Entries for January 2009

The European Commission has set out proposals for a new worldwide agreement to tackle climate change and how it could be financed, which are due for completion at the Copenhagen UN climate conference in December.

A sustainable home designed to cost €100,000 in Turin was one of the projects to win high praise from the judges of this year’s MIPIM Architectural Review Future Projects Awards.

The pool where double Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington learned to swim will be transformed in the next year, to produce lower carbon emissions as well as greater space for swimmers.

Last month in Cologne a new office building was completed and certified a Passive House. Could the high energy efficiency standards used in such projects be applied to buildings in Britain and the rest of the world? Ella Taylor reports.

The National Self Build Association launched a report this month in which they claimed that increasing the level of self-built homes in Britain would protect jobs in the design and construction industry, inject money into the economy and create more sustainable homes. Are they right? Ella Taylor reports.

A consultation resulting from an independent review of charging and metering for water and sewerage services is due later this spring.

Councils may soon have greater freedom to build more homes under plans set out in a new consultation paper from the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG).

Sceptics argue that the international green and sustainable building agenda will diminish in importance in the recession but several reports indicate otherwise.

Despite the economic slowdown which overshadowed the summit of European leaders at the beginning of December, the meeting also took important decisions on climate change. Europe has been proud of its leadership in this area – particularly in steering the Kyoto Protocol into international law in the teeth of American opposition – but there is an awareness that times are changing.