Developers are urged to set new trends for eco-towns

BioRegional and CABE has published cutting-edge principles for the agencies involved in developing proposals for eco-towns have. Their report defines an eco-town as a place “designed to make it easy for residents to reduce their ecological footprint by two thirds and their carbon dioxide emissions by 80% below 1990 levels.

Entitled ‘What makes an eco-town?’ describes the features of places designed for living within ecological limits. These include generous space to grow food; ample tree canopy cover; attractive alternatives to shopping as the default leisure activity; and substantial reduction in car dependency. It provides clear criteria and practical guidance on how the sustainability of settlements can be monitored and tested.

Eco-town developers have a key role in the areas of housing and construction and home energy, which together account for 31% of a person’s carbon dioxide emissions and 26% of their ecological footprint. The recommended criteria include adopting the Building for Life gold standard for all residential developments, and a 100% renewable energy supply.

The report describes how a 60% reduction can be secured in the ecological footprint and carbon dioxide _{emissions associated with food through measures which include making space for food growing and links with local farms.}

The report recommends residential areas should enjoy tree canopy cover of at least 25 % to alleviate the impacts of climate change, with 15 % canopy cover in mixed-use or commercial areas.

SET NEW TRENDS

Developers are urged to set a new trend by designing places which present sociable and healthy alternatives to shopping and improve quality of life. Recreation provision should

include great parks and play spaces (including spaces suitable for teenagers); and sports facilities and green gyms (groups keeping fit while maintaining open space).

Consumer goods account for 14 % of an individual’s ecological footprint and the target should be to halve the amount bought in eco-towns, with other measures to secure this target including repair and re-use and swap shops.

The report describes how eco-towns can reduce carbon dioxide from driving – which generates almost a quarter of an individual’s carbon dioxide emissions – by 80 %. This entails providing a good, frequent and reliable low carbon public transport, and supporting walking and cycling with a density of 50-100 dwellings per hectare. A maximum of one car parking space per household is recommended.

The report notes that eco-towns should be as much about creating employment and a local economy as they are about building homes. This will assist in delivering the transport targets as well as improving social and economic outcomes.

The report is inspired by the government’s eco-towns challenge panel. It draws on BioRegional’s work on building sustainable settlements and on CABE’s understanding of what it takes to create workable and sustainable places. The criteria recommended in it are a contribution to the debate: they do not represent an absolute or final statement of what an eco-town should aim for.

TRAIILBLAZING PROJECTS

Sue Riddlestone, executive director and co-founder of the BioRegional Development Group and eco-towns challenge panel member said: “We need to see trailblazing projects worthy of the name eco-town. Done well, these real-life projects should advance industry best practice, inform government policy and show how we can reduce our impact to sustainable levels and have an improved quality of life.”

CABE and BioRegional would like to see these criteria by all new neighbourhoods or urban extensions, not just eco-towns. Richard Simmons, chief executive, CABE and an eco-towns challenge panel member said: “If eco-towns are to have a fundamental purpose, it must be to show how we can all live and work in well-designed, low-carbon neighbourhoods.”

Image shows the BEDzed development at Wallington, south London.

More info: www.bedzed.org.uk

Rural housing charter calls for action

Nearly 700,000 people are now stuck on waiting lists for an affordable home in rural England according to the National Housing Federation and Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Over the last five years, the number of people waiting for an affordable home in country areas has soared by 37%, up from 507,757 in 2003 to 695,735 last year.

That means that on average 14,494 people have been added to housing waiting lists in rural areas every month over the last four years.

The situation is now so serious that the NHF and CPRE has launched a charter – ‘Save Rural England, Build Affordable Homes’ – containing an eight point blueprint, setting out how the supply of affordable homes could be significantly, and appropriately, increased in rural communities.

SCALE OF THE CRISES

Figures released by the NHF and CPRE expose the scale of the housing crisis in the countryside.

• The proportion of homeless households in rural areas has more than doubled over the last five years from 16% to 37% of the national total.
• In four South West rural districts, at least 11% of the local population is on a waiting list for affordable housing.
• In the Lake District authority of Allerdale, the number of households applying for an affordable home has increased by 107% over the last five years.
• In Dorset, house prices are over 15 times local incomes, one in 30 homes is a second home and waiting lists have doubled in the past five years.
• The number of households now on waiting lists for an affordable rural home is 311,989.

The Federation and CPRE fear that with the younger generation priced out of the market in many rural areas, unless action is taken to address the lack of affordable homes rural communities face an uncertain future. The only way to solve the problem is to build a limited number of affordable homes in every village and rural town where a need has been identified.

