News update - March 2008

Plastic bags flood defences – The plastic bag may be under attack in supermarkets, but in Norfolk, families are being offered a revolutionary new system of stackable plastic sleeves which are filled with sand or any other locally available materials to prevent flooding. Unlike traditional sandbags, the Gobi Building System plastic sleeves are light and easy to transport, and can be emptied and reused, not like sandbags which have to be destroyed because of contamination and deterioration caused by the floodwater they absorb. After seven years in development, the product is ready to hit the shelves. Tested for a year by academics at the University of London, the products are also due to be demonstrated to Environment Agency bosses next week.
(BDOnline, 17 March 2008)

Chancellor pledges homes £26m - More money for making homes energy efficient and for affordable housing in Alistair Darling's first budget
The key points that affect property and construction are as follows:

• £8bn more to be spent on affordable and social housing over the next three years, although possibly a reallocation of existing funds
• Sites for 70,000 more houses identified
• Stamp duty on shared ownership homes will not be required until people own 80% of their home
• £26m to be invested in making homes greener
• New non-domestic buildings to be zero-carbon from 2019.

(Building Online, 12 March 2008)

Fire extinguishers – (see Shortcut 10)
According to the report by Dorset Fire & Rescue, many residents think that trying to use the distinctive red extinguisher tends to delay exiting burning buildings. After the report was published, extinguishers have been removed from the two apartment blocks surveyed, Admirals Walk and the 10-storey Avon House. Pete Whittaker, protection policy manager at Dorset Fire and Rescue, told The Times: “As part of the assessment, the assessors now look to see whether fire extinguishers are actually required in that particular block. In some cases, they are no longer needed and provide more of a hazard being there.”
(The Times, 11 March 2008)

The government's housing policy under fire – The CPRE is protesting against the government's plans to build three million homes by 2020. Meanwhile home information packs (HIPs) have also come in for criticism after the Communities Department published figures that showed that 80% of homebuyers saw them too late or not at all.
(Contract Journal Online, 7 March 2008)

Green building standard agreed - Construction and property leaders have agreed to develop a global index for green buildings for comparison, measurement and benchmarking.
(NCE Online, 12 March 2008)

Massive regeneration - Urban Initiatives has launched its vision to transform Birmingham city centre in a £10 billion, 800ha regeneration programme. It proposes an urban village, removing buses from within the inner ring road, extending the city core and creating a ‘buffer zone’ of parks, hotels and cultural facilities. It will take 20 years to implement. Urban Initiatives will consult on the project this summer, and will present the preferred option to the government for public examination by 2009.
(BD Online, 7 March 2008)

New park – A £200m, 110ha park will open in 2014 to replace of the Olympic site after the games are over featuring a concert field, wetlands, meadows and fitness trails.
(The Guardian, 17 March 2008)

Tories want architects in jails - Architects could be asked to design new jails worth hundreds of millions of pounds under Conservative Party proposals for a radical restructuring of the prison estate. In Prisons with a Purpose, a green paper published this week on the future of the prison service in England and Wales, the Tories have highlighted 30 ageing jails which could be replaced at a value of up to £250 million. The plans reject government proposals for 'Titan' jails, demanding instead smaller-scale institutions with a stronger emphasis on rehabilitation.
(BD Online, 7 March 2008)

UK gets its first degree in sustainable construction - The UK's first BSc in sustainable construction is an online science degree offered by UHI Millennium Institute, the University of the Highlands and Islands. Launched in the coming autumn term, it is expected to draw industry professionals from across the UK.
(Building Online, 11 March 2008)

Waste heat capture - The London Development Agency has announced pioneering plans for the UK’s first scheme to harness waste heat from the Barking Power Station; capturing excess heat produced in the generation of electricity to heat local properties.
(azobuild.com, 13 March 2008)

Windmills on the coast - A Sussex developer is planning to build a traditional windmill to power homes with electricity. The structure, known as a smock mill after the old agricultural garb it resembles, would stand 14 metres high and have sails eight metres long. The mill, to be situated in Seaford on the coast, would provide enough power to supply 12-15 homes with electricity and house three apartment units inside. The scheme will include solar panels and built-in composting units.
(Building Online, 11 March 2008)

New Management Contract published - The Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) has published a new edition of its management building contract suite of documents, to supersede the 1998 versions.
The 2008 edition of the JCT Management Building Contract documentation includes:

• The Management Building Contract (MC 2008), between the employer and the management contractor
• The Management Works Contract Agreement (MCWC/A) and the Management Works Contract Conditions (MCWC/C), between the management contractor and the works contractor
• The Management Works Contractor/Employer Agreement (MCWC/E)
• Collateral Warranties MCWa/P&T (Management Contractor Collateral Warranty for a purchaser or tenant), MCWa/F (Management Contractor Collateral Warranty for a funder), WCWa/P&T (Works Contractor Collateral Warranty for a purchaser or tenant) and WCWa/F (Works Contractor Collateral Warranty for a funder)
• The Management Building Contract Guide (MC/G), which provides a general introduction both to the Management Building Contract and the Management Works Contract, together with the tables of destinations.

