• more exhibitors – 1,000 suppliers, the biggest showcase of sustainable construction products anywhere
• over 100 free conference and seminar sessions
• dozens of inspiring attractions and special events
• exceptional speakers including Andrew Neil, Terry Farrell, David Puttnam, Rosie Boycott and Simon Jenkins

All free when you register for Ecobuild 2010

We’re looking forward to seeing you at Ecobuild next year.

http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/new-for-2010.html

Ecobuild is the world’s biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment.

Combining an 850 exhibitor-strong product showcase with more than 100 free conference and seminar sessions and dozens of interactive educational attractions, Ecobuild connects formal learning with practical experience, and with products and suppliers.

Almost 35,000 visitors attended Ecobuild 2009, including some of the most influential organisations and individuals responsible for some of the most valuable construction projects across the UK and beyond.

 

Almost doubling in size every year since its launch in 2005,  Ecobuild 2009 hosted 857  exhibitors and 34,617 visitors at  London’s Earls Court.

http://www.climatechangeandyourhome.org.uk/live/content_pdfs/580.pdf

Proposals for the minimum energy efficiency standard that will be enforced from 2016 when the ‘zero carbon dwelling’ regime arrives were presented last week at late-stage consultation events organised by the Zero Carbon Hub. After months of deliberating over what is deliverable, the industry task group charged with making recommendations to the government has opted for energy usage of more than double that already being achieved by the leading-edge PassivHaus standard.

The issue that looks set to drive a wedge between future UK requirements and Northern European best practice is the desirability, or otherwise, of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. UK ‘zero carbon’ homes are put in the shade compared to Passivhaus, which does take MVHR into consideration.

Last week was the first opportunity for the wider industry to consider the proposals, and the Hub’s task group points out that it is still gathering feedback on the emerging recommendations. The government has said that it wants to announce a minimum energy efficiency standard by the end of the year after taking advice.

The emerging definition of the ‘zero carbon home’ was relaxed considerably in the summer, when the housing minister set the final 2016 target as a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions to be achieved through a combination of energy efficiency and low-carbon and renewable energy technologies, with the remaining 30% to be achieved by a variety of ‘Allowable Solutions’. The move was seen as reinforcing the need for a challenging energy efficiency requirement within the broader definition and led the CLG to commission the cross-industry Zero Carbon Hub to formulate an achievable standard for the building fabric.

For comparison, the PassivHaus standard already being achieved on the continent for a mid-terrace house is less than 10 kWh/m²/yr, which will prompt the industry’s zero energy champions to dismiss the proposals as not ambitious enough and a major retreat from the original zero carbon ambition.

Download the Zero Carbon Hub’s six-page briefing on its current thinking, decision criteria and the recommended energy efficiency specification at http://riba.msgfocus.com/c/1BaIVmGB1vP8OyP

Source: RIBA Practice Bulletin No 518, 29th October 2009

Good News In Cambridge.

Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council adopted an Area Action Plan on 22nd October that will see almost 3,000 homes built to level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, the highest level believed to have been required by a formal planning policy so far for a single development.

The plan also requires a site wide decentralised energy system which, if renewably fuelled, could save over 60% of carbon emissions compared to current requirements for the homes, student accommodation and 100,000m2 of research and academic space. The University is currently investigating whether a neighbouring site under its ownership could be cost effectively connected to the North West’s decentralised system, to help with viability in the early phases of the development, whilst reducing the University’s carbon footprint.

The plan also requires all non-residential buildings to achieve an ‘excellent’ rating, under the BREEAM scheme and a minimum of 20% onsite renewables. All buildings will need to be ‘climate proofed’ and the development as a whole designed to reduce the impacts of predicted climate change. Inspectors emphasised that the site had ideal credentials to deliver high levels of sustainability and that the University must strive for maximum carbon savings. To this end the University has established an advisory panel from leading sustainability academics who will create the vision and provide expert critique of proposals that come forward for this exemplar development.

Source: www.greenbuildingpress.co.uk/

Code For Sustainable Homes Seminar

All new homes will have to meet the CO2 reduction target of Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes (25% lower than current Building Regulations) from next year onwards with a timetable of tougher targets over the coming years. An increasing number of local planning authorities require new homes to achieve certain Code levels. Government funded housing already has to meet at least Code Level 3 in full and this is likely to increase in the near future.

