CGL‘s next breakfast seminar, Local Authority Requirements for the Verification of Contaminated Land will be on Wednesday 8th February.

Inconsistencies between different local planning authorities in their respective verification requirements for contaminated land can often lead to confusion, conflict and costly delays for developers. In order to ease this process, the Yorkshire and Humber Pollution Advisory Council (YAHPAC) – a group of council bodies stretching from Northumberland to South Lincolnshire – has issued guidance on their collective expectations to ensure consistency for developers working across the different regulatory areas.

• Jonathan Shaw and Mark Stringer will take a closer look at YAHPAC guidance and how it can be applied to streamline the contaminated land verification process.
• Drawing on examples of both good and bad practice, Jonathan and Mark will take a particular focus on the verification of cover systems and gas protection measures.

This event will be of particular benefit to developers, contractors and related professionals.

The event is held at The Crown Hotel, Harrogate (HG1 2RZ) View Map.

Doors will open at 7.30am to allow networking before the main presentation with bacon baps, pastries and refreshments served. The presentation will be at 8.15 – 9.00 with time afterwards for questions/discussion.

Register yourself directly for free or find more information at https://cgl-contaminated-land.eventbrite.co.uk

If you have any queries please email Katie Hatchley at: KatieH@cgl-uk.com or call 01423 276000. Website www.cgl-uk.com

Join us at our breakfast event on 25th January 2017

Multi BREEAM award winning and two time BREEAM Assessor of the Year – Barry Rankin, director of Leeds based GWP Project Services will review the benefits (and challenges!) of BREEAM to those tasked with delivering, operating and owning BREEAM assessed buildings. Barry will draw on best practice examples from current and previous projects of how BREEAM has been approached and achieved on an economically justifiable basis and has effected substantial change to the approach to sustainability within the industry.  He will also look at the range of BREEAM versions applicable to multiple building types, alternatives within the marketplace and give an insight to where BREEAM may head in the future.

Why build sustainably: A review of UK research, governance and industry activity

Professor Chris Gorse, Director of the Leeds Sustainability Institute, and Dr David Glew, previously seconded from Leeds Beckett University to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, reflect on their research, the position of the government and industrial activity in the UK.  While over recent years the government have seemingly taken a back step with its environmental agenda, insights are provided into some of the research being undertaken, the benefits of sustainable building and what the future might hold.  The impact of certification schemes such as BREEAM will be explored as will the benefits of understanding energy use and building performance.

To get involved join us at:-

Addleshaw Goddard LLP, 3 Sovereign Square, Sovereign Street, Leeds LS1 4ER (New venue)

Wednesday 25th January 2017 08:00-09:30

Click here to book your place!

Planning and housing practitioners discussed the urgent challenge of how to build more affordable housing at Leeds Planning Network’s Master Class on Innovation in Housing Supply on November 17th.

The event was organised by Leeds Planning Network, Leeds Beckett’s School of the Built Environment’s planning research cluster, and the Centre for Knowledge Exchange and was chaired by Martyn Broadest, Director of Home at Connect Housing.

The Planning Master Class was attended by nearly 50 practitioners, and featured presentations from Rob Greenland, of Leeds Community Housing, and Vicky Payne, from Urbed – Urban Environmental Design – the Manchester-based planning co-operative.

Quintin Bradley, from Leeds Planning Network said: “This year only 32,110 affordable homes were built in England. That’s 52% lower than the previous year. There is an urgent need to change the way we deliver housing in this country and this Master Class look at innovative ways to tackle the problems.”

Leeds Community Homes are developing a community land trust to ensure homes stay affordable in perpetuity and any increase in house values goes back to the community. Meanwhile Urbed are working on designs for new garden cities where increases in land values are captured for the long-term benefit of residents.

The key issue for both presenters was the need to purchase land at its existing use value so that the increase in price that follows planning permission can be channelled to provide affordable housing, and to invest in infrastructure and community services. In the current planning system, this uplift in value goes to the landowner and developer only.

Urbed’s garden city vision won the Wolfson Economics Prize in 2014 and they are currently working on master plans for potential settlements in Sheffield and near Birmingham. Leeds Community Homes have launched a community share offer to raise £360,000 to create 16 permanently-affordable homes in Leeds.

