News update - October 2007

A brief synopsis of some of the key news items related to technical guidance, construction practice, and new regulations that you might have missed in the press.

A Building Control system for the 21st century
The Building Control Alliance (BCA) has published A Building Control system for the 21st century containing key recommendations on what the Government needs to do to improve the building control system. The report, provides strong opinions on three key areas - self certification, prior approval and the building notice system. The report is split into two: Summary of Recommendations and Full Report.
RICS Business, October 2007, p7

Concrete loses out on tall jobs
Concrete groups are being told that contractors are struggling to get hold of high-strength concrete in sufficient volumes for major tower projects. It is feared that clients are now switching to steel frames in order for projects to be built on time. The situation has so worried concrete bosses that the trade body for specialist concrete frame contractors, Construct, will meet the British Ready-mixed Concrete Association later this month.
QS week, 4th October 2007

Construction orders inch up
New construction orders rose by just two per cent in the 12 months up to August 31, according to latest government figures. The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform also reported a drop of three per cent in orders in the last quarter compared to the same period the previous year. Private housing remained static over the year, while orders in the last quarter plummeted by 20 per cent compared with the previous three months. Public housing, by contrast, enjoyed a 15 per cent rise over 12 months, though orders tailed off by 20 per cent in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter. New work in the public non-housing sector (excluding infrastructure) rose by eight per cent, while new infrastructure output rose by three per cent over the year. Private commercial orders were one per cent higher while private industrial orders fell by eight per cent compared to a year earlier.
QS Week, 8th October 2007

EPC payback time
New homeowners acting on information provided in an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) will have to wait up to 208 years to recoup the costs of their energy saving measures, according to new research published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Building Cost Information service (BCIS). Payback times for EPC energy improvements on an average three bedroom terraced house range from 5 years for cavity wall insulation, to 208 years for solar heating. The next most viable energy improvement is loft insulation which will take homeowners 13 years before they begin to notice any real savings. View research (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet).
RICS Press Release, 12th October 2007

IKEA launches the £150,000 flat-pack home
IKEA has started selling flat-pack homes from one of its outlets in Gateshead. The timber-frame houses and flats, designed by Skanska, cost up to £150,000 and are only available to those on an income between £15,000 and £35,000 a year.
Daily Mail, 5th October 2007

Inefficient lamp phase out
Certain lamps will begin to be phased out from retailers from the start of next year under a voluntary initiative to cut CO₂ emissions. The move sees the UK attempt to be one of the first countries to phase out “inefficient” lamps, ahead of possible EU actions to ban their sale altogether. The EU is expected to bring forward its proposals for lighting under the Framework Directive for the Eco-design of Energy Using Products. Work on domestic lighting started in June and the Commission is expected to table a proposal by the end of 2009. Proposals for street and office lighting are due to be agreed by the end of 2008.
BSJ 9th October 2007

ODA forced to relocate canoe venue
The Olympic Delivery Authority is being forced to relocate its proposed venue for 2012 canoe slalom events after discovering contamination on its original site. The ODA originally planned to build the venue at Spitalbrook in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, after believing the site had a low risk of contamination. But the Environment Agency and the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority has found evidence of hydrocarbon and tar contamination on the site, believed to have come from previous light industrial use. The ODA is now considering using a site six miles away as a replacement, but insists that venue designs would be transferable to the new site.
CN Plus, 9th October 2007

Planning Gain Supplement scrapped
The government is to consider proposals put forward by an alliance of developers and homebuilders as an alternative to the planning gain supplement (PGS). In its pre-budget report, the government said that legislation implementing PGS would not be introduced in the next parliamentary session. Instead it would “legislate in the Planning Reform Bill to empower Local Planning Authorities in England to apply new planning charges to new development, alongside negotiated contributions for site-specific matters”. The move follows the submission of an alternative to PGS by the British Property Federation, Home Builders Federation, Major Developers Association and London First. The alliance suggested a system of standard planning charges or tariffs set locally to reflect regional needs instead of the proposed PGS, which imposes a tax on the increase in land value following the granting of planning permission.
Contract Journal, 9th October 2007

Prime Minister’s Building Award
Bristol-based practice White Design has won this year’s Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award for its Dalby Forest Visitor Centre in North Yorkshire. To see details on all the shortlisted finalists visit www.betterpublicbuilding.org.uk.
AJ Plus, 11th October 2007

