The ‘Disappeared’ and helping create the One Planet World

The only way to future security is to ask oneself – “what learning and skills do I need to help create the One Planet World” – then apply oneself 100% to attaining them

dd

The Disappeared

 

It’s hard to imagine that the employment situation could get any bleaker for construction workers in 2010 after something like 165,000 of them lost their jobs in 2009. But fears are growing that public sector cuts could trigger yet another round of redundancies. The question in the minds of many workers at every level of the industry will be whether economic recovery will provide bosses with the confidence to hang on to their people.

This year, experiences could vary greatly between disciplines. Architects took a crushing blow right at the start of the recession; now they could see their fortunes improve as developers bring them in on schemes likely to break ground in a couple of years. Already there are signs of confidence; Archial went back to a five-day week on 1 January and others, such as Purcell Miller Tritton, say they are recruiting in “strategic areas”.

Other consultants are less confident. Aecom’s pre-Christmas cull of 350 staff in the UK and Europe cast a pall on the outlook for engineers, and the continuing struggle with bad debts in Dubai (see below) will continue to weight on consultants’ finances. QSs are preparing for another tough year and are likely to bide their time before recruiting again. “We’re in wait-and-see mode,” says one senior manager. “We’ve stopped cutting jobs and salaries but we’re way off bringing more people in.”

This sentiment could mean another unrewarding year of job hunting for graduates. Chris Green, a board member of Capita Symonds, says: “Graduates come in with a lot of theoretical knowledge but practical experience takes time and mentoring to acquire, which is a cost that some people are looking to avoid. We are still recruiting but more for specialist training.”

Meanwhile, workers who depend entirely on projects on the ground are likely to face further cuts. “A lot of the main contractors have been relatively protected because of public frameworks,” says Noble Francis, economics directors of the Construction Products Association. “As that falls away we would expect to see them suffer.”

The Civil Engineering Contractors Association is also warning that there could be 40,000 fewer jobs in its sector by the end of 2010 as the public purse tightens and programmes such as nuclear new-build wait to begin.

The extent and the timing of cuts for listed firms will depend largely on their financials. A raft of poor summer figures for housebuilders following a stagnant pre-election run, for instance, could herald cutbacks in the autumn. “You can’t go to the City in September and say we didn’t get 20% of the money we expected in June and didn’t do anything about it,” says one housing expert. “The problem is: who is there left to fire?”

full story at http://ow.ly/U9nt

Read more: http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3155793&origin=bldgweeklynewsletter#ixzz0c19Osed7

 

2010 Part L2 Building Regulations – NEW CIBSE COURSE

 CIBSE Mid Career College CPD Training Courses
September 2009 – July 2010

I would like to highlight the following new and upcoming courses for 2010.

2010 Part L2 Building Regulations – NEW COURSE
23 March – London
New changes to the existing Building Regulations Part L2 are coming into force in April 2010. This course will give a comprehensive overview of Part L2 and introduce the changes.
Check different locations across the UK 

 

BDP’s Bridge Academy wins Scala award

11 November, 2009

The Bridge Academy in Hackney, designed by BDP, has won the Scala Civic Building of the Year Award.

The award was announced at Scala’s (Serving Construction & Architecture in Local Authorities) annual conference and exhibition in Edinburgh last week and was collected by BDP architects Keith Papa and Keith Watson, on behalf of the project team.

BDP design for Bridge Academy

Bridge Academy’s seven storey structure fits 15,500m² of learning and recreational space into a tight 6,000m² inner city site in Hackney, London. BDP acted as architect, structural and buildings services engineer, lighting designer and landscape architect for the project.

Related articles

• BDP’s Manchester HQ receives BREEAM Excellent
• David Ritter becomes sustainability director at BDP
• BDP to design Telford & Wrekin Academy

Read more: http://www.bsdlive.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=730&storycode=3153010&c=1&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AllNewsFromBsjonline+%28BSD+%7C+ALL+News+from+bsdlive.co.uk%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher#ixzz0c0GMtjGv

 

UK failing to combat child poverty – Service for the Nation

The clip below should be read in conjunction with

 http://trailblazerbusinessfutures.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/service-for-the-nation-in-the-one-planet-world/

dd

The UK is failing to combat child poverty, a leading academic warned today.

 

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities
Thursday 7th January 2010
Jonathan Bradshaw, associate director of the Social Policy Research Unit, based at York University, said child poverty rates in Britain today are still double what they were in 1979.

The UK is failing to combat child poverty, a leading academic warned today.