For more information go to https://www.ethex.org.uk/leedscommunityhomes

Please see link here for the Presentation Slides from The Master Class.  leeds-master-class-slides-final

CIC Yorkshire Annual Conference

Wednesday 2nd November 2016

YORK ARMY MUSEUM, 3A TOWER STREET, YORK, YO1 9SB

9.00AM REGISTRATION  FOR A  9.30AM START

ABOUT 

The aim of this day is to explore the ways in which our built environment has developed and continues to develop strategies that respond to safety and security risks, and how we, as construction professionals, can work together to create safe yet welcoming spaces. What this conference is not about is bomb blast bollards and barriers, but rather an interrogation of new threats, what we can learn from past threats and what we can do to defend the future.

• Security in the UK: the impact of defence on place making.  Many of our historic cities developed because of their defensive position, but changes in threats have made these urban areas look less like refuges and more like the targets. How has modern day urban planning responded and is there a way that we can bring sanctuary back to our cities?
• Teenage Kicks? In defence of public space. Is it possible to design urban spaces that are all embracing and inclusive to the wider society in which we live, yet remain safe and welcoming?
• Complete Control: Intelligent buildings and digital security. The development of the concept of intelligent buildings is leading to significant shifts in the way buildings are designed,
  operated and used. But could this reliance on digital technology backfire?
• Military Sounds in the Suburbs: Military innovation for civilian problems. Can we utilise the armed forces incredible skills in design and engineering for emergency situations to overcome peacetime problems?
• Manchester Calling: Building a resilient city. Reflecting on the 1996 IRA attack in Manchester and its influence on the masterplanning of the city.

BOOKINGS

Please register your attendance via eventbrite at the link below

http://www.nevermindthebollards.eventbrite.co.uk/ 

COMMENT FROM CIC YORKSHIRE CHAIR, STEFANIE STEAD

And we are not just referring to the impact of contemporary terrorism on our built environment – it is also about safety.  Creating places that feel safe at all times of the day is crucial to the success of a neighbourhood, resulting in reduced crime and increased business.  It can attract investment, people and culture.  Indeed a little anarchy can be a good thing for an area, cultivating alternative thinking, artistic endeavours and literary inspiration.  A counter-culture can be good for business – just look at New York’s Meat Packing district or Brixton.  Unfortunately safe places = terrorist targets.  Boston, for example, is consistently voted as being one of the safest cities in the US, although this illusion was shattered during the Boston Marathon, giving rise to the question as to whether a balance can be struck between ‘safety’ and ‘security’.  It would seem this shift in the balance is only temporary.  Cities are amazingly resilient – largely due to its people who rebelliously will not hide, but also the buildings, infrastructure and public spaces that continue to endure.

Many of our cities developed because of their defensive position.  Whether a small city like York or a metropolis like London, the very existence of these conurbations is due to their foundations as fortifications.  The quaintness of Yorkshire market towns like Richmond or Knaresborough belive the once strategic importance of their associated castles, but these fortifications influenced how our cities developed and in turn shaped our society, becoming places of safety in turbulent times.  How things have changed.  From the blitz, the threat of nuclear war and alternative tactics from terrorist organisations have made these urban areas look less like refuges and more like targets.  How has modern day urban planning responded to these new challenges and is there a way that we can learn from past defensive design to bring sanctuary back to the city?

There is a great deal of research on how the creation of spaces that give residents and users a feeling of sanctuary, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.  However it would seem that this theory is taken to the extreme; that rather than creating urban design that engages people,  some local authorities and developers are keen to ‘design out’ certain activities, and ipso facto, certain people.  Whether it is the anti-loitering “Mosquito” device, anti-skateboarding studs or benches that prevent any other use other than the act of sitting, urban spaces are becoming less about inclusive design and more about defending our cities from the homeless, ‘anti-social’ youths and feral pigeons.    What are the consequences of such design?  How can we design urban spaces that are all embracing to the wider society in which we live, yet remain safe and welcoming?

