Citation
(2012), "Internet review", Structural Survey, Vol. 30 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ss.2012.11030daa.005
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Internet review
Internet review
Article Type: Internet review From: Structural Survey, Volume 30, Issue 4.
Stephen Todd, 24 May 2012
The web site information included below includes two key and other informative sites. If there are any other interesting sites or sources of information that you have found useful, please e-mail me at s.todd@salford.ac.uk
The building research establishment
The News and Information section includes:
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Fire Investigation (FI) Launch: Sir Ken Knight officially launched the BRE Global and FI UK partnership. Some of the high-profile fires that experts from BRE Global and FI UK have been involved in include Penhallow Hotel, Bethnal Green shop basement and Lakanal House.
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BRE Scotland Innovation Park: construction of the first building on the BRE Innovation Park in Scotland includes the closed panel timber frame system that will form the new Visitor Centre on the site. Designed to achieve a BREEAM “Outstanding” rating, the new carbon neutral centre will showcase the latest thinking in off-site manufacture, integration of technology and building management. The Visitor Centre will be the first of five buildings to be constructed on the two-acre Innovation Park, which is located on the former steelworks site at Ravenscraig in Lanarkshire. It has been designed by BRE and partners CCG Scotland's Off-Site Manufacturing (CCG OSM) team and Kraft architecture. As well as being highly sustainable and innovative, the building has been designed to be cost efficient over its lifetime. Its features include:
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a highly insulated building fabric;
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zoned lighting and heating systems that allow efficient management of individual areas of the building;
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an air source heat pump, solar water heating and an array of photovoltaic panels to satisfy space heating, hot water and electrical power demands; and
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an extensive building management system to ensure that every aspect of the building's performance can be monitored and managed.The centre will be launched by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond in September. The construction of four full-scale demonstration houses will follow on shortly, showcasing affordability, energy and resource efficiency and lower carbon emissions.
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Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) raises the confidence in performance of watermist systems. LPCB has issued a new Loss Prevention Standard (LPS 1283 – Requirements and test methods for the certification of watermist systems for use in commercial low hazard occupancies) to support the increasing use of watermist technology in fire suppression applications for low hazard commercial occupancies. Watermist has the potential to be a highly efficient method of fire protection but as with the introduction of all new technologies, standards and third-party approvals are required to ensure robust systems with clear limits of application are available to the market. LPS 1283 evaluates the operational performance of a watermist system and its’ components including an assessment of the fire performance of the system using fire tests based on DD 8489 Part 7 (Fixed Fire Protection Systems – Industrial and Commercial Watermist Systems Part 7: Tests and requirements for watermist systems for the protection of low hazard occupancies). The scheme also employs a methodology for defining the scope of each application and specifies appropriate limits of use. By specifying LPS1283 for watermist systems, end users will have confidence that the approved system has meet the component, system and fire performance requirements of the scheme and has a clearly defined field of application.
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Passivhaus developments: BRE's Greenprint masterplanning tool is to be used on non-domestic Passivhaus developments. As Passivhaus evolves in the UK with larger multi-residential and non-residential developments now being considered, developers and architects are being asked to demonstrate compliance with local authority requirements that are not directly addressed by certified Passivhaus buildings. Greenprint is a bespoke site-wide sustainability assessment framework that is flexible to the local areas exact needs. Developed in consultation with local stakeholders, the design team and the local authority it is able to address issues written into a local authority's sustainability plans and policies, but will also consider specific site and location issues and opportunities. Due to Greenprint's flexibility and versatility it is able to compliment multi-residential Passivhaus developments directly recognising the benefits of the certified buildings.
The royal institution of chartered surveyors
The Latest News section includes:
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Scottish Project of the Year 2012The Centre for Scottish War Blinded has been named Scottish Project of the Year 2012 by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Scotland. The Centre for the Scottish War Blinded is a new build, single storey day care centre for ex service personnel on the outskirts of Edinburgh. The facilities include a workshop, art space, training gym, therapy centre and remembrance arena. It is a very distinctive building in the shape of a dragon, so the building works on a long sweep with a twisting zinc roof. The RICS judges were impressed with the quality of the design, the use of good visual contrast, curving geometry and are utilisation of energy efficiency measures, including natural ventilation and a ground source heat pump.
