Citation
Todd, S. (2009), "Internet review", Structural Survey, Vol. 27 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ss.2009.11027aag.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Internet review
Article Type: Internet review From: Structural Survey, Volume 27, Issue 1
The web site information included below shows two key and other informative sites. If there are any other interesting sites or sources of information that you have found useful, please e-mail me at s.todd@salford.ac.uk
The Building Research Establishment
The main menu of the BRE web site is structured as:
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Home.
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About Us.
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By Sector.
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A to Z of services.
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Publications, education and training.
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Training and Assessor Accreditation.
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Events and Conferences.
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Staff Profiles.
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Search Site.
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News.
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E-Newsletter.
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Job Opportunities.
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Contact Details.
The site also links directly to:
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Sustainable energy consultancy.
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Fire testing facility.
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BRE Innovation Park.
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Sustainable Energy Consultancy.
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Building Investigations.
The “Latest News” section of the web site includes information on:
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Help BRE shape the future of Building Regulations Parts A & C. The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) is holding three half day workshops to discuss the future of parts A and C of the Building Regulations which cover “structure” and “site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture”. The following issues will be explored:
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Are Approved Documents A and C working for you?
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Should any sections be changed?
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What are the practical ways in which the approved documents can address the challenges of climate change?
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The Green Guide. Since the launch of the revised and updated version of BRE’s Green Guide (owned by the BRE Trust) in June 2008, it has become clear that it has made much more impact in the marketplace than its predecessors. This is partly because the Green Guide is referenced in the Government’s Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) and also because of the increasing profile of sustainability in all construction issues. Significantly, the CSH has a mandatory credit ensuring that no dwelling has more than two E rated elements, therefore requiring all new dwellings to be fully assessed if they wish to obtain a CSH rating. With this increasing use comes increasing responsibility. Both BRE and the Construction Products Association, which co-ordinated the manufacturers’ input to the revision of the Green Guide over the last two years, have become aware of market trends which are worthy of comment. It is important that users of the Green Guide have a proper appreciation of what it is and also what it is not, as well as some understanding of how it works. Without this basic knowledge there are risks that users will simply use it as a tick box activity and not look more carefully and holistically at the Green Guide itself, the CSH and BREEAM within which it sits. Both the CSH and BREEAM are non-prescriptive systems that focus on the whole building’s overall sustainability performance. For the embodied impacts of materials, both the CSH and BREEAM use the Green Guide as the means to rate materials for credits. The Green Guide is based on ISO methodologies for life cycle assessment that look at the whole life cycle of materials from extraction (cradle) to end of life (grave). It considers 13 different criteria, including global warming, water consumption, resource extraction and effects on ecosystems, which are weighted and added up to give a score (EcoPoints). There is a range of choices within ISO, including an option to look at future uses where recyclability rather than recycled content has a greater emphasis, which can produce significantly different results. No choice is “more right” than any other but the selected interpretation should be transparent and based on the goal and scope of the study. BRE’s Environmental Profiles Methodology, on which the Green Guide is based, was developed with the involvement of the Construction Products Association and many materials trade associations during the late 1990s before the first version was published. Further extensive consultation on this with the Construction Products Association and others over the past four years has lead to the update of the Environmental Profiles Methodology and the launch of the online Green Guide. It is important to note that if different criteria and/or weightings are used in any methodology then the relative performances of materials or products could change to a considerable degree. The Green Guide gives relative performances of various building elements and so a common methodology has to be used throughout. It looks at a range of materials or products used in a number of elements (such as walls, floors, and roofs) and assesses their overall impact, over a 60-year study period, in EcoPoints. It then takes the overall impact of the best and the worst results for a particular element and building type, and divides the gap between them into six equal bands, E to A+. The other results are then fitted into these bands. This is why there can be uneven distributions of scores, with some elements having most in the A and A+ bands whereas other elements may have a more even spread. For some elements, such as separating walls, windows or commercial floor construction, the difference between the best (A+) and the worst (E) is relatively small in absolute terms with an E rating having approximately two to three times the impact of an A+ rating and the range being about 0.5 EcoPoints/m2. In other elements, such as roofing or surfacing for heavily trafficked areas, the range is more than 1.5 EcoPoints/m2 and an E can be over four times worse than an A+. Specifying materials or products solely on one criterion, such as embodied carbon or recycled content, can lead to sub-optimal overall sustainability choices. Specifiers must understand that the embodied environmental impacts, as measured in the Green Guide, are only a part of (and not the same as) the overall sustainability of a building as measured in BREEAM and the CSH. Materials or products not getting A or A+ ratings in the Green Guide can still be, and already are, part of buildings achieving high levels in the CSH or BREEAM. The total amount of credit available, based on the Green Guide, within CSH for “Mat 1: Environmental Impact of Materials” is 4.5 per cent and for BREEAM Offices 2008 it is 4.16 per cent. The Construction Products Association and the BRE Trust Group would like to move towards a system where the scores of each material/product are added up at the whole building level, rather like energy performance. This could be done using the EcoPoints system that underlies the Green Guide. The BRE Trust’s Envest system offers such an approach but further work is required before it fully addresses these needs. The Green Guide is available online at www.thegreenguide.org.uk/
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Smart Home Systems and the Code for Sustainable Homes. Ibexcellence, an intelligent buildings network group run by BRE, has launched a report on how smart home technologies could help new dwellings meet the performance levels of the Code for Sustainable Homes. Case studies in the report entitled “Smart Home Systems and the Code for Sustainable Homes” provide an evidence base of how smart technologies have been used to improve the social, economic and environmental performance of homes. The report was launched at ib2008, “From Smart Homes to Connected Communities” at the Building Centre on 24th November 2008. Some 60 key industry stakeholders attended the event, which was supported by the Modern Built Environment Knowledge Transfer Network.