Is the Internet of Things possibly the future of the industry, and the development of the concept of intelligent buildings is leading to significant shifts in the way buildings are designed, operated and used.  From the designers, constructors and users, everyone stands to benefit from the optimisation of space, energy efficiency and connectivity, whether a workplace or home, changing demographics come with increasing user expectations of modern and flexible space design, improved comfort, productivity, and pervasive connectivity.  Sounds great, but the downside is that the greater the reliance on digital technology, the greater the chance of the building – or elements of – being hacked.  Can terrorists turn out the lights out of a city, can a burglar hack into your security alarm, can your kettle turn against you?  Is this the future or will there be a revolution against the digital age?

Maybe the armed forces can help solve some of the challenges.  The armed forces have incredible skills in design and engineering; skills used to overcome some extraordinary circumstances in places of extreme danger.  These skills, developed in response to defending security, can be used to overcome peacetime problems.  Whether in the aftermath of earthquakes or, as the Boxing Day floods demonstrated, the army’s skills in design were indispensable in keeping communities together and society functioning.  However, can these skills be used for more than emergency situations, when all other options have failed?  Are there innovative solutions that the industry can use as a matter of course?

I realise that I have introduced more questions than answers, but that, I think, is because there is no single answer in creating safe and welcoming spaces.   Indeed it is questioning what has been done and how we can work together in the future that is the basis of the Construction Industry Council’s sixth annual Yorkshire & Humber conference.

The aim of this day is to explore the ways in which our built environment has developed and continues to develop strategies that respond to safety and security risks, and questions how we, as construction professionals, can work together to create safe yet welcoming spaces.  What this conference is not about is bomb blast bollards, barriers and anti-parking paving, but rather an interrogation of new threats, what we can learn from past threats and what we can do to defend the future.

For further information on the conference please click here. 

***PLEASE NOTE DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES WE HAVE HAD TO CANCEL THIS SEMINAR AND WILL REARRANGE. IF YOU WISH TO BE NOTIFIED OF THE NEW DATE PLEASE EMAIL ckeevents@leedsbeckett.ac.uk***

Wednesday 28th September 2016

Addleshaw Goddard LLP, Leeds

08:00-09:30

Constructing Excellence breakfasts are back! And we will be kicking off our new ‘term’ of breakfast seminars with Addleshaw Goddard LLP construction team who will be talking about their Managing Risk Service and the difference careful risk management can make to project delivery. They will also be providing practical tips on dispute avoidance and the opportunity to hear about two real case studies.

Whilst not all disputes can be avoided, a proactive approach to risk management helps to avoid disputes and reduce the risk and complexity of formal disputes if they do arise, saving both time and cost and proving that prevention really is better than cure.

To get involved join us at

Addleshaw Goddard LLP, Sovereign House, Sovereign Street, Leeds, LS1 1HQ

(If you are using a satellite navigation, please use the following postcode: LS1 4BJ)

28th September 2016 08:00-09:30

Click here to book your place

Thank you for your support and investment in our many CKE activities including thinkBIM, CE and Greenvision.  As part of our work, we always engage with our students and try to ensure the best practices CKE gather can be integrated into teaching delivery.  The QAA benchmark statement acts as a template for all undergraduate awards in the built environment across the UK.  Recently, this statement has been revised.  Personally, I have asked to integrate aspects such as sustainability and BIM into the statement which ultimately shapes the skills set of graduates who enter our sector.  The statement itself in somewhat retrograde in my view and should be encouraged to be more in line with the changing practices in industry.

The document below is calling for consultation from particularly the industry sector.  To date nationally, this has only generated a small number of replies.    I am sure you will all have something to say.  Even if this is a one line comment, that comment will be of great value.

Link to CL-12-16

There is a link to the consultation survey in the actual document but for ease you can also link to the survey here

Many thanks for your time.

CETEC have been evaluating and remediating “sick” buildings for the last 30 years and formally evaluating IEQ and occupant performance for the last 10 years, especially using the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) protocol.   For the last decade they have been developing the IEQ for Quantifying Productivity protocols and examining how the validated data could be incorporated into BIM for FM management.

A presentation by Vyt Garnys from CETEC is being held at Leeds Beckett University, Queen Square House, Leeds on 10th June 2016 from 11-12pm.

Please see link here for more information.

If you would like to attend this presentation please email the Knowledge Exchange Events team at CKEEvents@leedsbeckett.ac.uk