking spaces – and of course maintenance and management implications including how the electricity is paid for.

The local electricity infrastructure may very well need to upgrade due to the increased load of multiple electric vehicles charging, pushing development costs upwards and introducing a need for space for electrical equipment.

Needless to say, there will be much work that will need to be done and the construction industry stands to benefit greatly.

 

Speaking to Buildingspecifier Martin Fahey, Head of Sustainability and Mitsubishi Electric commented:

As we move towards a fully electric economy, with everything powered by energy from a renewable source, we will see electric cars become mainstream. This will require not only our homes, but also our communities and workplaces to change so that everyone can easily power their vehicles. It will also mean better power storage at home and at work, and we are already seeing advances in battery technology which will allow storage of energy from PV and from other renewable sources, that can then be re-used to power our lighting, cooking and air source heat pump heating … and of course, our cars.

 

The current limitations of our infrastructure

Unfortunately, analysis suggests that a “patchy” network of charging points is currently preventing British drivers from fully embracing the benefits electric cars, something the government have said that they plan to address going forward.

The RAC have repeatedly stated the current network is the main deterrents for consumers considering a swap to electric cars. Over 35% of local authorities have ten or fewer locations where drivers can plug in their vehicles, with wide variation across the country.

Out of 385 authorities, only three had 100 or more charging locations. Milton Keynes was found to be leading the way with 138, followed by Westminster with 131 and Cornwall with 115. Overall, two thirds of local authorities were found to have 20 or fewer. Only one charging location was identified in Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, North Dorset and Hinckley and Bosworth in the dataset.

The Department for Transport says 80% of charging is done at home, but for drivers who do not have access to off-street parking access to charging points is essential.

 

A collaborative solution?

Lympstone resident Joel Teague recently launched Co Charger, a new platform enabling those who do have electric car chargers, whether motorists, businesses or community buildings to share them with neighbours who don’t.

“Five years ago a neighbour in Lympstone convinced me, a card-carrying petrol head to get an electric car,” explains Joel. “The car arrived but my charger was delayed and I found myself giving that same neighbour a few quid to use their charger once a week until mine arrived. It led to a lightbulb moment where I thought of all the people blocked from getting an electric vehicle because they live in a flat or terraced house and don’t have anywhere to charge. It prompted me to launch Co Charger, a ‘matchmaking’ app connecting hosts with a charger with neighbours who want somewhere to charge, helping to create cleaner, greener neighbourhoods and fight climate change. Most importantly, it also means that those who would love to have an electric car will finally be able to buy one – confident in the knowledge that they can charge reliably and economically with a local host.”

The Co Charger app is free to download and there are no subscriptions. Hosts can be private individuals or any organisation with an electric charger, such as a community centre, church hall or doctors’ surgery.

Joel concluded that “easy access to EV charging should be for everyone – not just homeowners with driveways. Previously motorists in rented accommodation or in rural areas might have felt unable to transition to an EV, but this is a significant step towards ensuring that no-one is ‘locked out’ of the electric vehicle revolution. But this levels the playing field and recognises the importance of leaseholders, tenants and small businesses in helping their neighbourhood to go electric.”

“It’s great to see the government backing the installation of more charger points in rented and leasehold accommodation and in the car parks of small businesses. What can make these schemes even more effective is if a proportion of those charge points are shared – enabling
Motorists who live in flats and terraced houses to buy an electric car.”

By 2025, it’s estimated that one in six of all new cars worldwide will be electric.

In summary

A few short years ago it was almost fashionable to mock the warnings of where global warming might take our environment. Those who called for action were laughed off as fanatics with nothing better to do. However a new and worried generation now regards those once laughed at, not as fanatics but realists.

As a result the momentum for action to prevent is growing, almost equally in proportion to the fear that it may be too late for prevention.

Globally in 2018 transportation was responsible for 21% of carbon emissions and 15% of that could be immediately attributed to road vehicles. Not surprisingly the new reflection on the state of the planet is driving the market for electric vehicles and as it does, so increases the need for available power sources for the new green machines.

China has the largest population in the world and perhaps as a result, is also the biggest producer of carbon. It is a strange juxtaposition to note that in terms of its market take up of EV’s, whilst it is nowhere near as great per capita as in other major countries, its provision of public charging stations has a ratio of one charging point per 9 vehicles, beating every country with the exception of the Netherlands.

