Energy & Sustainability

English Heritage’s plans to establish 100 wildflower meadows at historic sites to celebrate the King’s coronation have been welcomed by native wildflower seed supplier Bradford Green. “Our ancient meadows drastically declined after WWII.

World Environment Day 2023

Denise Chevin reviews the NHBC Foundation’s report Building Foundation Solutions – Future Proofing Against Climate Change. It focuses on foundation design and its application in making new homes more resilient to the effects of extreme weather events caused by climate change.

Charles Creed, Design Co-ordination Manager at Façade Remedial Consultants (FRC), part of the RSK Group, explains how we can better manage waste cladding materials.

The National Federation of Builders (NFB) has hit out at plans for developers to buy nutrient credits for building on protected wildlife sites where pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus have leached into rivers, claiming that intensive farming is the real culprit, with fertilisers and animal excrement the main cause of river pollution.

The idea of resilience is at the very heart of the concept of competent construction. Ask any child who knows the story of the three little pigs what happens if you haven’t built your house properly and a malignant external threat comes knocking.

FVB explores the rising popularity of district cooling networks in Sweden, and how they could have a global impact on the road to sustainability.

In March, the UK government released its revised energy strategy, Powering Up Britain. The revision was in response to the 2022 High Court ruling that the previous plan did not provide enough detail.

Huw Morris reports on how England’s rivers and waterways are in crisis thanks to a cocktail of pollution, poor management, inadequate enforcement and absence of planning

Lutz Johnen, Managing Director of Aquality Trading & Consulting and Founder and Chair of the UK Rainwater Management Association, discusses water management challenges.

Following the Department of Education (DfE) plans to invest in school buildings in England, Alex Green of the Let’s Go Zero campaign said: “We can’t just be replacing like for like. We need to see robust plans from DfE for future-proofing schools.

Scotland has pledged to be net zero by 2045 – five years earlier than England – with both City of Edinburgh Council and Glasgow City Council aiming to be net zero by 2030.

We speak to recent CABE Webinar Wednesday expert Michael Vernon about the new recommendations found in BS8102:2022 for waterproofing basements.

How did Cardiff University’s Low Carbon Built Environment research team do a whole house energy retrofit for 1970s bungalows without disturbing the residents? Denise Chevin finds out

Build Test Solutions says accurate data can benefit retrofit programmes for hard-to-heat homes

The Welsh government’s Optimised RetroFit Programme sees Wales as the first nation in Europe to implement new solar technology for housing blocks

Research from property investment firm JLL finds that retrofitting rates need to triple to meet the goals in the Paris Agreement

The EU’s drive for energy-efficient buildings is being impeded by a major domestic supply chain shortage. This offers opportunities to grow local industries from heat pumps to rooftop solar manufacturing, according to a McKinsey & Company study.

A Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) report shows how implementing green and blue infrastructure (natural and semi-natural features, interventions and structures) can bring many social, environmental and economic benefits to a local area.