The recommendations made in the charter include:

• Ensuring that a fair share of future government spending on social housing is committed to delivering affordable rural homes.
• Restricting the right to buy in rural areas of acute housing pressure.
• Ensuring all rural planning authorities set ambitious but achievable affordable housing targets.

GOVERNMENT TIMETABLE

The NHF and CPRE are calling on the Government to publish a clear timetable for responding to Liberal Democrat MP Matthew Taylor’s landmark report into the rural housing crisis. Since the report was published in July, the Government has given no indication if it will act on its findings.

NHF chief executive, David Orr, says: “The rural housing crisis is intensifying rapidly, with more and more people being priced out of the market and having to live in cramped and unsuitable conditions.

“Ministers need urgently to implement the key recommendations in the Taylor Review and the Federation and CPRE joint action plan if they are to help those in need of an affordable rural home.”

CPRE chief executive, Shaun Spiers, adds: “Unless action is taken now to provide the affordable homes we need the future looks bleak for many people and their communities in the countryside.

“Today’s challenging housing market highlights the need for public investment to ensure rural communities receive a fair share so that they can have the homes they need. It also suggests a growing role for community-led initiatives, such as Community Land Trusts.”

More information: www.cpre.org.uk

New look shutters and screens

Hot news for interiors is an exciting collaboration between ParapanÆ and the designer Alison White, who specialises in innovative window treatments. Now, turning her attention to ParapanÆ, she has used it to take a new look at shutters and screens.

The product answers all the aesthetic and practical demands of the contemporary designer. Brilliantly glossy and high-tech, it is a durable, solid acrylic, which offers the ideal creative medium for furniture design and more.

Alison’s design for shutters uses solid ParapanÆ to frame central translucent panels creating a linear and architectural look. The shutters can be used to wholly or to partially screen windows, give privacy or (fitted with locks) add to internal security.

A second collaboration are modular screens supplied in sections and linked together with a clever connecting perspex hinge. They are designed to extend in width and height to fit any specific interior space.

High gloss ParapanÆ, already a firm favourite with many of the UK’s leading kitchen designers, is now being specified by top designers for a variety of creative applications in other rooms in the house.

For example, Jasper Galloway of Konig Designs wanted to maximise the built in wardrobe space to full ceiling height to give a luxurious, contemporary bedroom additional depth. So he choose black shiny ParapanÆ, because it is available in sheets that can be cut to any size.

The shiny gloss acrylic is highly reflective making the room appear larger and picking up all the design details in the room. The walnut trim and interior is the perfect complement to the sleek surfaces adding warmth and framing the wardrobe to good effect.

More information: www.parapan.co.uk

Complete solution for underfloor heating pipe placement

Opting for underfloor heating instead of traditional radiators in his conservatory has enabled Chas Smith, a retired export manager from Chippenham, to use his conservatory all year round – including on the coldest day of the year.

He had installed the OSMA UFH system plates design from Wavin Plastics the 4×3 meter space in just five hours, including laying the polystyrene insulation.

Chas says: “I decided to go for a stand alone underfloor heating installation because I didn’t want to have to connect the system to the main boiler for hot water, as that would have meant I’d need temperature control valves on all the other radiators in the house. This was the simplest solution without doing any major work or upgrading the existing system.”

The OSMA UFH system plates concept is a cleverly designed complete solution for underfloor heating pipe placement. Vacuum-formed tough plastic sheets have an upstanding grid of integral clips to hold the OSMA UFH pipe in place. The system plates lie on top of the insulation and clip together.

The system plates are versatile and easily trimmed to size to fit the room space. Full and half turns are held securely and even diagonals can be included if needed. The system gives full flexibility for layout and spacing and protects the pipe while the screed is laid. The pipe is held in place even while it’s walked over!

Flooring tiles over the underfloor heating keep the conservatory at an optimum temperature.

More information: www.wavin.com

Gas and damp barrier for brownfield sites

One solution to potentially harmful ground gases penetrating brownfield developments is Z-Led Ltd’s PROTECT GDB10 gas and damp barrier system. It not only stops any methane, carbon dioxide and radon from entering the premises, but also provides an effective damp-proof membrane.

When installed with the company’s cavity and slab edge protection system, the GDB10 membrane provides a continuous barrier for protection of buildings against both gas and damp at ground level. When used as an oversite membrane below floor slabs or suspended floors, it provides a complete solution in line with Building Regulations Part C and BRE Report BR 414 2001 Construction of buildings on gas contaminated land.

The multi-layer reinforced polyethylene/polypropylene membrane with integral continuous solid aluminium foil is supplied with full fixing instructions. Tough and durable, it provides tensile strength and enhanced puncture and tear resistance, yet it is easy to cut and, at only 15kg/roll, is lightweight to handle. Each roll is 40m x long and 2.5m wide.