If one chooses to take a positive spin on this factor it could be viewed as a willingness to prepare for the coming of the electric vehicle age. If that is the case should we look closer to home at our own provision, currently running at a ratio of one charging point per 32 vehicles, more than three times that of China.

Our vehicles are a further extension of the convenience evolution that has become part of our everyday lives, an evolution with the prime benefit of time saving, but what practical use are electric vehicle’s if we have to hang around a public charge point, in line with 32 other vehicles and then wait another hour or more for the delivery of a charge that will get us to our destination? Perhaps the answer will be in preparation, and to that end would it not be sensible to build in charging points at the construction stage of all new homes, in the same way that we site a kitchen sink or any of the other modern home essentials.

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Is airtightness exacerbating ill-health amidst the pandemic?

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Government incentives designed to encourage energy efficiency, coupled with technological advancements, have applied pressure on the construction industry to build increasingly airtight buildings of late. However, high levels of airtightness and poor ventilation are building up major health problems in new housing, according to a study by Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit (Mearu). Building Specifier’s Joe Bradbury investigates:

Researchers at Mearu have uncovered serious indoor air quality (IAQ) problems in a wide range of new homes that had been built to be airtight and, as a result, were increasing instances of asthma and other respiratory problems in occupants.

Mearu studied 200 modern homes and found widespread evidence of poor ventilation, with bedrooms being a particular problem. The unit has produced a public awareness film urging people to ventilate their homes properly by “keeping vents or windows open when cooking, showering and cleaning; drying laundry near an open window; and opening windows at night.”

Head of Mearu Professor Tim Sharpe said “Poor indoor air quality is hard for people to detect. There are clear links between poor ventilation and ill health, so people need to be aware of the build-up of CO2 and other pollutants in their homes, and their potential impact on health.

“Modern homes are increasingly airtight and can also contain a great number of pollutants and chemicals, many of which can have serious health effects.”

Airtightness in a post-COVID world

Covid-19 has shone a spotlight on the devastating consequences of having respiratory issues. Seeing people gasp for air in hospital beds on respirators is hardly an image we are likely to forget in a hurry. However, it isn’t just coronavirus that attacks the lungs. Poor indoor air quality is linked to cancer, lung disease, COPD and asthma amongst other potentially fatal conditions.

On average, 3 people a day die from asthma alone. There are 5.4 million people (1.1 million children and 4.3 million adults) in Great Britain known to be suffering from the condition… and they are just the ones that came forward for treatment. An untold number battle through their symptoms undiagnosed. The UK has some of the highest asthma rates in Europe. Every day, the lives of three families are devastated by the death of a loved one to an asthma attack, and tragically two thirds of these deaths are preventable.

Indoor air quality is essential in the treatment and prevention of Asthma, along with many other respiratory conditions.

If you are building a new domestic property or commercial property of a certain size, it will need to undergo air tightness testing. This assesses the building for ‘air permeability’, checking for air leakage through gaps, holes and other areas. The Government has SAP (Standard Assessment Procedures) in place for air tightness testing, setting standards buildings must comply with to be energy efficient.

Airtightness in buildings has improved to such a degree in recent years and ventilation has had to play catch up. Adequate ventilation in airtight buildings is essential and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems offer that effective, efficient and clean way of ventilation so sorely needed by people living in poor quality air across Britain today.

Ventilation is the answer

MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery) provides fresh filtered air into a building whilst retaining most of the energy that has already been used in heating the building. Heat Recovery Ventilation is the solution to the ventilation needs of energy efficient buildings. Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR), heat recovery ventilation (HRV) or Comfort ventilation are all names for the same thing. A heat recovery ventilation system properly fitted into a house provides a constant supply of fresh filtered air, maintaining the air quality whilst being practically imperceptible.

MVHR works by extracting the air from the polluted sources e.g. kitchen, bathroom, toilets and utility rooms and supplying air to the ‘living’ rooms e.g. bedrooms, living rooms, studies etc. The extracted air is taken through a central heat exchanger and the heat recovered into the supply air. This works both ways, if the air inside the building is colder than the outside air then the building will retain its nice and cool temperature.

In a recent article featured on renewables experts Mitsubishi’s news site ‘The Hub’, Paul McLaughlin, chief executive of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) said “a well-sealed building envelope combined with effective filtration of incoming supply air can reduce particle penetration by 78%. Considerable investment has already been made in improving the airtightness of buildings to reduce energy consumption and that same process can be used to manage air quality.”