BREEAM due for most radical revamp yet in May - The new version of the 18-year-old BREEAM assessment tool will make post-construction reviews mandatory, set maximum levels for energy and water consumption and minimum requirements for material selection. It will also introduce an “outstanding” category to recognise buildings that surpass the “excellent” rating. Credit for incorporating innovative technologies, will be introduced, and the weighting of environmental categories will be changed to bring them in line with the Code for Sustainable Homes.
(Building Online, 7 March 2008)

The Building Regulations - A more systematic approach to the review of the Building Regulations is being proposed following the launch of the Future of Building Control consultation by Department for Communities and Local Government. The recommendations are aimed to provide more certainty and make it easier for the industry to forward plan for any changes. The review periods are likely to be in 2010, 2013 and 2016 however they will include a "two cycle" rule which will mean that no one specific part of the regulations can be changed more than once every six years unless there are exceptional circumstances. The review process will also be revised to make the changes more open and transparent. Other key recommendations include:

• Freeing up more time and resources for local authorities by removing statutory notification stages
• Increasing powers of local authorities to tackle illegal or botched construction, including extending the existing time limits for enforcement to two years
• The introduction of fixed penalty notices and stop notices
• Protecting homeowners from builders who intend to do major projects without proper planning by restricting the use of building notices.

(Building Online, 18 March 2008)

Longer prosecution period – Communities UK reports that the Building (Amendment) Regulations 2008 (S.I.2008/671) were laid on 13 March 2008. These increase the time, from six months to two years, within which local authorities may bring prosecutions for breaches of certain specified climate change related building regulations provisions, including those set out in Part L of the Building Regulations. The Department consulted on this increase last year and the responses were almost unanimously in favour. The increased time limit will give local authorities a better opportunity to prosecute breaches which may only come to light after the current time limit has expired or where remedial work is promised but not carried out. A clause in the Housing and Regeneration Bill, which is currently being considered by Parliament, would extend the longer prosecution time limit to breaches of all building regulations provisions.

CABE wants a LIFT - Having told Building Schools for the Future (BSF) designers to try harder, CABE is prescribing an increased dose of high quality design for the NHS LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trusts) Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme for primary health care centres. It has also called for schemes falling below its ‘excellent’ benchmark for design criteria not to be approved for construction. CABE surveyed a sample of 20 out of 82 LIFT projects completed between 2002 and 2006 and concluded that only 40% of its design criteria - looking at functionality, build quality and impact - scored ‘good’ and better. Only 7% of design criteria actually met its excellent rating. The agency has also called for project delivery teams to be strengthened through more design training and the support of committed client design advisors. Areas of design weakness found in the sample survey include prioritising maintenance over the quality of the patient environment, resulting in the use of materials that create an overly institutional atmosphere. The briefing paper ‘Assessing design quality in LIFT primary care buildings’ is at http://www.cabe.org.uk/default.aspx?contentitemid=2387.
(RIBA Practice Bulletin, No. 437, 2008)

The Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA) – (see Shortcut 14)
The SBSA has entered into a protocol with BRE for the issue of Environmental Performance Certificates (EPCs) for existing buildings in Scotland. As a result of the protocol, BRE will allow members its new EPC Scotland: Existing Buildings Scheme to issue EPCs for either domestic or non-domestic buildings; the choice of which depends on the competence of the energy certifier. An EPC cannot be issued for existing buildings unless it is under the umbrella of a protocol with SBSA. The Approved Certifiers of Design Scheme run by BRE allows designers to certify their own designs, allowing for a reduction in the building warrant application fee and more importantly to avoid bottlenecks during the warrant application process.
(Scottish Construction News Online, 11 March 2008)

Solar panel planning rules to change – After April 6th, planning permission will no longer be required for domestic solar photovoltaics, solar thermal, ground and water source heat pumps, biomass heating and combined heat and power systems on or within the curtilage of the dwelling house. The government is also looking to allow free-standing and building-mounted wind turbines on detached properties, and air source heat pumps to be installed without planning permission, but has to await clearance from the European Commission. It expects this to happen later in 2008.
(Building Online, 13 March 2008)

Standard Form of Cost Analysis – Updated for the first time in over 30 years, BCIS will be publishing in April, the latest edition of the Standard Form of Cost Analysis for building projects. This 3rd edition clarifies the definitions and expands the sub-elements in the light of modern construction techniques, and takes into account questions of interpretation raised by users.
(RICS Business, March 2008, p.30)

Welsh boffins investigate sci fi-style solar power paint - It might sound like something out of a science fiction film, but researchers at the University of Swansea claim to have developed a method for capturing solar energy using a new type of paint-like solar cells that could be applied to steel structures, raising the prospect of new buildings that generate usable energy from their external surfaces.
(Businessgreen.com, 10 March 2008)

Italy - Four frescoed rooms in Augustus's House on Rome's Palatine Hill are to open to the public for the first time. Experts believe the rooms, found in the 1970s below the ruins of Augustus's sprawling imperial palace, were part of a smaller house where he lived when he was still just Julius Caesar's adoptive son Octavian and not Rome's first emperor.
(Italy Magazine online, 9 March 2008)