- Law Commission report says a specific review relating to rights of light may be needed but not currently on the agenda.
- Has the Heaney Case left developers in the dark?
Photo credit eflon
A new centre for sustainable and energy efficient buildings opens today in London. The Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings (CEREB) aims to provide facilities for research, demonstrations and teaching by hosting renewable and intelligent energy technology solutions.
The centre has been developed by London South Bank, Kingston and City universities and is located at LSBU’s K2 rooftop teaching facility. As well as trialing and testing innovative energy solutions, monitoring data will be fed back via the web allowing worldwide collaborative research. Thus providing an international dimension to the Centre’s activities.
More can be found here and here.
Photo credit CEREB
Dr Rachel Armstrong, teaching fellow at the Bartlett UCL, is this Thursday (26th November 2009) giving a lunch hour lecture on living buildings and metabolic materials. This fascinating approach to buildings suggests how buildings can be less like machines and behave more like biological organisms.
Looking at how a living system reacts to its surroundings through its metabolism, or how the reaction of one group of substances gets converted into another group – either with the absorption or the production of energy.
A metabolic material could take advantage of the entire surface of a building and use it as a dynamic membrane where metabolisms can be designed into the fabric which would allow desired interaction between the environment and the building. Dr Armstrong goes on to ask whether it would be possible to use this technology for carbon capture.
Photo credit: eco life
Ambitious targets for Britain’s carbon cutting will mean that households will need to spend up to £15,000 to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
The climate watchdog chief, Adair Turner, made the statement against a perceived drop in emissions caused by the recent economic downturn. Coupled with growing concerns that next month’s Copenhagen climate change summit could end in a less than satisfactory outcome, the claim is seen as a wake up call to home owners and legislators to act sooner rather than later. more
But is this costing realistic and how can we measure this outlay against overall cost savings? Certainly many of the measures required – boiler improvements, cavity and solid wall insulation, improved glazing – are currently costly for the average homeowner, however as time goes on and demand for such products increases, then the costs will come down.
How much value will home owners put upon such improvements when making a decision about buying property? Unlike most other purchases, decisions on whether to buy a certain property are an emotional response to a number of factors. It is likely that currently the environmental performance of a house will be lower on the list than the size, style, age and location of the property and will remain so for some time. However, as fuel costs rise then this factor will move up the scale of desirability.
As a long term decision, it’s certainly a good investment. If for no other reason than energy bills will only go in one direction…up.
Photo credit stevecadman
Cliff-House Kent by Foster Lomas
Perched high on the Kentish Coast and commanding dramatic views across the English channel, the Cliff House poses an elegant solution to some very real constraints.
Southwark based Architects Foster Lomas were asked to design a low-cost, low-carbon building in an area prone to land slippage. With a steeply descending site falling quickly away from an exposed timber structure the design of the Cliff House is as dramatic as its Cliff-top setting.
The timber frame construction has allowed for a high level of insulation in the roof, walls and floor without being excessively thick and should guarantee a high level of air-tightness after construction. Coupled with an efficient heating system and some provision of renewable energy, this house has shown that it can easily achieve level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, as was required by the Local Authority.
In addition to this the client’s brief demanded unobstructed southerly views across the English Channel. To achieve this the design has needed to account for the potentially excessive solar gains in summer and high heat losses in winter through large areas of south facing glass.
eb7 were appointed environmental consultants to this project advising on daylighting, solar design, energy and sustainability.
Read more in the Architect’s Journal Cliff House, Kent.
