Archive for category: General News

With ever-growing numbers of people affected by dementia, there is expanding evidence showing the impact of the physical environment on their wellbeing. Whilst legislation sets out design principles; in reality, seeing as others see and designing with empathy are key to effective design.

By Mark Johnstone, Head of Commercial – UK, Middle East and Ireland, Altro

There are more than 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK and this is set to rise to over 1 million by 2025[1]. So dementia affects a huge number of lives – all those who live with it and also their families, friends and carers.

The term ‘dementia’ describes a host of conditions associated with the gradual deterioration of the brain’s functions. It affects memory, thinking, orientation, comprehension, calculation, learning capacity, language and judgement. Its causes are various brain diseases, the most well-known being Alzheimer’s, which affects nearly two thirds of cases.

With the introduction of legislation and expert guidance for designing for dementia over the past few years, care homes and healthcare environments are becoming more aware and applying best practice principles more often – after all, 70% of people in care homes have dementia or severe memory problems[2] so this is extremely relevant for them. However, when you consider that two thirds of people with dementia live in the community[3], and not in care homes, it’s clear that better understanding of these issues throughout the whole design sector is needed to change the way people with dementia are engaged with in the environments they live.

For many years, Altro has worked to develop products to offer those designing for dementia a choice of suitable, practical and effective solutions. Altro works with several partners, all directly involved in improving the lives of those living with dementia. One of these is the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) at the University of Stirling, who Altro worked with when developing new shades of Altro Aquarius to ensure carers and those with dementia can be safer in wet environments, and when developing the colour palette for Altro Suprema – solid, non-sparkle colours to avoid confusion.

The DSDC is the world leader on the design of services and environments for people with dementia, and believes that “Design is about more than shaping the physical environment to counter the impairments which come with dementia.” And that “Understanding such impairments is the first step towards creating living environments which support the needs of older people and those with dementia, keeping them safe from dangers such as falls, which can have a devastating effect on an older person; allowing the freedom and confidence to use their abilities to the fullest extent, in all things from the mundane to the creative; aiding memory in day-to-day living; and reinforcing personal identity.”

Altro’s latest CPD on designing for dementia shares learnings and recommendations developed through this work, and focuses on empathetic design: understanding how dementia affects those living with it, what that looks like to them and why and how you can make improvements through design choices, and meet the legislation and guidance for dementia design.

The Department of Health’s Health Building Note 08-02 – Dementia-friendly Health and Social Care Environments, was published in 2015 and is still current. It outlines design principles to aid design of new build and redevelopments and incorporates expert research and guidance from the DSDC and The Kings Fund amongst others. Within this there are 12 design principles, such as ‘Provide a safe environment’, ‘Support wayfinding and navigation’, and ‘Provide optimum lighting and contrast’. This is where ‘seeing as others see’ becomes highly effective, and for that we must understand more about visual impairment.

Visual impairment is experienced by many people as they get older – it is not an issue exclusive to those with dementia. However, dementia can add to the challenge of living with these sight changes, or someone’s eyes may be healthy, but their brain has trouble interpreting what is seen[4]. According to the RNIB, sight loss is often under-diagnosed in people with dementia because one condition can mask or be mistaken for another.

Visual impairment often means lower contrast sensitivity, poorer colour vision, less spatial awareness and poorer perception of depth. It can lead to misperceptions – when a person sees one thing as something else, for example mistaking a coat hanging up for a person – and disorientation – for example misinterpreting reflections on shiny walls as an intruder. Visual impairment also affects the way we see texture.

Altro’s Designing for Dementia CPD uses practical examples to demonstrate the impact of design decisions. Let’s look at image 1. What works well in this room is having a consistent flooring or floor tone, as this encourages a person to go through into the next room. Consistent flooring doesn’t attract attention. Use consistent flooring materials and finishes across areas where those with dementia should be encouraged to move freely – a day room to an activity room for example. However, the choice of skirting in this example is problematic, as when viewed from another room it could give the perception of a barrier, as it does across the door in this example. Additionally, the floor in this image is shiny, making it appear wet – it should be matt.

When looking to achieve a homely, non-clinical feel, it may be tempting to opt for patterned flooring, but as image 2 shows, someone with visuo-perceptual difficulties may mistake the pattern for objects to be picked up or to be avoided, and in doing so could result in a fall. Similarly with wall coverings, heavy patterned wallpaper could be picked at and damaged.

Although a lot of the guidance around design for dementia considers visuo-perceptual difficulties, acoustics and sound also play a part. In fact, dementia affects, and is affected by, all of the senses. For example, some studies have shown that people with mild to moderate hearing loss are more likely to experience memory and thinking problems. The effort it takes to hear and understand things diverts brain resources away from the ability to process, respond and remember the information being heard.