Matt McAndry, Z-Led senior product manager explains, “Harmful soil gases such as, methane, carbon dioxide and radon can enter properties through routes including cracks in floors and walls, construction joints and wall cavities. These have to be addressed to ensure compliance with Approved Document C, which states that ‘reasonable precautions shall be taken to avoid danger to health and safety caused by contaminants on or in the ground covered by the building or any land associated with the building’. This is on top of other requirements for protecting the building from damp.”

The PROTECT GDB10 is complemented by a range of accessories to ensure effective installation of the membrane, including Slab Edge Protection Trays, Joint Protection Tape, and Universal Pipe Seals. A range of sub floor depressurisation products is also available to ensure effective ventilation of gases from below suspended floors.

More information: www.z-led.com

30 minute-rated insulated roof lining

Internal linings specialist, British Gypsum, has a ceiling lining board that combines high levels of thermal insulation with 30 minutes fire resistance.

Developed in conjunction with a major housebuilder, the lining board is an extension of the company’s Gyproc ThermaLine SUPER range, specially developed to satisfy the fire performance requirements for ceiling membranes in ‘room-in-the-roof’ constructions.

A laminate of 15mm Gyproc FireLine, a special fire-resistant plasterboard, and 40mm high performance phenolic foam, the 55mm board includes an integral vapour control layer to prevent condensation in the roof construction, and can be used in combination with Isover glass wool insulation to achieve ‘U’ values down to 0.19 W/m² K in standard 175mm X 47mm timber rafter constructions.

Fixed directly to the underside of the joists using 90mm drywall screws, the board offers all of the usual benefits of an insulated dry internal lining, and can be jointed and decorated in the normal way to give smooth monolithic appearance.

It is available to order from leading builders’ merchants and stockists.

More information: www.british-gypsum.com

Powerpanel for wet rooms

Xella Dry Lining Systems’ Fermacell Powerpanel H2O claim to be ideally suited to the housing arena. With no clear British Standards for waterproofing, these boards are said to exceed the varying international standards for waterproofing and have gained a European Technical Approval (ETA-07/0087) – for indoor partitions, and external applications: it can be rendered onto, but also used as stand alone facade panels.

The product was introduced because, historically, building materials used in wet room applications had proved inadequate resulting in, for example, mould growth and loss of tiles.

Fermacell Powerpanel H2O panels offer a complete solution to wet room applications. In wall construction tests the product provides high acoustic and fire performance – exceeding those achieved by other similar products available in the market – whilst still remaining competitively priced.

The product is easy to install and is based on the same simple construction techniques that are used with standard drywall materials. A range of Fermacell Powerpanel screws are available, including 3.9 mm gauge or drill tip where required. Staples – suitable for high humidity areas – can be used with a minimum 10mm head, 1.5mm gauge and 60mm leg length.

The boards are available through various distribution companies.

Daniel Thompson, the company’s regional sales manager, says: “Specifiers and developers want to use materials that are not only competitively priced but are fit for purpose. It’s quite clearly a false economy to buy lower grade materials and then find that unnecessary extra costs are incurred because of resulting water damage. With Fermacell Powerpanel H2O boards, installers can be safe in the knowledge that they are using a product which has surpassed stringent European building regulations.”

More information: www.xella.co.uk

Baxi has a renewable solution

Already well known and widely used, solar thermal water heating devices make use of free solar energy and can reduce carbon emissions of a property by up to a tonne per year.

Solar collector panels or evacuated tubes, either fitted onto existing roofs or built into the roof structure of newbuild properties, absorb energy from the sun’s rays and heats a mixture of water and glycol that is sealed into the system. This liquid is then circulated through a dedicated coil in a specially designed cylinder, heating the stored water, which is then available for use at the hot taps.

Ideally, roofs should be south facing, although panels can be installed on either side of an east-west facing roof to capture maximum energy throughout the day. In the summer, up to 100% of domestic hot water requirements can be met using a solar thermal domestic hot water system. In the UK, even on the dullest winter’s day, 100 W/m^{2 can be produced, and the annual average is that about 50-60% of demand can be satisfied. Any extra hot water that is needed can be produced using the conventional boiler and the second coil in the cylinder, or electric immersion heater.}

Ground source heat pumps take the latent heat from the earth via heat collectors, called slinkies, which are buried in the ground. As the temperature of the ground

below a certain depth remains constant all year round, this technology is particularly suitable for the UK’s climate.

The working fluid in the slinky is drawn into an evaporator, and the resulting gas is pushed into the compressor, where its temperature rises to 80oC. The vapour is then drawn into a condenser where it is circulated through underfloor heating where a temperature of 40oC can be maintained. Now a liquid again, the pressure is reduced as the cycle is repeated.