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Private tenants pay more in energy than homeownersPrivate tenants across England are more likely to incur higher energy bills than homeowners, RICS reveals. The new report into how dwelling types and lifestyles can affect energy expenditure reveals that those renting in the private sector pay on average £31 more every year than homeowners and £90 more than tenants living in social housing. Those who own their own property are more likely to effectively insulate and modernise heating facilities than private landlords, and consequentially see a direct impact on their energy use and spend. However, a lack of incentives for private landlords to insulate their rental properties and update heating equipment is thought to result in higher bills for their tenants. Homes with an electric heater can pay between £196 and £898 more a year than households with gas central heating and is the single highest contributing factor to energy expenditure. The report, The changing effects on domestic energy expenditure from housing characteristics and the recent rapid energy price movements, also reveals that on average, those living in the suburbs are also spending more on energy than their urban neighbours – albeit by £9.11 annually. With the Green Deal coming in later this year and Government legislation planned, landlords will soon be obliged to ensure their properties are brought up to a minimum energy efficiency standard rating. However, RICS believes it is vital that tenants understand the procedures involved and the impact they will have on their energy bills. The RICS welcomes the Green Deal as a new way of financing energy efficiency improvements but it is vital that tenants understand exactly what measures are being taken, why, and what the impact on any measures will have on their energy bills. A mandatory Home Condition Report before the installation of all Green Deal measures would be a low-cost way of providing the consumer with a clear understanding of this. It also reveals how you pay your energy bills can impact how much you spend – with homes that use prepay metres spending £91 more than households who pay for their energy by direct debit, hitting those that are more susceptible to fuel poverty the hardest. Across the country, the southwest has the lowest energy expenditure, with homes in the west Midlands, Yorkshire and northeast spending the most to fuel their homes. A cooler climate in the north and west of England is thought to be responsible for the increase in spend – with households spending more to heat their homes.
Wildflower turf
This web site give information about Wildflower Turf, a subsidiary enterprise for the development the growing of Wildflower Turf to meet the demand for readymade wildflower meadows without the establishment problems associated with traditional seeding methods. Wildflower Turf generates significant advantages over the alternative methods of establishing a wildflower habitat. Changing colours throughout the year can be achieved with Wildflower Turf allowing for the creation of stunning wildflower meadows. The flower seeds mix in the turf is carefully chosen to produce flowering plants from early in the spring through to the middle of the autumn. The grasses in the mix are native to the British Isles and are chosen to complement the flowers and not to compete with them, which is a common problem with conventional “wildflower plugs” or wildflower seeding. This allows the flowers to succeed rather than be swamped by the grasses, which is a common problem with conventional soil-based Wildflower Turf or most wild flower seeding. The grasses are visually attractive while they seed, along side the wild flowers, and the combination provides a food source for birds and a favourable habitat for butterflies and other insects. The formation of a dense sward of turf, combined with the large roll size, mean that this turf acts as a weed blanket where the plants grown in the turf get a head start. They are already established and so prevent the establishment of weed seeds that are inherent in the soil below the turf. The seed mix has been designed to give a high proportion of wildflowers as well as grasses. The 50 per cent wildflower and 50 per cent grass mix is unusual in this type of mix and is possible due to the soil-less system. Conventional flower turf is typically sown at 20 per cent wildflowers and 80 per cent grass seeds. The great risk with this is that the grasses dominate the flowers and very few flowers grow as a result. The plants in flower will vary through the spring and summer according to the different species of flowers in the turf. The emergence of flowers and the type of plants that flower will vary from year to year according to temperature, moisture and available nutrients. This will ensure that no two years are the same (as is the case with true wild flower meadows) and gives a constantly changing landscape. Once established CT Flora (Wildflower Turf) has the added advantage of requiring very little maintenance. It will not require fertilising and only needs cutting in the autumn. During establishment it would need to be watered. Weeding should not be necessary due to the weed blanket affect of the turf. There are some very interesting case studies on the site including Paultons Park. Architects HPW Partnership, designed this new themed area at Paultons Park in Hampshire. HPW had specified a green roof and recommended Wildflower Roof Turf. First to be installed were 2,357 bags of our high quality substrate along with 100 m3 loose substrate to give the wildflower roots something to knit into and thrive on. Next an automated irrigation system was installed, and finally, 1,250 m2 of Wildflower Turf was laid on the roof.