Disorientation and bewilderment are a common experience for people with dementia – this is exacerbated by noisy communal and activity spaces, repetitive sound, noise transfer to bedrooms. People with dementia need environments that are easy to interpret first of all. They need rooms that are easy to read because dementia can lead to confusion, and they may lose the ability to accurately interpret what they hear because of hearing loss[5]. Altro’s CPD on sound reduction explores these issues and best practice solutions in more detail.

Designing with empathy can make a huge difference to the everyday life of people living with dementia. Seeing the world through their eyes allows you to drastically improve understanding and make better assessments and recommendations.

There are many more practical examples like these in the new edition of Altro’s designing for dementia CPD, along with guidance and best practice examples and solutions, based on years of experience and real-world applications. The CPD has been designed to be interactive, promoting discussion with those taking part around the growing challenge of creating spaces that work well for those with dementia. There is also a new CPD on sound reduction which also encompasses elements of design for dementia from an acoustic perspective. Altro’s designing for dementia CPD fits within RIBA’s core curriculum and covers its seven ‘specification essentials’. To book a session, call 01462 707604 or email cpd@altro.com.

[1] https://www.dementiauk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DUKFS13_What_is_dementia_2021_online.pdf

[2] https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-us/news-and-media/facts-media

[3] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dementia

[4] https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/d4716cd3-2ba7-4f17-9d64-e3577c45cd81/downloads/Talking-sense.pdf?ver=1595543200019

[5] Acoustic Bulletin (Ecophon)

www.altro.co.uk

Bold decisions from Government this autumn can unlock a ‘wall of investment’ from private sector investors with the power to turbocharge the UK’s recovery, bring levelling-up ambitions to life and underpin the transformation to a net zero economy.

This call from the CBI comes just days after a speech from Director-General Tony Danker, highlighting some of the risks of failing to unlock the spending the economy will need. The UK’s leading business organisation is urging Government to go for growth in its Comprehensive Spending Review and Autumn Budget set for October 27.

The CBI cites ONS data showing £900bn of pent-up corporate cash reserves stand ready to be invested as the economy reawakens after the shock of COVID – but warns the UK faces stiff international competition to claim this prize.

That is why the CBI is urging Government to bet big on UK industry by reigniting its role as a market maker, making smart investments in skills and infrastructure, and reforming taxes to reward companies which invest in research, innovation and green technologies.

By creating a framework which encourages and rewards widespread business investment, Government can utilise the private sector’s financial muscle to drive the economy towards future growth.

Key asks of Government include:

• Stimulate longer-term business investment by committing to maintain more generous capital allowances beyond 2023, building on the success of the super deduction.
• Fundamental reform of the business rates burden, including removing disincentives preventing green improvements.
• Require all regulators to prioritise investment, net zero and innovation as part of their core remits.
• Focus on delivering a flexible apprenticeship system, turning the apprenticeship levy into a lifelong learning levy.
• Improve people’s life chances by giving them the skills they need to succeed through individual training accounts for unemployed individuals and those with the biggest retraining needs.
• Designate energy efficiency and heat as an infrastructure priority by providing a comprehensive long-term package of funding.
• Develop and invest in the decarbonisation pathways required to reach net zero across transport.
• Deliver on the Plan For Growth and Innovation Strategy, including front-loading the commitment to invest £22bn direct domestic R&D funding by 2024-25.
• Enable business to help level-up across the whole of the UK by commissioning the CBI in the Levelling-up White Paper to write the playbook for successful economic clusters.

CBI Chief Economist Rain Newton-Smith said: 

“Decisions made this Autumn at the Budget and Comprehensive Spending Review will define the UK’s trajectory for the decade ahead. They bring an opportunity to generate higher investment and growth with lower carbon emissions, and provide UK leadership in new markets.

“Right now, there is a wall of invesment waiting to be invested, with corporate cash reserves now over £900bn. Yet we know from our members that we can’t simply expect it to be deployed in the UK. We’re in a global race for investment in green technologies, innovation, and skills. We must create the right environment to unleash it..

“When we look back on this decade, it’s crucial we see a Government that took decisive action and unlocked investment. A Government that went for growth and made big bets for the UK getting ahead of the international competition. A Government that resisted the easy, play-it-safe option, and showed the ambition needed to target the big wins.

“If we miss this chance, we’ll fall back into old patterns of chronic underinvestment and regional inequality, and risk missing our net zero target. The prize on offer leaves no room for complacency.”

