Entries for February 2008

Only six households have benefitted to date from the stamp duty rebate for eco-homes announced in Budget 2007, according to figures provided in written answers last month to Conservative communities spokesmen Eric Pickles and Robert Neil by  Financial Secretary to the Treasury Jane Kennedy.

More detailed plans for the Community Infrastructure Levy to be applied to new residential developments have been released by DCLG, looking at how the CIL will be set, spent, who will pay, who will be exempted, and crucially for sustainable building how it will relate to planning obligations.

“No one has ever built a zero-carbon city before. Nor one producing zero waste or fully powered by renewable energy. Masdar City will accomplish all three,” Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive of Masdar, the $22 billion eco-city planned for Abu Dhabi, The Times, 11 Feb.

Formal hearings are being instigated by the European Commission to sound out opinions and proposals about uprating the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

Good news and bad news this month. It emerged that only six households have benefitted from the stamp duty rebate for eco-homes in 2007.

A new framework for local authority asset management* has been launched by the Government aimed at empowering local government to secure the best and most sustainable use of its assets and to enhance service delivery, with potentially large benefits for sustainable property management.

Only six households have benefitted to date from the stamp duty rebate for eco-homes announced in Budget 2007, according to figures provided in written answers last month to Conservative communities spokesmen Eric Pickles and Robert Neil by Financial Secretary to the Treasury Jane Kennedy.

Tougher standards for all building styles lie ahead.

Formal hearings are being instigated by the European Commission to sound out opinions and proposals about uprating the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

With the very public disputes over the deployment of energy performance certificates in the domestic sector now behind it, the Government is focussing on the imminent extension of these to non-domestic properties, as Simon Napper reports.

Castle Rock School in Leicestershire has been singled out by awards judges and civil servants as a shining example of sustainability.

Refurbishing high-rise and high density residential blocks is complex enough without retrofitting new sustainability features, but developers and local authorities are now faced
with upgrading existing stock. Dr Paul K Hatchwell looks at the lessons learned.

Refurbishing high-rise and high density residential blocks is complex enough without retrofitting new sustainability features, but developers and local authorities are now faced
with upgrading existing stock. Dr Paul K Hatchwell looks at the lessons learned.

Ben Kochan examines the issues along with the pros and cons of the different materials.

Renewable energy, passive design, stilts and a brown roof all go towards the ambition of reducing CO2 emissions at a Nottingham science park by 60%.