“The general public already understands the impact temperature has on healthy and productive conditions inside buildings — we now need to stress that the same principle should apply to air quality.

“When it is too hot or cold outside, people now expect to be able to enjoy comfortable temperatures inside. They should also expect similar protection from rising air pollution.”

As an industry, we are responsible for the comfort and wellbeing of the occupants of the buildings we make and maintain. It’s also our duty to ensure we are taking adequate steps towards renewables. Especially these days! MVHR can tick both of these boxes, so it’s time to sit up and take note.

Bringing the fresh air indoors

When we are inside the home, an indoor workplace (or any other type of building, for that matter), we are placing ourselves unwittingly at the mercy of the air within that building. Any chemicals, toxins or pollutants are drawn into our bodies and can cause headaches, eye irritation, skin problems, allergies and fatigue. Prolonged exposure to more serious pollutants can even cause certain types of cancers and other long-term health complications. As specifiers building structures designed for people, we have to consider this in our projects and ensure we do everything within our power to protect occupants from the invisible menace of unclean air.

MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery) provides fresh filtered air into a building whilst retaining most of the energy that has already been used in heating the building. Innovations within the field of airtightness in buildings have happened so rapidly in recent years and ventilation and heat recovery have had to play catch up to keep up with the momentum. Adequate ventilation in airtight buildings is essential and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems offer that effective, efficient and clean way of ventilation so sorely needed by people living in poor quality air across Britain today.

In summary

The general public understands the impact temperature has on healthy and productive conditions inside buildings sadly all too well; fuel poverty and winter deaths take centre stage in our newspapers and magazines. Unfortunately, the fact that air quality is equally as impactful on society is regularly overlooked, especially in 2021 when the news is dominated with COVID, Brexit and not much else…

Regardless of how hot or cold it may be outside, people have come to expect comfortable indoor temperatures. They demand that from their buildings. They now need to invoke the same demand for protection from harmful air pollution. Get either wrong and you run the risk of harming your occupants.

Warmth and clean air to breathe is essential. As an industry, we are responsible for the comfort and wellbeing of the occupants of the built environment. We must also ensure we are moving forward towards renewables, otherwise I would argue that we aren’t moving forward at all. MVHR just might be the answer.

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Grenfell: The Far Reaching Ripples

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Nearly 4 years on, Buildingspecifier’s Joe Bradbury takes a look at the ongoing subject of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and raises concern about those still living at risk of death by fire in inadequately protected properties together with the wider  impact on individual homeowners, who find themselves financially trapped in properties they cannot sell.

 

The horrific fire that broke out in 24-storey Grenfell Tower in 2017 brought fire safety to the forefront of our attention, causing 72 deaths and injuring a further 70 others. It is considered the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster and the worst UK residential fire since the Second World War. To this day negligence is still being sniffed out throughout the construction industry and those responsible are being held to account.

The fire was ignited by a malfunctioning fridge-freezer located on the fourth floor. Once the fire had taken hold it spread rapidly up the building’s exterior to all the residential floors. For many, the image of the tower engulfed in flame will be painfully etched in memory for many years to come.

Whilst the ACM cladding itself was found to be largely responsible for how quickly the fire spread, police confirmed that the insulation used in the refurbishment was potentially more flammable and contributory to the inferno than the cladding tiles.

The impact of the Grenfell fire on its residents and community can only be described as devastating, and the protracted and tangled ongoing investigation does nothing to alleviate the suffering of those immediately involved.

The subsequent fallout spread like a virus throughout the UK, revealing concerns in buildings both new and old.

A shocking investigation undertaken by BBC Watchdog Live after the tragedy revealed that a number of new build homes built by two major housing developers are not adequately fire safe.

Fire in figures

 

In April 2018 a fire was started by a cigarette dropped at ground level in a new home in Exeter. It spread up to the roof of the house and then across to other properties nearby.

This fire sparked an investigation which found missing fire barriers at 37% of homes on the estate, where the fire had taken place. This initiated wider investigation of thousands of homes throughout the South West, where over 650 homes were found to have missing or incorrectly installed fire barriers.

The BBC investigation also uncovered potentially dangerous fire safety issues in developments in Kent and West Lothian.

BBC Watchdog Live sent their own expert surveyor to a new build development in West Lothian, to examine the fire protection at four houses, after concerns were raised by one resident whose house had previously been found to have inadequate fire barriers.