Jonathan Bradshaw, associate director of the Social Policy Research Unit, based at York University, said child poverty rates in Britain today are still double what they were in 1979.

And he warned that in many respects, the Government’s strategy to eradicate child poverty by 2020 has failed.

In 1999, then Prime Minister Tony Blair announced targets would be set to reduce child poverty by a quarter between 1998/99 and 2004/05, as a step towards halving it by 2010/11 and eradicating it by 2020.

Prof Bradshaw told the NEEC (formerly the North of England Education Conference) in York today: “As far as the strategy has failed, it has failed in its efforts particularly because it started from such a terrible point. The policies pursued started too late.”

He added: “Child poverty rates in Britain today are still double what they were in 1979. We missed the five-year targets and we are certain to miss the 10-year targets now.”

He did acknowledge that without the strategy there would be an extra 1.7 million poor children in Britain.

Prof Bradshaw said the UK had not spent enough on the problem, adding that at least an extra £5 billion was needed to reach the 2010 poverty target.

Much more than this was spent on bailing out the banks, he added.

While the UK is successful in some child poverty areas, such as improving housing conditions, the nation is far behind in other areas, Prof Bradshaw said, describing high levels of teenagers not in education, employment or training as “awful”. He added: “Given our wealth, our children should be doing much better than they are.”

full story at http://digg.com/u1Jgav

 

Las Vegas, NV — Since we’ve seen so many electronics companies improve the energy efficiency of their goods, eliminate toxins and put an increased focus on the greener aspects of products over the last year, it’s only understandable that the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show’s Sustainable Planet section grew 40 percent for this year with more than 30 exhibitors.

The products on display at the show include:

• Toshiba’s E-CORE LED light bulb, which was originally available only in Japan but is coming to the U.S. The E-CORE lasts 40,000 hours (about four and a half years if you leave it on all the time) and results in 85 percent less lower consumption and 85 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than incandescent bulbs. Toshiba is also showing its new LED Downlight, which is mercury-free, emanates few UV rays and is available only in Japan.

• ViewSonic’s new 24″ and 22″ VX50 Series monitors, which carry the Energy Star logo and provide HD displays with mercury-free WLED backlights, using less power than monitors without LED backlighting.

• Sony’s new Vaio notebooks, including the 10-inch W Series with LED backlights and recycled-plastic case, and the 3-pound Z Series with carbon-fiber and aluminum case.

• A prototype of OpenPeak’s Home Energy Manager (detail above), a home energy-management system that runs on OpenPeak’s OpenFrame device, a touch-screen communications center. The system lets users control home energy use and costs by setting budget limits and setting energy-connected appliances like dishwashers to work only in certain conditions. The systems alerts users when they are reaching budget limits and gives recommendations for reducing energy expenses. The system will be piloted for one year at consumer homes in Houston starting later this year to see how it impacts user behavior, how much money it helps save (preliminary data says it can cut energy bills by 25 percent) and how it can be improved. Direct Energy, Whirlpool, Best Buy and Lennox International are all involved with the consumer home pilot.

 Full story at http://digg.com/u1JgV3

 

Net Zero Energy Paradigm Homes

 

Written by Preston Koerner | January 5, 2010 | read more: Affordable, Single-family, Townhouse

After the setting of 13 factory-built boxes and the completion of construction, these net zero energy homes were opened to three low-income families in Lafayette, Colorado.  Referred to as the Paradigm Pilot Project, the development includes one single family home and a duplex.  The project was designed by HB&A Architects and built by All American Homes of Colorado for the Boulder County Housing Authority. 

According to the Boulder Daily Camera, Paradigm Pilot Project was designed to maximize solar orientation and generate on-site energy from solar PV, solar thermal, and a ground-source geothermal heat pump (for the single family home). 

In addition, the ceiling and floor truss materials came from waste lumber, the landscaping is partially drought-tolerant, the plumbing fixtures are low-flow and water efficient, and the appliances are Energy Star. 

The housing authority intends to build upon the success and learning experience of the Paradigm Pilot Project with a potential project in Josephine Commons, a 153-unit, mixed income development also in Lafayette.  We’ll keep an eye out for permitting plans on this future eco community. 

[+] Boulder County Housing Authority Builds Green by the Daily Camera.

Photo credits: Boulder County Housing & Human Services. 

First noticed at GreenBuildingAdvisor. 