Ground source heat pumps are capable of producing four times more energy than they produce during operation and can offer the largest carbon savings of all renewable products – around 30%, or up to two tonnes a year – as well as significant reductions in fuel bills. Particularly suitable for areas without mains gas, they are easy to install and maintain, and work cleanly and efficiently with minimal impact on the environment.

Air source heat pumps work in a similar way. External air at ambient temperature is passed over a finned heat exchanger, which cools the air and extracts the heat into the evaporator of the heat pump. These heat pumps are easily installed on the roof, wall or can be floor standing and are particularly suitable where the ground space is limited. Ground and air source heat pumps are ideal for those living in areas where mains gas is not available.

Biomass boilers use carbon neutral fuel such as wood pellets, chips or logs from local, regenerated sources to provide a sustainable and environmentally friendly heat source. The carbon released during the combustion process is balanced by that absorbed during the fuel’s production.

Baxi offers a comprehensive range of renewable energy sources: Baxi Solarflo, a solar thermal hot water package; Geoflo, a ground source heat pump package; and Baxi Biomass solid fuel heating. Baxi air source heat pumps and additions to its solar package are already and it is already working on the next generation of renewable and microgeneration technologies.

New product development is mainly focussed around MicroCHP, combined heating and power (CHP), where the domestic boiler also produces electricity.

More information: www.baxi.co.uk

The flagship for sustainably-designed drainage

With recent focus on flooding and the increased risk that can be caused by urbanised areas, there is increasing pressure for sustainably-designed drainage to be implemented in new developments. Indeed an important interim conclusion of the Pitt Review of the July 2007 floods is that the automatic right to connect surface water drainage from new developments to the sewerage system should be removed.

Perhaps not surprisingly, environmental organisations often lead the push for more sustainable drainage. At Stamford Brook, near Altrincham, the National Trust sold 28 hectares of land (part of the Dunham Massey Estate) for a major housing development by Redrow Homes and Bryant Homes.

A condition of this sale was that the development must implement a longstanding plan to restore Sinderland Brook, the canalised stream that runs through the site and that a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) should be incorporated.

Hydrological consultants Haycock Associates Limited were brought in by the Trust to design and implement the connected river restoration and drainage schemes. The SUDS comprise a series of swales and storage basins designed to enhance ecology and increase amenity value, whilst ensuring that surface water runoff from the development into Sinderland Brook does not exceed that of a greenfield site.

Meanwhile the wider, shallower river floodplain that was created was unusual in increasing the level of flood protection both to the existing housing and the new development, whilst also being more “natural” – the scheme won the recent Waterways Renaissance Awards. This provides a contrast to the common assumption of flood protection being achieved through more engineered control of drainage and rivers.

The developers were initially sceptical of the benefits of either scheme but with the successful increase in aesthetic and recreational value, the homes in the later part of the development were repositioned to face the river, as those with a view of the scheme achieved substantially greater prices than they had predicted.

The project has therefore become a flagship illustrating that managing drainage and rivers in a naturalised manner can benefit developers, residents, and wildlife alike, rather than seeing these as competing interests.

More information: www.haycock-associaties.co.uk

New pump station for quick and easy installation

A new version of Compit, a pre-fabricated pump station for single- and multi-family housing, has been developed by ITT Flygt.

The pump station, which is designed for sewage and groundwater, can be installed at a depth of up to three meters – by using an extension shaft. Flexible and reliable, Compit is complete on delivery and ready for immediate connection to inlet and outlet pipes. The pre-fabricated pump station is made of high-density polyethylene (PE-HD). The pump capacity ranges up to 10 l/s.

Andrew Barry, ITT Flygt’s market manager, says: “All internal discharge piping is made of stainless steel and its bowl-shaped base and smooth inner surface ensures that solids cannot settle out in the bottom of the tank.”

With ITT Flygt ENM10 level regulators included as standard, Compit has the added benefits of a check valve and shut-off valve, stainless steel lifting chain and DN 150 inlet and is also available with concrete access cover suitable for pedestrian (Class A) or 5 tonne loadings (Class B).

Each pump station can be equipped with up to two pumps and is available with different pump types such as: Flygt submersible grinder pumps 3068, 3085 and 3102, each of which have an impeller unit specially designed for handling the rigours of sewage pumping.

Flygt submersible 3045 and 3057 sewage pumps are suitable for greywater (generated from domestic processes like bathing, laundry and washing dishes), while DX pumps handle groundwater.

Compact, flexible and robust, these pumps can be used in almost any regulatory environment. ITT Flygt can also provide system planning, design and installation assistance for sewage systems.

More information: www.flygt.co.uk

« Previous Page — Next Page »