Further CBI recommendations – grouped in four key headline areas – include:

Smart taxation that rewards investment: 

• ‘Greening’ the tax system and pledging no further increases to the business tax burden to safeguard UK status as a leader in attracting global investment.
•  Introduce full expensing for capital expenditure beyond 2023 and targeted ‘green’ investment-focused capital allowance mechanisms.
• Reform outdated business rates to reflect green ambitions and reward decarbonisation efforts.
• Boost the structures and buildings allowance to incentivise sustainable construction – putting homes, workplaces, schools and hospitals at the heart of the green economic recovery.
• Modernise R&D tax credits, widening the scope to include capital spending and building in flexibility to match rapid change across industries.

New skills for new markets:

• Turn the Apprenticeship Levy into a Lifelong Learning Levy to unlock business investment in training.
• Turn Job Centres into regionally autonomous Jobs and Skills Hubs to encourage more people to take up lifelong learning and enable closer alignment with changing local jobs markets.
• Introduce individual training accounts for unemployed individuals and those with the biggest retraining needs to spend on accredited courses.
• Address skills shortages by removing barriers to recruitment; urgently updating the Shortage Occupation List and adding flexibility to points-based immigration.

Catalytic public investment:

• Prioritise the UK establishing itself in new and emerging markets by speeding up the development of major infrastructure projects, new industries, and cutting-edge tech.
• Designate energy efficiency and heat as a national infrastructure priority by providing a comprehensive long-term package of funding to make buildings more energy efficient and move away from fossil fuel heating solutions.
• Provide long-term funding to decarbonise UK transport systems and develop a UK electric vehicle market. While also using public investment to stimulate private sector investment and R&D into technologies to decarbonise heavier modes of transport (such as freight, aviation and maritime).
• Commit to a new Gigafactory plan to deliver increased capacity by 2040, delivering strong automotive sector and putting the UK at the forefront of low emission transport technologies.

Government as market maker:

• Deliver on commitments to invest £22bn in direct domestic R&D funding by 2024-25, frontloading funding to maximise private investment.
• Grow investment in business-led innovation, while requiring regulators to prioritise innovation, net zero and investment as part of core remits.
• Endorse the importance of economic clusters to regional growth in the Levelling Up White Paper – and commission CBI to write the cluster playbook and work with industry to develop a toolkit responsive to business demand to support and nurture clusters.
• Scale up the UK’s hydrogen economy by progressing policy on Hydrogen Business Models and allocating funding from the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, with a view to increasing funding

The CBI says action in these areas is imperative if the UK is to remain internationally competitive against peer nations where business investment levels – and public  spending in areas like R&D and green initiatives – far outstrips our own. These four government drivers matter more to inward investors in this new investment cycle, than anything else.

CBI Chief Economist Rain Newton-Smith continued: 

“These CBI recommendations can put the UK economy on a strong footing, remedying challenges of under-investment and skills shortages, while creating new opportunities to build an economy of the future through catalytic public investments and by Government playing its unique role as market maker to unleash new markets.

“Failing to enact the four enablers across Budget and CSR interventions will impact the UK’s recovery and ability to level-up. Inaction risks seeing the UK fall behind competitors, lose international investment, and miss our global commitments on net zero.

“The reality is that while the UK is one of the best places in the world to do business, we do not have the same investment levels as international peers.

“This Autumn is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change the UK’s productivity and growth trajectory, and Government must do what it takes to rapidly unlock private sector investment.

“The opportunity – and need – to forge a more dynamic, competitive, and future-focused economy has never been greater.”

Pledging its support for this years Fire Door Safety Week, specialist ironmongery supplier IronmongeryDirect has added to its library of fire safety resources. Aiming to stamp out the legacy of fire door neglect, the company has produced a series of videos and guides on fire door compliance that are free to view and download from its website.

 IronmongeryDirect is raising awareness of the importance of fire door hardware during Fire Door Safety Week and will be sharing advisory content on its blog and social media channels. During the weeklong campaign, a series of videos that provide a visual checklist of the five essential fire door components will be released to support tradesmen responsible for fitting these products.

The series of videos will cover products that must be accurately specified, installed and maintained to help safeguard the performance of a fire door. The videos join an extensive suite of fire safety resources offered by the ironmongery supplier, including its Fire Protection and Fire Door Closer guides.

Commenting on the company’s support of Fire Door Safety Week, Marco Verdonkschot, Managing Director at IronmongeryDirect says, “Improperly fitted or neglected fire doors are all too often the cause of casualties during fires and in many cases, individuals are simply unaware of the serious and devastating consequences this can have on the safety of building occupants.

“As an annual supporter of Fire Door Safety Week, we view it as our responsibility to spread the word and help educate our customers on the legal compliance and specification of fire door hardware through our guides and videos, to help ensure protection and in turn, save lives.”