Full story at http://www.jetsongreen.com/2010/01/net-zero-energy-paradigm-pilot-project-lafayette.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+jetson_green+%28Jetson+Green%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

 

BRE uncovers display energy certificate flaws

29 December, 2009

By Deborah Duke

Survey reveals public building energy ratings are not good evidence of real improvements

The BRE Trust has said that display energy certificates fail to provide evidence of real energy efficiency improvements and carbon emission reductions in public sector buildings.

The trust examined the display energy certificate (DEC) statistics of over 28,000 public sector buildings. A DEC is a record of the building’s metered energy usage and associated carbon emissions over a 12-month period, and compares these against established benchmarks to give a rating from A (best) to G (poorest).

The BRE study found that up to 9% of DEC data is unreliable as a guide to the energy and carbon performance of buildings because default ratings are being used. This is most common for job centres (17%) and academies (23%). A further 2% of DECs were found to have values which are questionable in some way.

Jon Mussett, principal sustainability consultant at BRE said: “Energy used in public buildings accounts for 4% of the UK’s carbon emissions. Design standards are improving, but we need to demonstrate that this is resulting in improved building performance.

“This study found that the DEC ratings for some schools recently refurbished to higher energy efficiency standards under Building Schools for the Future and the Primary Capital Programme appeared to be no better than average. If expected savings are not being made, we need to learn the reasons why.”

He added: “Thousands of buildings are now producing DECs for the second year – the government should seize this opportunity to detect and measure trends in carbon emissions in different parts of the public estate to help inform future policy.”

A full report on the finding of the research will be published in the New Year.

see http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=284&storycode=3155633&c=0

Read more: http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=284&storycode=3155633&c=0#ixzz0bBDWlEGf

 

The benefits of schools and housing organsiations working together

   

 7 December 2009

 

The Times Educational Supplement magazine published a feature on 4 December which highlighted the benefits of schools and housing organsiations working together to improve communities. 

See the TES Magazine article here

Download CIH’s publication Housing, Schools and Communities

 

 

What makes a Sustainable Community?

What Makes Sustainable Communities

 

Businesses, residences, cities, or towns which have been designed or already modified to underscore green living and the use of renewable environmental-friendly technology are known as sustainable communities. Due to the unpredictable climate change, global warming and its adverse effects on the environment, and the disturbing depletion of natural resources because of unsustainable human use, these communities focus on reducing environmental pollution by fostering a green existence.

Even though not every community today is capable of completely changing to sustainable living, many are in the position of enhancing sustainable living by making a few basic and simple changes as well as creating room for simple additions. The moral fiber of sustainable communities is renewable resources, justifying the reason why majority of these communities run at least partially, if not fully, on renewable sources of energy such as solar energy. Further, these communities will use energy-efficient appliances e.g. low-flush toilets.

A sustainable community development qualifies to be called sustainable when there is generally an element of a community based activity e.g. recycling programs or shared organic gardens. When a community join forces and work together, it can take shared satisfaction and oneness in their efforts towards a clean and green environment. Changing a community already in existence into a sustainable one can be a matter of many incremental little changes or a few large changes. The small changes are easier and fun to implement such as cleaning up litter, featuring recycling drives, and even creating a community garden…………….

Full article at http://carrieanddanielle.com/what-makes-sustainable-communities/

 

In the midst of a recession how can we develop cohesive communities?

The main findings were

• Public institutions should develop a cohesion strategy that co-ordinates the activities of the public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure that activities are connected, build local capacity and maximise resources – financial or otherwise.
• Individuals should take more responsibility for getting involved in their own communities. Any support from local government and community leaders’ is extremely important.
• Long-term funding must be in place to allow cohesion initiatives to be effective and take root over time, rather than for the duration of a single project.
• Young people have an important role to play so education and increasing awareness about people from diverse backgrounds will enable future generations to live more cohesively.
• Representative and accountable leadership at grass roots levels has a key role to play in breaking down social boundaries to underpin community cohesion.
• The impact of the recession is likely to lead to less availability of funds and resources for community enabling projects. It is essential that vital resources are maintained to keep community cohesion projects stable until the economy recovers.

The comments demonstrated that cohesion is not an isolated concern but instead encompasses many elements that are intrinsically linked to almost all areas of the UK’s educational, physical, social and other environments. The main lesson from the debate is that this is a vital area for continued discussion, funding and long-term development.

During the course of the two-week debate, more than 3000 people visited the site to view the films and the debate pages, with more than 85 comments posted.

Debate Place enables practitioners from across the sector to share their views and promote their ideas about issues affecting their work. It aims to highlight useful insights and inform policy relating to the planning and delivery of sustainable communities.

see http://www.hcaacademy.co.uk/cohesion-debate-findings