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Refurbishing run-down housing “Knock it down or do it up”? Refurbishing run-down housing can be more sustainable than demolition and rebuilding, says BRE Trust. A recent BRE Trust report sets out the pros and cons of refurbishing housing in run-down urban areas, compared to wholesale demolition and rebuilding. Some developers and their advisers seeing more drawbacks than incentives to housing refurbishment over demolition and new build. The housing industry has often favoured new build projects but rising energy costs are making refurbishment projects an increasingly attractive option. Refurbishment is viewed as more risky and costly than new build, though the benefits of heritage conservation, community retention and higher resale values are acknowledged. The report is based on a review of published literature and research relating to construction and refurbishment of housing, and a national survey of house builders, quantity surveyors, development surveyors and architects. The survey assessed attitudes and perceptions towards sustainable construction, modern methods of construction, existing standards of sustainability, and the use of sustainability assessment tool kits. The dilemma of whether it is better to “knock it down” or “do it up” has re-emerged in the housing market renewal or pathfinder areas that were established as part of the Sustainable Communities Plan, and so the report focuses on government policy as expressed in the Plan.
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Safer Towns at Night. The Crime Risk Management team at BRE has developed a Safer Town Centres toolkit and consultancy service to help those involved in the night time economy reduce the problems of alcohol-related violence and disorder. This is based on extensive research by BRE, the toolkit has been approved by the Home Office and welcomed by the Police and Partnership Standards Unit. It stresses the need for joined-up thinking by those responsible for the wide ranging policies involved in managing town centres at night – including lighting, CCTV, planning, health, transport, licensing of premises, street vendors and taxis, police, street maintenance, and many other issues. Freely available at www.bre.co.uk/safetowncentresatnight, it is hoped that the toolkit will encourage much thought and action and stimulate debate. As town centre legislation and knowledge are in a continuous state of change, the toolkit will be modified and updated on a regular basis. The toolkit developers, BRE’s Crime Risk Management team, provide independent and professional crime reduction and crime prevention services. They carry out detailed scientific assessments and draw up action plans to reduce or remove crime and disorder problems. Among the specialist services they provide are:
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Identification and management of crime risks.
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Crime and disorder reduction techniques.
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Crime Opportunity Profiling of Streets (COPS) and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED).
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Tackling drug and alcohol abuse.
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Evaluation of projects, systems and programmes against set objectives.
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Research to improve delivery of services or new strategies.
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The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
The main menus of this web site include:
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About Us.
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Newsroom.
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Services.
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Join RICS.
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Using a Surveyor.
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Members.
The Homepage also includes links to five key sections:
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Global Intelligence, Trusted Advice:
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Market surveys including housing; residential lettings; commercial lettings; commercial market; construction; rural market; global property; arts and antiques.
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Analysis including RICS forecasts; global real estate weekly; UK economic brief; housing and affordability; construction; other UK analyses; other overseas analysis.
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Economic insights.
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Setting and Maintaining Standards.
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Corporate Citizenship including information on disaster management; sustainability and home buying reform.
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The Very Best Advice for small businesses or a consumer:
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flooding;
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buying a home;
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selling your home;
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property surveys;
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Phil Spenser – On the House Podcasts.
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Local Insight – Global Vision. This includes details of studies undertaken in conjunction with the research team. Current information includes:
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“What is the effect on portfolios of the time-varying correlation of real estate and company stocks?”
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Mortgage markets worldwide;
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The potential of Synthetic Aperture Radar for assessing carbon storage in savanna woodlands.
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There are also links to RICS Services:
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RICS Library;
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RICS Books;
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RICS Venues;
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BCIS;
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RICS eTendering;
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Equipment;
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Isurv;
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Event search;
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RICS Recruit;
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Course search;
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Join RICS Europe.
