zerochampion

Government climbdown shock

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Thought I'd share with you the news of a major 'surprise'. The rollout of the Energy Performance Certificates has been delayed. The DCLG website has quietly thrown up a new timetable which puts back the implementation of the certificates by effectively six months. No reasons, just a new timeline. Timidity or realism?

Questions, questions

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Here's a pretty good indication of the urgent need for clearer information, training and guidance on the Code for Sustainable Homes. In the online seminar held on the Building this lunchtime there were no less than 162 questions submitted. These ranged from the general - airtightness, thermal mass, renewables - to the very specific. One listener who is building a three bedroom house in Dorset asked whether using flint-faced bricks from a demolished garden wall would score highly in the code. Apparently they do as long as they are left exposed.

The warm fuzz of freecycle

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I'm about to give away my first belonging as part of the Freecyle community. It's an old ghetto blaster that's collecting dust in my bedroom, and to my surprise there were plenty of takers for it, including a woman who had just dropped and broken the one she was planning to give to her teenage children. To quote recent commentor on this site Ian Kemmish there's a warm fuzzy feeling in both getting rid of something unwanted and helping out someone who needs your item. Surely this is transferable to large scale swapping of materials , products etc?

Housebuilders' eco-credentials under scrutiny

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New housing report launched today by Yvette Cooper. I will piece some more thoughts on this tomorrow. In the meantime the full report, which on an initial scan has lots of interesting stuff to say is available here.

Benn's cultural challenge

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So no sooner than a committee of MPs calls for a group to be formed to tackle climate change in a truly effective way than Hilary Benn turns up at Kew Gardens and states that a beefed-up climate change committee has got it all in hand. Coincidence? Yes, you can be cynical about the stance taken by Benn yesterday on the upcoming Climate Change Bill. But you can't help agree with his basic point that we all have a responsibility for this.

Dubai must grow up

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So there's going to be some green standards in Dubai. This followed news that the RIBA were planning to open up an office in the region in an attempt to bring some restraint in design. I'm tempted to laugh slightly wildly on both counts, given the task ahead. On the sustainable side, sure this this is tilting at windmills somewhat? After all, the region is selling itself off the back off a massive airport, has dwindling water supplies and seems to work on the following principle - develop first, think later.

New Guardian environment group

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The Guardian has started an online community called Tread Lightly encouraging readers to pledge to reduce their carbon emissions, share tips, ask experts etc etc. So far 1,512 readers have pledged to cut 1.64 tonnes of CO2.

Russell Brand on the BRE

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The last 10% problem

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I had a very interesting discussion with an experience project manager this morning. He voiced an endemic problem in the industry which he dubbed 'the last 10% problem'. This is being experienced at the extreme end of the industry on the biggest scheme of recent years, Terminal 5 - the team are in a bit of a panic to hit the March 2008 deadline according to Building. The problem is pretty simple - project teams lose enthusiasm near the end of the project, just when the need for effort and focus is at its greatest.

Rebuild or Regenerate

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Excellent thread of comments that developed earlier this week on the Building website. Readers were reacting to plans for a new 'eco-village' (when will we all get sick of using the eco-tag?) in Kensington. Brian Stores kicked the whole thing off by questioning just what the benefits of demolishing existing buildings in the first place to create new 'sustainable communities'.  Will the project "actually save energy or will it just look good under a green banner" was his point. Then the irrepressible Matthew (commenter-in-chief on this site) stuck his oar in.