Entries for February 2009

Transport need not always be the poor relation in eco-rating development, as a riverside project in Southwark shows, reports Jon Reeds.

Pursuing its aim of halving the amount of waste the construction industry sends to landfill by 2012 has prompted the Government’s Waste & Resources Action Programme to start a feasibility study and industry consultations on the potential for a new recycling framework.

This month saw metres of glass fitted to the new Sky broadcasting headquarters, just one year after work began on the west London site. Part of a tailor-made natural ventilation system, the glass is just one of many features designed to make the television studios and offices the most sustainable yet, as Ella Taylor finds out.

All UK households will have a ‘whole house’ green makeover of energy saving measures, renewable energy sources and loft and cavity wall insulation by 2030 under government plans to reduce carbon emissions.

Housing markets around the world are being buffeted by the impact of the global downturn on their domestic economies. Story from Property Forecast.

Sustainable Energy Ireland invites proposals from qualified persons for the provision of mentoring, strategic advice and support to its Statistical Support Unit and Energy Modelling Group.

US President Obama’s economic recovery plan will provide a boost in the US economy, otherwise devastated by the fallout from the credit crunch, MPs and David Lowry heard from American academic, Amy Myers Jaffe, at a seminar held at the House of Commons.

A way to conserve biodiversity or an unacceptable risk of leaks? People have different views on ‘green’ or ‘living’ roofs. But they include a number of well-established technologies now as Simon Napper found out.

Here Aidan Baker, associate director, Atisreal, Newcastle, looks at the outlook this year for the city’s office market and the North East in general.  

The significant volumes of Merger & Acquisition (M&A) Real Estate activity over the past five years have slowed to little more than a trickle in recent months. Story from Property Forecast.

Current and impending European legislation with implications for the UK

Labour MP Colin Challen, who retires at the next General Election to spend more time saving the planet from climate change, has written a very pessimistic new book on his experiences as a politician in trying to bring some urgency, rationality and sustainability to energy policy.

Three of the winners of the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards 2009 are from the UK. The awards are part of the EU’s Sustainable Energy Week, which ran from 9-13 February.

On 29 January, the European Commission sent a Reasoned Opinion – a further step on the road to court action – to 20 Member States, including the UK, who have failed to communicate their transposition of the Energy Services Directive.

Chris de Pury and Zahra Bardai of  Berwin Leighton Paisner search for some positives in a shell-shocked commercial property investment market.