The Green Register of Construction Professionals

Places are filling up on our Masterclass for Dwellings: Compliance, Sustainability and Part L seminar in London on 23 February, so book now to secure your place!

This new one day Green Register seminar is run by Mark Saich, whose extensive experience both as a Building Control officer and director of Green Building Solutions brings expert insight into the subject of designing high performing, healthy houses that will be future proofed against climate change. The emphasis throughout the seminar will be on down-to-earth advice to use in practice.

For further details and to book your place click here.

PassivHaus - free evening talk
London
8 March 2012 - 6 - 7.30pm

You are warmly invited to join Pollard Thomas Edwards architects at their canal side offices in the third of a series of sustainability evenings in partnership with The Green Register.

Join us as we discuss the challenges of retrofitting to PassivHaus standard and the opportunities for new build. Drinks and nibbles provided.

For full details click here. To register your place email mail@greenregister.org.uk

How to get green detailing right - straight from the builder’s mouth

Architects and builders sometimes have an uneasy relationship on site - both think they know best when it comes to detailing! But how would you like to hear from an experienced builder how all design team members can benefit from a better understanding of how to achieve best practice details on site?

The Green Register is holding a FREE evening event to debate these issues with speaker, Rafael Delimata, a builder with extensive experience in the UK and director of Bowtie Construction that aims for ‘real sustainable solutions, high standards of insulation, with quality in every detail’.

Rafael will talk about practical detailing that achieves very stringent airtightness standards, the installation of insulation and various membranes and will use examples of difficult detailing such as at roof hips and valleys, dormers, window and door reveals to illustrate that it is easy if you know how. Rafael will also discuss the costs to install, hidden costs like wastage and storage, delays if the product needs to be reordered and how builders save money compromising on quality or using substitutes.

This event is free with light refreshments but you must book your place in advance - email mail@greenregister.org.uk, ring 0117 377 3490 or visit our Events page to sign up online.

With 2011 coming to a close we are celebrating a successful year with over 60 very well-received events taking place in 2011, but successful events can only be so when they are supported by attendees, so we would like to say a huge 'thank you' to all our members and everyone else who attended a Green Register event in 2011. Thank you for your support throughout the year and for your continued positive feedback which keeps us looking forward into the New Year to new events to come...

See Lucy's blog where she takes the opportunity to look back on the year and thank all the other folk who have made 2011 a success for The Green Register - http://www.greenregister.org.uk/blog/

All that's left is to wish you all the best for a merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Birgit, Lucy and the rest of The Green Register Team

Christmas and New Year Office opening hours
Please note The Green Register office will be closed from 1pm on Wednesday 21 December 2011 and will re-open on Tuesday 3 January 2012.

Our End of Year party to be held on Thursday 8 December 2011 at the recently completed Horizon House, home of the Environment Agency in Bristol is now fully booked.

If you would like a place on our waiting list in case of cancellations please email mail@greenregister.org.uk.

Super-E Seminar
Glasgow, 2 November 2011
Cardiff, 4 November 2011

Ever more demanding environmental standards – particularly energy – for housing are a significant challenge. The Canadian Super-E® system offers a way towards achieving them.

This event will look at the context of the environmental and regulatory changes for housing over the next decade, and then move on to look in more detail at practical issues centred on design and construction of proven solutions.

The Canadian Super-E® system will be covered as an example of a working system approach which can meet the challenges, as far as built fabric is concerned.

Glasgow Speakers

Fraser Walsh, Building Standards Dept, Scottish Executive
Oliver Drerup, Canadian Mortgage & Housing Association (CMHC)
Jon Bootland, Good Homes Alliance
John Mathers, Interhabs
Mark Hanson, Architect, The Attic Clan

Glasgow venue: The Lighthouse, 11 Mitchell Lane, Glasgow G1 3NU

To book a place at the Glasgow event please contact roger@goodhomes.org.uk.

Cardiff Speakers

Gordon Campbell, High Commissioner for Canada
Oliver Drerup, Canadian Mortgage & Housing Association (CMHC)
John Griffiths AM, The Welsh Minister For Environment and Sustainable Development (tbc)
Lucy Pedler, The Green Register
Jon Bootland, Good Homes Alliance
John Mathers, Interhabs
UK case study of a Super-E home (speaker tbc)

To book a place at the Cardiff event visit our events page.

More information on the Super-E® system can be found HERE

These events are being held in partnership between The Green Register, the High Commission of Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the Good Homes Alliance (GHA).