Wednesday 4th November, Bristol 1.30pm to 4.30pm (registration from 1.00pm). Fees: £75 plus VAT (£86.25 in total)

For further information and to book visit our website www.ecostrust.org.uk, email alison@ecostrust.org.uk or call us on 01458 259400

Courses also at  www.hockertonhousingproject.org.uk/ViewItem.asp?ID=1007, emailhhp@hockerton.demon.co.uk or phone: 01636 816902.

AECB.net

If you are still getting over the shock of last winter’s heating bill, then you’re probably not alone,  it is clear that thermal insulation is important. The question is, how much insulation is realistic, and which materials are the best?

Current government advice for loft insulation – as specified in the building regulations for new homes (which do not apply to existing properties) is to have 270mm (10½in) thickness of insulation.

Unfortunately, our Government displays about as much understanding of energy conservation as it does of banking. The 270mm figure should vary with the material used. Fibreglass, is is at present the cheapest insulation material. If you started with an uninsulated loft, and added this depth of fibreglass insulation, the trade price for materials would be about £5.30 per square metre. The 270mm figure comes from calculating the depth of fibreglass required to provide the current loft insulation standard of 0.16W/m2K (watts per square metre per degree Kelvin) – referred to as the U-value. U-values are like golf scores – the lower the better.

Now,  the problem with putting 270mm of insulation between the top-floor ceiling joists, is that most joists are only 100mm (4in) deep, so the insulation stands fat above the joists, preventing them being boarded-over for storage. There is no point compressing the insulation to squash it in, because this removes the air spaces that provide the insulating effect. If you want thick loft insulation and a boarded loft space you could deepen the joists by adding extra timber on top of them or insulate between the rafters instead.

The depth required can be reduced by using a more efficient insulating material. However, most fibrous insulation products have similar properties to fibreglass. Mineral wool fibre loft insulation (sold as Rockwool), would also need to be 270mm deep to achieve a U-value of 0.16. mineral wool fibre. It is also more expensive than fibreglass, and would cost around £8.20 per sq m. Fibreglass is also available “encapsulated” in a metallised polythene film (such as Knauf’s Space Blanket), that makes it completely non-irritant to install. Two layers, totalling 300mm (12in) would cost about £12 per sq m.

The most thermally efficient insulation material is polyisocyanurate, or PIR, sold as lightweight rigid foam boards – Kingspan, Celotex, and some other brand names. The 0.16 U-value could be achieved using a PIR board 175mm (6¾in) thick. The disadvantages of PIR board insulation are its cost – about £21 per sq m to achieve the 0.16 figure – and that, being rigid, it has to be cut accurately to fit it between joists or rafters. This is easy enough in a relatively modern house, where the joists are likely to be evenly spaced, but in an older property it can be time consuming to measure and cut each piece to fit.

The latest green insulation products like Sheep wool is used to make rolls of loft insulation, similar to those made from mineral wool fibre. It is about 20 per cent more efficient, meaning the benchmark 0.16 U-value can be achieved with a depth of 225mm (8¾in). It is a non-irritant material, and the manufacturers claim that wool’s natural ability to absorb moisture in humid conditions, and give it off when dry, can help maintain stable temperatures within a building. Its one disadvantage is cost – from about £20 per square metre to achieve the 0.16 U-value. The manufacturers do claim it will retain its shape and thermal properties for the lifetime of the building, however, unlike fibreglass and mineral wool fibre, which will eventually degrade and collapse.

One complication is that while the U value [W/(m²K)]   is used above, some charts use k or R, all for measuring the same thing, insulation. The  U- value of 0.16 is equivalent to an R value of around 7, R-value is the reciprocal of U-value. R is preferred in the USA.

Useful Links:

http://www.theyellowhouse.org.uk/themes/insula.html

http://www.greenspec.co.uk/productpdf/Isospace1.pdf

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/loftinsulation.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/jeffhowell/5387409/Loft-insulation-stave-off-winter-bills.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-value_(insulation)

I was watching Kevin McCloud’s Grand Tour on TV  http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/kevin-s-grand-tour/ . He is one of the best construction presenters on TV, leading on fron the success of his Grand Designs http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/grand-designs/ series.  Its fascinating to see how tourists from centuries ago behaved, and how what they saw influenced the rest of the world.

As an Engineer I’ve always felt the architects get all the glory; most people talking about buildings in the media are architects, who don’t always understand how structures works. Kevin is a designer, presenter and author; with a background in engineering, a degree in the history of art and architecture and experience as a theatre designer, he brings many different perspectives. He was talking about town planning, and how wonderful it was to cut great chunks though a city to make some grand roads; then acknowledged that it would help to be a dictator to achieve this! He could have mentioned how the recent China Olympic stadium was build by destroying communities.