VINCI construction
The “News and Downloads” section of this site includes:
VINCI Construction has delivered a BREEAM “Outstanding” at the BBC's Roath Lock Studios in Cardiff Bay. The scheme – involving a “drama village” of nine studio buildings, a main office, a bridge connecting the island site to Cardiff Bay and one of the largest free standing gabion walls in Europe – is also the first industrial building in the UK to achieve an “Outstanding” certificate from BREEAM. The scheme has many sustainable features and the project team were able to divert 96 per cent of waste from landfill through its waste management strategies representing a £1.2 million saving to the client. The use of mainly local suppliers helped save 90 t of CO2 a month and the use of a green energy tariff saved a further 100 t of CO2 during construction. Water saving measures such as rainwater harvesting will mean 2.4 million litres will be saved annually. At 20, the energy performance asset rating exceeded the BBC's benchmark of 33 and the client's target of 23 and is easily within Category A.
Secured by design
Secured by Design focuses on crime prevention of homes and commercial premises and promotes the use of security standards for a wide range of applications and products. The principles have been proven to achieve a reduction of crime risk by up to 60 per cent, by combining minimum standards of physical security and well-tested principles of natural surveillance and defensible space. Secured by Design's vision is “to reduce crime by good design”. The company operate a licensing scheme and includes 450 member companies that are entitled to use the Secured by Design logo and use the term “Police Preferred Specification” on its products that have passed the tests specified by Secured by Design. The web site gives links to:
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Home.
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Crime Prevention Design Advisors.
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Current Members and Products.
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Professionals.
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Become a Secured by Design Member.
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Latest Secured by Design News.
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Links and Supported Initiatives.
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Media Centre.
The online Secured by Design Toolkit visualises new homes in a 3D virtual model to help build an understanding of security in housing developments and highlight best practice solutions. This tool allows professionals to explore the principles of designing out crime within a 3D CAD style plan. Scenarios covering the layout of communal spaces, lighting, mail delivery and landscape planting highlight the design decisions that would increase the risk of crime and anti-social behaviour.
EnOcean: green smart wireless
www.enocean.com/energy-harvesting-wireless
This web site gives details of the company's energy harvesting wireless sensor technologies. EnOcean pushes technology and environmental responsibility to the limits and its modules combine micro-energy converters with ultra low power electronics and reliable wireless communications. This enables end users to create self-powered wireless sensor solutions that are fundamental for efficiently managing energy in buildings and industrial applications. The idea that led to this innovative technology is based on a very simple observation: where sensors capture measured values, the energy state constantly changes. When a switch is pressed, the temperature alters or the luminance level varies. All these operations generate enough energy to transmit wireless signals.
K rend
K Rend offer a high-quality extensive range of silicone renders and finishes, designed to give a durable weatherproof coating and a natural finish. K Rend are the only UK manufacturer to incorporate in-house innovative silicone technology and are one of the first render manufacturers to have achieved the prestigious Kitemark license assuring you that vital quality, product safety and performance requirements are met. The web site is structured as:
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Home.
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Products.
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Literature Library.
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Company.
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Corporate and Social Responsibility.
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News.
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Contact.
Department of energy and climate change (DECC)
The main menu structure of DECCs web site is:
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Tackling Climate Change.
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Cutting Emissions.
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Meeting Energy Demand.
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Funding and Support.
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Policy and Legislation.
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News.
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Statistics.
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Consultations.
There are also links to the “Green Deal”. The Energy Act 2011 includes provisions for the new “Green Deal”, which intends to reduce carbon emissions cost effectively by revolutionising the energy efficiency of British properties. The new innovative Green Deal financial mechanism eliminates the need to pay upfront for energy efficiency measures and instead provides reassurances that the cost of the measures should be covered by savings on the electricity bill. There is also a new Energy Company Obligation (ECO) which will integrate with the Green Deal, allowing supplier subsidy and Green Deal Finance to come together into one seamless offer to the consumer. The web site gives further information which is applicable to the main associated groups:
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Customers.
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Industry.
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Stakeholders.
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Media.
The intention is that at a local level, the Green Deal will enable many households and businesses to improve the energy efficiency of their properties. The key focus of the ECO will be on those householders who cannot achieve significant energy savings without an additional or different measure of support. For example, this includes vulnerable and low-income households and those living in harder to treat properties, such as solid walled properties. A quarter of the UK's carbon emissions come from the energy used in homes and a similar amount comes from our businesses, industry and workplaces.