Businesses based in the East of England may be eligible to apply for a grant of up to 70% towards the cost of this two day training course from the Beyond 2010 programme. For details visit - www.beyond2010.co.uk

Sustainable Building & Services 2-day course
London, 17-18 November 2011

The Green Register’s highly commended two-day introductory course provides an ideal, compact opportunity for you to learn about the essential issues surrounding sustainable building practices and to network with like-minded individuals across a range of disciplines. Completion of this course enables you to apply for Green Register membership.

What have previous delegates said?
“Very precise and informative. Learned so much more than I expected.”

“Fantastic! Would like to do more.”

“Very informative introduction and workshops. Fast paced and engaging.”

Click here for more details about the course.

Eco-refurbishment training course for surveyors
21 September 2011
The Create Centre, Smeaton Road, Bristol

The Green Register and RICS are working together to offer a new one day Ecorefurbishment training course for surveyors in Bristol on 21 September 2011.

With very little recent activity in new build, refurbishment is where the work is and clients are increasingly asking for eco-features to be incorporated into their projects. Sometimes motivated by reducing their carbon footprint but more often wanting to reduce fuel bills as energy costs continue to rise, clients are looking to construction professionals such as surveyors and architects to provide advice on what the best eco-measures to take to improve their homes and offices.

The course will cover aspects of eco-refurbishment such as the scale of the challenge, the potential conflicts arising when refurbishing historic buildings and integrating renewable energy technologies into existing buildings. The potential for increased property values as a result of ecorefurbishment will also be addressed.

There are some common themes for the refurbishment of existing homes but for each period of house, certain features deserve individual attention. For example, the solutions for large single glazed double hung sash windows in Georgian houses will differ to those of 20th century homes.

Speakers from Forum for the Future, The Green Register and Vertigo Sustainable Development consultants will present four case studies - a Georgian terraced house, a Victorian semi-detached house, a 1960’s mid rise block of flats and an extreme eco-refurb of a 1930’s house.  After each case study breakout sessions will allow delegates time to question the speakers and discuss issues that have arisen during the presentations.

Booking available soon at www.rics.org/southwest

FREE seminar for members only:
Flood Management: Impact on Planning,  Infrastructure, and Organisation
A review of imminent changes in legislation, including proposals in the 2010 Act
19 July 2011, 6pm
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution

Impending changes in legislation will impose significant new responsibilities on utilities and local authorities but will also impact on developers and their design teams through the planning process.  The 2010 Act when fully implemented will establish design criteria and provide for design review, while  creating a form of listing for surface water drainage installations and structures which will be protected by law.

The meeting is to be held at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution on Queen’s Square at 6:00pm on the 19th July.  Speakers will include Jim Allen of E&M West who will give an overview and we also have input  from the local utility , Wessex Water. 

This is a  joint event organised by E&M West and Green Register, and while there is no charge for Green Register members we ask you  please contact E&M West on 01225 461284 or by email admin@eandmwest.co.uk to reserve a place.

The Green Register is organising a FREE presentation and tour of the Energy House at Salford University on 7th July 2011 starting at 5.30pm.

The Energy House is a recreation of a Victorian terrace, dating to c1910 built within a concrete box which was a redundant building on campus that has been brought back into use (see www.energy.salford.ac.uk for more details).  The Victorian recreation is 1.5 dwellings so a party wall is included. The environment within the concrete box is fully climate controlled,  temperatures can be created of between -3 to +30, wind loads and rain and snow conditions can also be replicated.

The house has proved to be a very useful tool for testing new materials and ideas. Following the tour of the house a leading academics will be on hand to give a talk about the importance of retrofit and the work that the University is undertaking. A light sandwich meal will be provided after the tour.

The Energy House Meeting Room and House is situated in the COCKCROFT BUILDING PEEL PARK CAMPUS.  There is parking at the IRWELL CARPARK on the Crescent or the NORTHERN CAR PARK WALLNESS LANE off FREDERICK ROAD.  A token is required to exit the car park. Salford Crescent rail station is adjacent to the university campus, virtually part of the campus. There are connections from Piccadilly via Oxford Road and Deansgate, and from Victoria.

The event is FREE but pre-registration is required. Please email mail@greenregister.org.uk or ring 0117 377 3490 to book your places. This event has been organised by The Green Register’s Regional coordinator, Steve Bradshaw from MBLA architects in Manchester.