Running from 20^th – 26^th September, Fire Door Safety Week is an awareness campaign designed to increase public understanding of the vital role that fire doors play in saving lives and protecting property.

From the 20^th of September the fire safety guides, and video will be available to view on the IronmongeryDirect blog at: www.IronmongeryDirect.co.uk/blog

European steel will burn through emissions budget 15 years ahead of time, unless new technologies are deployed within the next decade

• Only a quarter of these companies’ carbon budget remains, and current trajectories would see the industry exceed its budget in 2035.
• Companies have between now and 2033 to stop using current production methods and invest in new steelmaking technologies.
• The cost of transitioning is estimated at between US$4 and 34 billion for these companies, so they will need to rely on public funding and partnerships.
• SSAB and ArcelorMittal rank highest on their readiness for the transition, while Severstal, Metinvest and Erdemir are identified as being least prepared.

Tuesday, 14^th September 2021, London: A new report from Industry Tracker, the climate research house for investors, has found that the European steel industry has less than 26%  (12-35%) of its carbon budget remaining and companies must rapidly shift their business models to reach net zero. This means the industry’s existing assets could release 2.3 billion tonnes of CO2 in their lifetime, compared to a 2050 budget of just over 3 billion (based on the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions scenario).

The report, Steeling for Net Zero, provides an in-depth assessment of 10 of the largest and most impactful steel companies, that account for 68% of primary steel production in Europe, including ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel, Thyssenkrupp and SSAB. The research analyses how these companies are positioned to action transition plans and achieve net zero, based on their targets and existing asset portfolios.

Having been on an upward trajectory since the mid-20^th century, emissions from steel now account for 7-9% of all global emissions, and demand for the metal is on the rise.

The biggest contributor to emissions from the steelmaking process comes from the blast furnace. This is the dominant method of making primary steel and has been in use since the 14^th century. With this carbon intensive method, there is no way of achieving the required reduction in emissions to meet the EU’s 2050 net zero target. Reductions from efficiency improvements have all but plateaued – over the last two decades, the companies analysed have only reduced their emissions intensity by an average of 1% per year.

Blast furnaces have a long life cycle of about 15-20 years before they need upgrading. This is an expensive process, costing on average US$175 million, meaning these furnaces cannot be shut down prematurely without incurring write-offs. This risks companies getting locked in to carbon intensive methods unless they start investing in new technologies and timing their transition correctly.

Industry Tracker’s analysis finds that these companies will need to stop renewing blast furnaces before 2030 and have between now and 2033 to begin investing in new technologies, including green hydrogen steelmaking. The estimated cost of making the shift to green hydrogen DRI ranges between US$4 and 34 billion for companies, depending on the size of their current asset base. Using asset-level data, it is revealed that these companies have collectively used up three quarters of their 2050 carbon budget, and in a worse case projection, 3 companies have already exceeded their budget from locked-in emissions.

8 of the 10 companies analysed have emissions reduction targets, with ArcelorMittal, Voestalpine, Tata Steel and Salzgitter all making commitments to become net-zero, climate or carbon neutral by 2050, whilst SSAB aims to achieve this by 2045.  However, most of the emissions cuts outlined in these targets come after 2030, when they are at high risk of missing the window for investing in vital new technologies.

The analysis does show that some of the leading European steel companies – such as SSAB, ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel – are starting to develop the low-carbon innovations required to significantly reduce their footprint. This includes hydrogen-based steel production which can reduce emissions to near zero, as well as Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) which could cut emissions from traditional steelmaking routes in the mid-term.

70% of the companies in the report are involved in projects developing “blue” or “green” hydrogen production, including ArcelorMittal, Thyssenkrupp and SSAB. This is encouraging as it indicates they are not just investing in hydrogen-based steel production technologies, but are also getting involved in developing supply chains to ensure they have access to the large volumes of hydrogen needed to scale up this type of sustainable steelmaking.

For the most part, however, these technologies are still early stage, and they must be rapidly scaled and commercialised to meet global climate targets.

The current balance sheets and cash flows of these steel companies are not sufficient to support the cost of the transition. This means companies must leverage partnership opportunities, whilst subsidies, direct public funding and investment capital must be made available.

Carole Ferguson, Managing Director of Industry Tracker, commented: “Steel is used across many products and sectors that are integral to the way we live. However, with a large carbon footprint and a growing emissions profile, steel remains a problem child in the path to net zero. With momentum starting to build for new technologies, particularly green hydrogen, steel companies have the opportunity to break out of their current capital intensive business models. I am optimistic that with public support, cross sector partnerships and investment capital seeking to solve the climate crisis, steel companies have the potential to lead the way in the transition and drive the green hydrogen economy.”