According to an article on the BBC website, surveyor and expert witness Greig Adams, who carried out the testing, found poorly fitted fire barriers at all four properties, with voids and gaps around them that would prevent them stopping fire from spreading. He said “What we’ve unfortunately found is that there are fire breach issues in every house we’ve looked at. It’s a legal requirement that the cavity barriers are to be there. It’s not optional – and with good reason: it saves lives.”

There were 573,221 incidents attended by the UK Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) last year. Of these incidents, around 182,491 were fires. These fires resulted in 268 fatalities and over 7,000 non-fatal casualties.

Unfortunately, despite our greatest effort in prevention, fires happen… and their impact can be devastating. With this in mind, it comes as a great shock to hear that many new-builds constructed by two of the largest house building firms were sold over the last couple of years with missing or incorrectly installed fire barriers, which functions to prohibit the spread of fire throughout a property.

 

Trapped in unsafe housing

 

Figures published by the National Housing Federation (who represent housing associations in England, social landlords to 5 million people) and Crisis (the national charity for homeless people) reveal the true scale of the housing crisis in England.

Their ground-breaking research, conducted by Heriot-Watt University, showed that England is short of four million homes. To both meet this backlog and provide for future demand, the country needs to build 340,000 homes per year until 2031. Needless to say, this isn’t happening at present.

The result of this is that those living in potentially unsafe buildings are constantly being overlooked. Whilst these residents have not so far suffered physical injury, there remains the underlying, quietly pervading threat that one day they too could be victims. More immediately imperative for them is the actual damage to their individual financial status and future. They find themselves financially trapped in un-saleable properties, as surely as the victims of Grenfell were physically trapped.

Whilst their situation is obviously nowhere near as dramatic, the impact of it causes ongoing damage for those affected and their concerns continue, seemingly without resolve.

 

Unable to sell

 

In response to the Grenfell disaster, lenders initially brought in stricter requirements for fire safety, demanding an EWS1 certificate to prove that the external walls of a building are free from material that is combustible, which led to the restrictions of buying and selling affecting 450,000 more homeowners.

Campaigners voice concern that approximately 700,000 people still live in buildings that have flammable panels fitted to their exterior and that millions are finding it tough to remortgage or sell their properties.

To combat this, the government decided that owners of flats in buildings without cladding will no longer require an EWS1 form to sell or remortgage their property, but there is still a ways to go if we are to free people from bureaucratic bondage.

In an official statement given on the matter, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick MP said “Through no fault of their own, some flat-owners have been unable to sell or remortgage their homes – and this cannot be allowed to continue.

“That’s why the government has secured agreement that the EWS1 form will not be needed on buildings where there is no cladding; providing certainty for the almost 450,000 homeowners who may have felt stuck in limbo.

“However, this is only part of a wider solution and we continue to support those homeowners who do have cladding on their buildings and where there is still more to do.”

Cladding, the Witch-hunt

 

Cladding companies have had it rough in the past few years post-Grenfell, even the ones who pull out all the stops to ensure their product is safe and secure.  To this end, the mindless witch-hunt must stop in order for the true lessons to be learned from the tragedy.

 

It should be stressed that it was the incorrect specification of the components within the assembly that resulted in the tragedy.
As Carlton Jones Director of the MCRMA (Metal Cladding and Roofing Manufacturers Association) pointed out the word ‘cladding’ is a generic term which covers a vast array of products and assemblies. Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) is a component within a rainscreen cladding system but it must be recognised that it is available in various formulae to suit the application for which it is intended. Correctly specified, using a non-combustible grade it is a perfectly safe product, but the specification for the application on the Grenfell Tower was completely inappropriate.  The lack of technical expertise through the design, specification and installation phase contributed to the failure and allowed this to happen, and this should not be viewed as the general practices of all companies involved in the design and manufacture of metal based cladding systems”.

 

In summary

As an industry, it is our duty to stamp out negligence. Law dictates that new build homes must implement adequate fire protection measures which meet current Building Regulations to delay the spread of fire for as long as possible to maximise chances of escape for occupants.

Fire barriers are an integral part of a fire protection strategy and in many new builds (particularly timber-framed buildings) the barriers form a seal between different areas of a house. Without them, experts suggest that fire and smoke can spread five to ten times faster.

It is therefore of the utmost importance that housebuilders uphold their responsibility, ensuring that all new buildings are fully compliant with current Building Regulations. It’s a matter of life and death.

Failure to learn from the mistakes of Grenfell can only lead to more suffering and tragedy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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