Search Results for: climate change

American Institute of Architects opens design and health project

by • Architecture, News, Workplace design

Via Verde

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is working with the Clinton Global Initiative and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Urbanism (CAU) to examine the relationships between design, urbanism, and public health. The collaboration is part of the AIA’s Decade of Design Commitment to Action, which aims to make positive changes through design in the global urban environment. Alexander d’Hooghe, director of the MIT CAU explained: “We are investigating the scale of urban design, architecture, as well as planning, in relation to health today, whether related to obesity, or to climate change.” More →

Room for improvement in public sector workplace management

by • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Public Sector, Workplace design

Portcullis HouseLast week technology company Citrix announced that the UK Government could cut its property costs by a third by adopting flexible working policies. It used a Freedom of Information request to discover how much space each public sector employee in the UK is allocated and how much it costs then applied a formula to work out how this would be affected by greater adoption of flexible working. What was interesting was not just the up-front argument you would expect from an ICT provider but also the discovery that the average employee is allocated 1.1 workstations with some enjoying 1.6. More →

EU commission launches low-carbon contest

by • Architecture, Environment, News, Property, Technology, Workplace design

City hall

The EU Commissioner for Climate Action has today launched a low-carbon contest, calling on creative and innovative ideas from across the EU. The World You Like Challenge is part of the European Commission’s climate action campaign: A world you like, launched at London City Hall [pictured] in October 2012. Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said: “The Challenge is a great opportunity to move beyond mere talking about climate change. By submitting your project, you help us show that building a world we like with a climate we like is both feasible and affordable.” More →

Global Gen Y survey highlights national differences

by • Environment, Knowledge, News, Workplace

Gen Y NotNever has a generation of humans been so much talked about as Generation Y. As this millennial army marches into the world’s workplaces and takes the reins of power (or at least control) for the first time, there has been a lot of agonising about how to manage a whole generation of people who are the first to have been nurtured in a digital world. Now a new report from Deloitte into the attitudes of millennials from around the world has confirmed that this is a complex generation of individuals with many universal ideals but with regional characteristics too.  More →

Green retro fitting a ‘best bet’ for 2013

by • Environment, News, Property

EP photo 1

Refurbishing existing buildings to new standards and turning them into good green assets has been identified as one of the best bets for the property sector in the year ahead, according to new research from the Urban Land Institute and PwC. The survey of industry leaders across Europe found the move to ‘reactivate assets’ – refurbish good properties with green credentials – is taking hold. Sustainable properties are increasingly commanding higher rents and values, as governments move to force companies to increase building’s energy efficiency and reduce their environmental footprint.

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Greater clarity required for UK infrastructure plan

by • News, Property

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The National Audit Office has called on the UK government to provide greater clarity to taxpayers and consumers on how it will meet its national infrastructure plan. The government expects £310 billion to be spent by 2015 and beyond on new infrastructure projects in sectors such as energy, rail, roads, water, waste, flood defences and digital communications. The government is looking to private companies to own and finance around 64 per cent of the £310 billion, with the burden of funding likely to shift towards the public as consumers rather than taxpayers.

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JLL’s CEO new Chairman of the UK Green Building Council

by • Architecture, Environment, News, Property

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Andrew Gould has succeeded Dan Labbad, Group CEO of Lend Lease, as Chairman of the UK Green Building Council. He takes up the position at a time when business leaders are increasingly focused on the need to show leadership on climate change and recognise the opportunities for green growth in the UK. The UK Green Building Council is an industry-led campaign group, part of a global network of Councils that are active in over 90 countries worldwide. More →

Record global temperatures still a threat say Met Office

by • Environment, News

Global warming

Following media reports that “global warming has stalled” – despite the fact that Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology is predicting temperatures there could reach a record 52C – the Met Office has warned we will continue to see near-record levels of global warming over the next few years. The publication this week of an experimental decadal global temperature prediction showing global temperatures over the next five years are likely to be a little lower than those forecasted in December 2011 was widely reported as “reopening the climate change debate”. More →

Global sustainable real estate securities fund announced

by • News

A global sustainable property fund that invests in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) and other publicly traded property companies that meet environmental and social sustainability criteria, has been launched by US real estate investment firm European Investors Incorporated (EII). The focus will be primarily on global equities of companies involved in the ownership, management, development and financing of commercial and residential properties that strive to meet sustainability requirements.
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Coalition’s mid-term review given green thumbs down

by • Environment, Knowledge, News

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The government may have reiterated its commitment to the green agenda in its Mid Term Review, which was published this week, but green groups remain resolutely unimpressed by its overall environmental record. Summarising the Coalition’s green initiatives so far, including the trebling of support for low carbon energy up to 2020 and the encouragement of green investments through the Green Investment Bank, the review stated: “We promised to be the greenest government ever, and we will fulfil that commitment.” More →

Mayor announces green fit-out of 400 buildings

by • Environment, News, Public Sector

City_HallThirteen building services contractors have been awarded a contract to retrofit around 400 London public sector buildings to make them more energy efficient. The work is being carried out as part of London Mayor Boris Johnson’s RE:FIT initiative. The new programme of work is expected to last four years and will see contractors guarantee a set level of savings based on the energy conservation measures implemented. More →

Living the dream of better times for a new generation

Living the dream of better times for a new generation

by • Business, Comment

As a new Labour Prime Minister settles into office with a thumping majority behind him and with the Conservative opposition in utter disarray, it’s difficult not to think back to 1997 and the wave of euphoria that over took the nation. Here was a Labour government that seemed to understand the issues the country faced and the direction of travel it needed to take in the future. Tony Blair was 43 years old when he took office (nearly 20 years younger than Keir Starmer is now) and had an instinctive grasp for what Generation X craved. After all, he was the first British Prime Minster to grow up with rock and roll and appeared to embody a generational shift like no politician before him. More →

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