The Green Register of Construction Professionals

We are thrilled to bring highly specialised WUFI® Pro software training to London for the very first time.  The  two-day WUFI® Pro Heat & Moisture Simulation Workshop will run on June 13/14 with expert trainers Christian Bludau and Joseph Little at the helm.

"Building Life Consultancy are delighted to partner with The Green Register to bring high quality risk evaluation software to London. We’ve taught in Dublin, Glasgow, and Leeds: it’s about time that London-based architects, conservation professionals and environmental consultants get the chance to learn WUFI!"  said Joseph Little.

The workshop provides a practical, hands-on introduction to WUFI® Pro ‘hygrothermal’ numerical simulation - the world leading simulation software for understanding the risk of interstitial condensation, mould, rot and freeze-thaw in buildings.

Both days of training include hands-on workshops using the software, and delegates receive the full version of the WUFI® Pro software with an 8-week temporary licence, as well as access to support on the online WUFI® Forum for that period.

"With the recent increase in retrofit wall insulation projects, one of the big concerns is what happens to moisture movement in the walls (and roofs). This seminar equips professionals with all the detailed technical analysis required to safely minimise and avoid interstitial condensation" commented Lucy Pedler, Director of The Green Register.

The workshop is open to all building professionals: architects, engineers, surveyors, insulation suppliers, system manufacturers, builders and anyone with a focus on fabric performance.

Places are limited and the workshop is expected to be extremely popular so interested delegates are advised to book early to avoid disappointment.

Full info on our events page

Director of The Green Register, Lucy Pedler, had her Bristol Ecohome featured in the Times newspaper 'Bricks & Mortar' section last week.

She has managed to reduce the carbon emmissions of her Bristol home by 73 per cent. "We use a third of the gas and a quarter of the electricty that a house of a similar size does" she said.

See the piece here and read about the specs of Lucy's home here.

Future Footprints: Building Products in a Resource Efficient World

Wednesday, 17th April, 13.30 - 17.30

Co-hosted with UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, UCL Roberts Building, Corner of Torrington Place and Malet Place, London, WC1E 7JE: opposite Waterstones on Gower St.

An event of interest to policy makers, construction professionals, product manufacturers and suppliers.

Background:  As the most significant consumer of the Earth’s natural resources, the construction sector will need to get ‘more from less’if it is to respond to the increasing pressures of cost, availability and environmental impact. The ASBP believes that this will require a move away from commoditised, generic materials, to a value added model; which encourages and rewards product innovation and intelligent design, for both resource efficiency, as well as building performance.

Speakers will review:
• Physical resource limits - raw materials, energy and location
• Options for reduction and reuse – UK framework
• The measurement of embodied impact , delivery through BIM and intelligent standards
• Examples of current best practice and how it can be encouraged

For more details visit www.asbp.org.uk

Cost: £100.00 plus vat

Special offer to Green Register members: 20% off

For enquiries and to book your place email roger@asbp.org.uk 

Pioneering owners of some of the UK’s most eco-friendly SuperHomes will host free Open Days in March. SuperHomes are older homes refurbished by their owners for greater comfort, lower bills and far fewer carbon emissions - at least 60% less! Achieving such a high standard requires major home improvements. In short, this is a chance to see eco renovation at its impressive best.

SuperHomes Week runs from 16 - 24th March this year. Visitors can expect to come away with plenty of ideas for greening their own properties. They’ll also gain a better understanding of the home improvements now eligible for Green Deal finance.

Most SuperHomes have superior insulation; many have alternative heating sources and some produce their own energy. Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian and post-war properties are amongst those open to the public. Visitors will learn more about both the benefits and challenges of eco renovation. SuperHomers are genuine early adopters who can speak from experience.

Director of The Green Register, Lucy Pedler, will be opening her home in Bristol to the public on March 16 only - see more info and book your place now

www.superhomes.org.uk

The Institute for Sustainability, in partnership with the Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (Climate-KIC) and the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) - a collaboration of leading London commercial property owners and investors - is running a competition to help innovative businesses to get their products to market more quickly. The competition will focus on innovations which improve the building envelope of some of London’s commercial property.

Shortlisted market ready solutions will be selected to pitch their innovation to the BBP’s membership for the opportunity to demonstrate their solutions in situ. Shortlisted close to market entries will be considered for Climate-KIC support to help develop their solutions further. Support will be assessed on a case by case basis and could include incubator support, testing, marketing advice, innovation vouchers or further R&D assistance.

The closing date for entries is this Friday (22 February) so there is still time for you to enter and compete for the opportunity to pitch your innovation to the BBP’s membership.

For more information and to enter, visit www.instituteforsustainability.co.uk/news/29-jan-2013.html

The challenge criteria have been shaped by a BBP working group of representatives from Hammerson, Land Securities and Legal and General Investment Management.

The competition is intended to stimulate as many low disruption and replicable solutions as possible rather than a single, large or complex demonstrator.  It should attract a broad range of solutions which will address a range of issues including, but not limited to: energy efficiency, solar gain, solar shading, renewable energy and water attenuation.   Both climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions are encouraged.

The Institute is currently working in partnership with a specialist software company, called iVeridis, which specialises in finding and evaluating innovative clean technologies. To enter the competition you will need to follow a very short registration process on the iVeridis site and then fill in an online entry form. Full instructions for using the iVeridis site, and contact details should you have any technical issues, can be found here (pdf 2 MB)

Why does Social Sustainability matter?
Five ways to foster well being through the built environment...

Thursday 31st January
5.30pm - 7.30pm
PTEa, Diespeker Wharf, 38 Graham Street, London N1 8JX

You are warmly invited to join PTEa at their canal side office for the first of this years informative networking evenings held at Diespeker Wharf.

