Posted on May 29th, 2009
Guest blog by delegate Malcolm Glenister, Dipl. Arch. (Glos.,) RIBA, Director of BPL Architecture, Tewkesbury, Glos., GL20 5NX.
I attended the 2-day introductory course “Sustainable Building & Services”, at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, 1046, Bristol Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham, B29 6LJ, on 12th - 13th May, 2009, which was a very rewarding and enjoyably informative 2 days, with a small group of fellow architects in tranquil landscaped surroundings just off the A38.
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Posted on May 20th, 2009
On 13th and 14th May, Phil Clark, Editor-in-chief digital communities at UBM Built Environment pulled off an impressive feat inviting everyone from the construction industry to participate in the virtual event ‘Sustainability Now’. I was invited as an expert to take part, and had two slots over the two days where I would contribute to live discussions on issues close to my heart. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on April 27th, 2009
I’ll be joining Building Design’s exciting virtual event entitled Sustainability Now on 13th and 14th May. You don’t have to leave your seats, but do join us some time over these two days for what looks likely to be an event with lots of healthy debate, something The Green Register is renowned for.
Amongst other topics, we’ll be discussing what are the best scale-able ways of improving our existing stock of properties, possible closer ties between BREEAM and LEED, how the Passiv Haus method could be expanded to apply to non-domestic buildings and the old chestnut, the definition of zero carbon.
Follow this link for information on the event - http://www.building.co.uk/hybrid3.asp?typeCode=403&subTypeCode=15134&pubcode=43 and this one to register http://vts.ubmstudios.com/SustainabilityNow/
Posted on April 27th, 2009
It pains me to say this and even more to write it down but ‘Thrifty Dave’ (aka David Cameron) is correct in that the way forward through the economic gloom is to become more thrifty, although quite how the Tories intend to achieve this is not clear, least of all to themselves. We cannot ‘grow our way out of a recession’ as darling Alistair stated last week in the Budget report and at the G20 meeting held in London a few weeks ago our great leaders went even further by closing their eyes and throwing inconceivable amounts of money at the problem, perhaps hoping that the sheer number of bank notes would patch up the gaping hole in the economy. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on April 15th, 2009
By Guest Blogger Robert Borruso
The session started off with an in-depth look at global energy supply as it currently stands - which for many was an eye opener. Seeing the numbers there on the screen in glorious Powerpoint really brought the ‘business as usual is not an option’ message home. We moved on to have a look at some of the current technological solutions available to the specifier. It then became apparent that the hype surrounding a technology is rarely a good pointer to how well it really works, which simply confirmed some attendees suspicions. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on March 16th, 2009
The Green Register ran our regular two day Sustainable Building and Services introductory course in Exeter last week. Usually more than half of the attendees on these courses are architects but this time nearly half were builders. We were really delighted with this - each time we run these courses we get a different mix of people, all contributing their own experiences, frustrations and ideas for the future. This time the builders brought a fresh perspective to the two days, their contributions rooted in the practicalities of achieving well insulated, airtight, low impact buildings. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on March 9th, 2009
The Green Register (TGR) had a small-but-perfectly-formed stand at Ecobuild in Earl’s Court this year. The position of our stand was much better than last year’s so we received many more visitors including lots of familiar faces - friends, fellow colleagues and TGR members - and all of us staffing the stand were grateful for these visits which kept us going throughout the 3 days. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on February 27th, 2009
Guest Blog by delegate John Horth BA RIBA FFB, Director of Horth Architects
“Just got back from The Green Register’s ‘Build Tight, Ventilate Right’ seminar at the Create Centre here in Bristol, with my head still spinning. I don’t know about other architects, but what I look for in a CPD event is an update on latest developments, a bit of technical information/explanation and – possibly the most useful aspect - a guide to sources of information and support on the subject. Well, at this day-long event we got all three in spades. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on February 13th, 2009
The Green Register ran a half day free event to tell people about a brilliant on-line tool freely available to all – The South West Checklist (http://www.checklistsouthwest.co.uk/). Despite having been around for the past 18 months, more than half those who attended had not heard of the Checklist before so it felt really good to be able to offer the training (free thanks to Bristol City Council sponsoring the event - thanks Celia!). Read the rest of this entry »