NetRegs
This new web site provides free environmental guidance for small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. They help you to understand what you need to do to comply with environmental law and protect the environment. The Homepage includes:
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Guidance by business:
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agriculture;
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construction;
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fabricated metal products;
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food and drink processing;
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hospital leisure and tourism.
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Guidance by environmental topic:
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Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations.
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Duty of care.
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Environmental Permits.
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Waste management licensing.
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Pollution prevention and control permits.
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Environmental legislation:
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current legislation;
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future legislation.
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NetRegs updates.
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Site Waste Management Plans. NetRegs is running its “Site Waste – Its Criminal” campaign to encourage construction businesses to learn more about the importance and benefits of Site Waste Management Plans (SWMPs).
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E-learning and tools.
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Waste directories. Find licensed waste sites to recycle or dispose of your business waste in your local area.
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Useful link
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Business support organisations.
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Government and regulators.
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NetRegs SME-environment survey results.
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Pollution Prevention Guidelines.
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Trade associations.
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Building
The main menu of this web site is structured as:
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Home.
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Global Edition.
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News.
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Breaking News.
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Finance.
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Health and Safety.
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Housing.
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Legal.
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Building 2012.
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Sustainable.
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Jobs
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Comment.
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Data.
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Building intelligence.
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Cost model.
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Cost update.
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International costs.
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Lead times.
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Lifetime costs.
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Market forecast.
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Procurement costs.
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Specialists.
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Sustainable reports.
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Tracker.
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Whole life costs.
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Legal:
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Legal news.
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Case of the week.
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Essential legal briefings.
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Best of Bingham.
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EU watch.
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Who’s suing whom.
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Construction Law A-Z.
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Killer clauses.
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Technical:
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Technical news.
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Building projects.
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Technical performance.
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Building innovations.
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Building Regulations.
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Products.
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Construction IT and web.
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Sustainability:
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Sustainability news.
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Case studies.
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Existing stock.
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Waste management recycling.
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EPCs.
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BREEAM, LEED and the Codes.
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Sustainability costs.
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Products and materials.
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Sustainability TV.
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Construction Confederation best practice.
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Sustainability awards.
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Sustainability now.
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QS News.
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Regenerate:
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News.
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Talking point.
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Comment.
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Case studies.
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On the streets.
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Features and profiles.
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Regenerate TV and audio.
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Thames Gateway Forum.
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Data.
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Sustainability.
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Planning.
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Building Regulations.
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Housing conferences.
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What you think.
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Forums.
Green Building Store
The Green Building Store was launched in 2001, with the aim of making these products more widely available to private and trade customers through an efficient online, mail-order and information services.
The main menu of this web site includes:
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Home.
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Less is more range.
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Full product range:
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Ifo Cera ES4 WC. The Ifo Cera ES4 water-efficient WC.
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AirFlush waterless urinal.
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PassivHaus Products. Passivhaus design includes features such as: maximising use of passive solar gain; super insulation; stringent airtightness standards; and use of mechanical ventilation and heat recovery systems.
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Ecocontract FSC 100% timber windows and doors.
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Case studies.
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About Green Building store.
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Request brochure.
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Contact us.
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Register for newsletter.
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Web links.
Manubuild Open Building Manufacturing
The ManuBuild vision is of a future where customers will be able to purchase high quality, manufactured buildings having a high degree of design flexibility and at low cost compared to today. For the first time, inspirational unconstrained building design will be combined with highly efficient industrialised production. This web site’s main menu is structures as:
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Summary.
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Consortium.
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News.
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Downloads.
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Contact.
Radio – Tech Limited
Radio-Tech Ltd was established in 1993 is a supplier of wireless technology to the emerging remote metering and monitoring markets. The main menu is configured as:
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Home.
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Applications:
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Automatic meter reading.
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Energy management/sub-metering.
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Legionella.
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Intelligent street lighting.
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Rail temperature monitoring.
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Temperature and humidity monitoring.
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Bespoke developments.
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Bus telematics.
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Global-Net.
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Products:
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Transmitters.
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Receivers.
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Data concentrators.
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Repeaters and boosters.
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Smart log products.
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Specialist products.
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Corporate
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Technical.
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News.
Mitsubishi Electric
The main menu of this web site includes:
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Air-conditioning: with links to:
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Mitsubishi Electric’s green lead.
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Royal Yacht Britannia keeps its kool comforts.
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New marketeer points to hard cash benefits of going green.
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Low carbon potential secures interbuild award.
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Ecohouse shows off future of low carbon home heating.
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30 per cent lower fuel bills for new Withington development.
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Automotive products.
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Project engineering.
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Mobile phones.
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Automation systems.
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Presentation products.
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Semiconductors.
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Visual information laboratories.
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Security solutions.
Stephen Todd