SPEAKERS:

Tom Dollard (Chair)
Head of Sustainable Design, PTEa

Jonathan Schifferes
Senior Consultant at nef consulting (the new economics foundation)

Matt Bell
Group Head of External Affairs, Berkeley Group Holdings PLC

PROGRAMME:

  1730  Arrival, registration and drinks
  1800  Start of presentations
  1900  Open discussion
  1930  Finish with drinks and networking

RSVP: tim.metcalfe@ptea.co.uk

For further details see www.ptea.co.uk/marketing/event_01_310113_Sustainability/index_2.html

The Green Register team will be taking a short Christmas break from Thursday 20 December and the office will re-open on Wednesday 2 January 2013.

We wish you all the best for a very merry winter break and look forward to hearing from you in the new year.

In the meantime you can still book places at courses via our events page.

Birgit, Elaine, Sally, Viv and Lucy

The Green Register Team

Building Life Consultancy are running a WUFI Pro Heat & Moisture Sumulation Workshop in Dublin on 6-7 December in Dublin city centre. It is the lowest cost English language course in ‘WUFI Pro’ in Europe. It costs €475 including a full 8 week licence, a copy of all slides, lunch, coffee breaks, etc.

Special offer for Green Register members - 10% off the total cost of the workshop!

The course is primarily aimed at building fabric consultants, architects, architectural technologists, engineers, students with construction background, manufacturers of building materials, and building professionals in general.

This will be the sixth course we run after having run it 5 times in Dublin, Glasgow and Leeds with great success and people from many different countries attending it. It will be taught by Joseph Little and Christian Bludau of the Fraunhofer Institute of Building Physics (the software’s creators). You will therefore have direct access to significant expertise and knowledge about the inner working of the software. The course is therefore excellent value. In the past a mid-course dinner has been organised when there’s sufficient interest.

Why hygrothermal simulation?
For many build-ups, and especially in retrofit projects, insulating to low U-values brings hygrothermal challenges that haven’t been generally acknowledged or understood. In this context, it is critical to evaluate moisture conditions over time, in order to assess risk of moisture accumulation. Permanently increased moisture content in building components may result in reduced thermal performance, structural decay, and even health risks due to mould growth.

A hygrothermal performance assessment can evaluate the robustness of a design, building or material, ensure long-term health of occupants, assure compliance with Building Regulations, identify future weaknesses, and therefore lead to significant cost savings in the life of the building.

What is WUFI?
WUFI is the world’s leading hygrothermal numerical simulation software, fully validated under BS EN 15026 and verified to many measurements obtained in laboratory and outdoor testing fields. Unlike the old, but ubiquitous, Glaser Method this kind of assessment takes account of short-term weather events like sunshine, driving rain, freeze-thaw etc. It can also take account of exposure, orientation and unique climate files for inside and out. Hygrothermal numerical simulation is the only desktop assessment method valid for assessing all masonry buildings and unusual timber or steel frame buildings.

What can WUFI do?
WUFI is a powerful tool for evaluating new, traditional and retrofitted buildings. Bear in mind that variable diffusion membranes (like Pro-Clima’s ‘Intello’) were first theorised using WUFI then invented after.
WUFI can be used for assessing:
•    the risk of interstitial condensation
•    the risk of moisture accumulation from driving rain
•    the risk of mould growth
•    the risk of rot or corrosion in structure
•    the risk of freeze-thaw damage
•    the hygrothermal effect of retrofit measures
•    the time required for construction moisture to dry out in masonry walls
•    the moisture performance of roof and wall build-ups under unanticipated use, under added stress (e.g. moisture leak) or in different climate zones
•    the benefit of phase change materials (pcm)
•    transient U-values

WUFI can also be used as a teaching aid or advertising tool because of the strong visual aspect of its calculation results.

Clearly measuring each building and each building material is best but simply not practical or possible. Careful use of simulation tools supported and guided by measurement is the way forward. Given the maxim of ‘garbage in – garbage out’ we will talk a lot in the course about what values to choose and input, how to deal with uncertainty and ensuring your simulations are sufficiently close to reality.

Registration & more info
Visit www.wufi.ie for more info on the software. Visit www.buildinglifeconsultancy.com/training to see the programme and register for the course.
If you’re interested please let us know ASAP – places are limited to ensure a good trainer-to-participant ratio.

Special offer for Green Register members - 10% off the total cost of the workshop!
If you are a Green Register member and would like to take advantage of the 10% discount please contact Beñat Arregi barregi@josephlittlearchitects.com

Following The Green Deal's (very) soft launch, in our latest blog post Steven Harris considers whether this will be Green Deal – or no deal? How will The Green Deal work compared to past initiatives? How will householders respond? Check out his blog and previous posts at www.greenregister.org.uk/blog/

We’re posting a new article from a construction industry expert every month so check out our blog for the latest cutting-edge information and debate about construction and sustainability issues.

We always welcome new contributors to our blog – written for and by construction professionals – so if there is an interesting topic you feel strongly about or knowledge you would like to share then put it in writing to mail@greenregister.org.uk.

Our forthcoming seminar on 'green' detailing in Manchester on 31 October has now sold out!

This new seminar - It's All in the Detail - achieving best practice detailing for eco-refurbishments - has proved to be extremely popular with delegates.

If you are keen to learn how to achieve best practice ‘green’ detailing on site from a wide range of experienced practitioners such as a builder, an architect and technical experts then there are still places left on the following dates:

13 November 2012 - London
15 March 2013 - Cambridge
26 April 2013 - Leamington Spa

Click on the links above for details or see all dates on our events page.