Dan Cruickshank on the other hand holds a BA in Art, Design and Architecture and was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Sheffield. In a show in Constantinople the other day (around the world in 80 treasures), he was talking about one of the finest buildings in the world, the Hagia Sophia. He said that ‘the forces supporting the dome were almost equal to those pushing it down’. Those forces must be exactly equal, or it would become a dynamic system that would collapse. Actually its one of the few buildings to be stable since 532, nearly 1500 years!

Dan is very good at showing his enthusiasm, but I wish they would get someone else to do the presenting.

This year the Eco Open Houses team are working with Brighton Open Door and Eco Open Houses 2009 is happening next week on the 10, 11, 12 & 13th of September.

Eco Open Houses is an event run along similar lines to the famous Brighton & Hove Artists Open Houses, where people open their houses to the public to showcase art.  In this case it is to showcase environmental improvements.  The houses demonstrate a range of energy efficient and water conservation measures, including insulation, renewable energy – photovoltaics panels, solar thermal panels, biomass boilers or wind turbines, natural, recycled and reclaimed materials, green roofs & living walls and low water use fittings and greywater recycling systems.

The houses that can be visited are:

• 1a Whichelo Place, Hanover – new build eco bungalow – open house, feel free to drop in
• 4 Whichelo Place, Hanover – eco renovation – please pre-book a tour
• 73 Wilbury Crescent, Hove – eco renovation – open house, feel free to drop in
• 3 East Drive, Queens Park – eco renovation – please pre-book a tour
• Ocean Heights, Roedean Road – new build eco apartments – please pre-book a tour
• Brighton Earthship, Stanmer – eco community building – please pre-book a tour

To pre-book a tour and see when the houses are open please visit: www.rth.org.uk/opendoor09 under the ‘eco’ section.  Please note that for four of the houses you must pre-book a place.

We hope you enjoy the event!

Kindest regards

On behalf of the Eco Open Houses team

In a U-turn that has infuriated the building sector, the Government has dropped plans to implement stringent energy efficiency requirements on home extensions and major refurbishments.

The draft consultation on Part L of the Building Regulations for 2010, which had promised to force properties undergoing ‘consequential improvements’ – such as extensions – to also implement energy efficiency measures, contains no such provision.

This is not the first time that the ‘consequential improvement’ clause has been dropped from building regulations – former Housing Minister Yvette Cooper removed the clause from the 2006 update to Part L Building Regulations.

At a meeting in London on Wednesday, John Fiennes, director for sustainable buildings and climate change at the Department for Communities and Local Government, said the clause had been dropped to give new Housing Minister John Healy time to consider all the options. However, there is no firm data for when the clause could be reconsidered. Andrew Warren, director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy, warned at the same meeting that failure to push forward on this measure will leave the UK lagging behind the rest of Europe. The incoming Swedish leadership at the EU plan to recast European buildings directives to include consequential improvements, he said.

One the stumbling blocks appears to the complexity and interrelations of existing legislation. The Code for Sustainable Homes will also be updated in 2010 and energy efficiency requirements must be aligned to those proposed in the updated Part L regulations. Add to that the ongoing consultation on the Standard Assessment Procedure for the Energy Rating of Dwellings (SAP) and you have a recipe for confusion – and inaction, say industry experts.

For more information go to www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/partlf2010consultation

http://www.aecb.net/ also has some better news.

UK Government Increases Funds For Energy Efficiency Home Makeovers To £3.5 Billion

The UK Government recently announced plans to increase investment in measures designed to improve the energy efficiency of the country’s homes to £3.5 billion. The plans will increase energy companies’ investment in the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) scheme and introduce a new Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP). The changes to CERT will bring an increase in the carbon emissions reduction target of 20% and in the amount that energy companies can earmark for energy efficiency technologies such as microgeneration and solid-wall insulation (from 6% to 10%). The measures that can be offered under CERT will now include home energy advice and audits, but direct mail outs of low-energy bulbs will no longer be eligible.

Meanwhile, the CESP – which will begin this autumn – will help up to 100 community schemes provide energy makeovers to households in low-income areas. The programme will promote partnership between local authorities, community groups and energy companies, who will be obliged to take part for the first time.

For more information go to http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/closed/closed.aspx