Smart windows
A new technology which greatly reduces the need for air conditioning in buildings and vehicles is about to go into production in Germany. ChromoGenics, developer of electrochromic technology, has secured finance to scale up the manufacture of its patented glass laminate. The ultra-thin plastic foils, which can be applied to glass or used as laminates between layers of glass, can vary their degree of transparency, thereby automatically regulating the amount of light and heat radiation that passes through them. When the foils are used in buildings or vehicles, the need for air conditioning is kept to a minimum.
Green Building Press, October 2007

Zero-carbon homes shock
In a surprise move the government has revealed that homes using renewable energy provided through the national grid will not qualify as zero-carbon. In long-awaited guidance on the government’s Code for Sustainable Homes, the communities department caught the housebuilding industry unawares by decreeing that off-site renewable sources of energy such as windfarms “would not be eligible unless directly connected to the development concerned”. The government’s declaration came as zero-carbon homes costing below £500,000 became exempt from stamp duty on 1 October, as announced in this year’s Budget.
Building Online, 5th October 2007

Preparing for new safety regulations
Next year could see radical changes to the way health and safety breaches are dealt with by inspectors with range of new penalties, from fixed fines to permanent site shutdowns.
CN Plus, 8th October 2007

Sustainability written into construction contracts
Sustainability will become an integral part of construction contacts if a proposal by the Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) is adopted. At a policy meeting on 7 November the JCT will propose that construction contracts contain sustainability performance provisions. Key organisations from all industry sectors are due to attend the meeting to discuss whether writing sustainability into contracts will be effective; what remedies could be sought for failure to meet sustainability requirements; and whether their inclusion would encourage designers to give priority to environmentally sound measures.
BSJ 9th October 2007

Natural smoke ventilation
A new guide includes information on the latest systems, European product standards, design approaches and information on meeting the requirements of Approved Document B identifying the need for designers to treat smoke control as a system, making specific reference to the new European EN12101 family of standard products covering smoke- and heat-exhaust ventilation systems. The new document also recognises the now widespread use of smoke shafts and sets out practical guidance and regulations regarding the form and function of the shaft and the smoke- and heat-exhaust control system. To obtain the Guide visit: www.secontrols.com.
Modern Building Services Online, September 2007

Rockwool teams up with BRE on Part L measurement tool
A simplified formula has been established to help specifiers to meet Part L (2006) energy efficiency requirements in rain screen construction. The BRE and Rockwool collaboration has agreed a calculation to measure U-valve allowances for insulation to include thermal bridging. Previous guides have presumed a default calculation for thermal bridging of rain screen insulation, if the designer had not made the recommended 3D thermal calculations. The default value currently tends to result in uneconomic thickness of insulation, due to few designers and specifiers performing the complex calculations. They recommend that an addition of 0.1W/m2K is allowed to the wall value in predicted bridging. The point fixing must incorporate a 5mm thick thermal break pad and the calculation does not apply to metal rail systems. This would mean adding approximately 40mm of Rockwool to a standard 100mm thick insulation slab
Building Newsletter Online, 26th September 2007

Italy
Conservationists have launched a campaign to halt a multimillion-pound British-designed building development next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which they claim will disfigure the mediaeval heart of the city. David Chipperfield Architects won an international competition for the urban redevelopment of the 13th-century University Hospital of Santa Chiara, which directly adjoins some of the world’s greatest mediaeval treasures; the Duomo (Cathedral), its celebrated leaning belltower, and the circular baptistry.
Times Online, 5th October 2007

United Arab Emirates
The aaUAE is a new association that marries architecture and design to everyday life, with a big emphasis on making it accessible to the people of the UAE. Click here for full story: Professional association to raise the bar on architectural design.
GulfNews.com, 6th October 2007

Images of England
Images of England is a photographic library of England’s listed buildings, recorded at the turn of the 21st century. You can view over 300,000 images of England’s built heritage from lamp posts to lavatories, phone boxes to toll booths, mile stones to gravestones, as well as thousands of bridges, historic houses and churches. Compiled by 2,000 volunteers it sets out to capture every listed building and structure in the country. To visit the website go to www.imagesofengland.org.uk.

ITU opens up huge online resource
ITU Standards produced by the Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) are now available online without charge. The announcement follows a highly successful trial conducted from January-October 2007, during which some two million ITU-T Recommendations were downloaded throughout the world. The aim of the trial was to “increase the visibility and easy availability of the output of ITU-T”. Offering standards for free is a significant step for the standards community as well as the wider information and communication technologies (ICT) industry. Now, anyone with Internet access will be able to download any of over 3000 ITU-T Recommendations. These are used by equipment manufacturers, telecommunication network operators and service providers throughout the world to drive the information society. The move further demonstrates ITU’s commitment to bridging the digital divide by extending the results of its work to the global community. Further details.