Be2Camp returns to Greenbuild Expo in May with Green Vision.

This year’s session, taking place on 8th May at Manchester Central from 1pm, will be the most exciting  yet, with an amazing line-up of speakers (see below for programme).

GreenBuild Expo itself attracts over 4,000 built environment professionals and takes place on 8th and 9th May. It features over 100 free seminars and workshops on all aspects on sustainable buildings, from integrating renewable energy and BIM for beginners to skills for Green Deal and strategies for climate change adaptation. Speakers include UK Green Building Council, Energy Saving Trust, Warm Up North, Manchester City Council and many more. For free registration visit www.greenbuildexpo.co.uk.

Be2Green

The speakers will include some of the top presentations from Green Visions last three years’ programme, along with BE2 friends old and new. Join us for the whole afternoon, or one of the three great sessions we have planned.

1.00 Welcome

1.15 – 2.00 Green Knowledge – how social media can help us learn, share and advance green sustainability knowledge, including essential tips on promoting your green credentials

2.15 – 3.00 Green Materials – transparency in green and healthy materials, featuring presentation from Kelly Grainger, Interface and Philippa Ashbee from Bottle Glass Alley.

3.15 – 4.00 Green Futures – what’s emerging in the world of green building, featuring ‘Green Towns’’ Prof Angus McIntosh from Oxford Brooks University, and Paul Toyne, Global Head of Sustainability at WSP and a keynote live presentation from Amanda Sturgeon, VP Living Building Challenge, from the recently completed Bullitt Centre in Portland, called by many the greenest commercial building in the world (Not one to miss!).

Do you have something to share, Pecha Kucha style (thats 20 slides, each 20 seconds) that will fit one of the above sessions? We will keep one slot free for ‘on the day’ contribution But if you are interested please let the Greenbuild Expo organisers know in advance. (1st come, 1st served ….)

As in previous years, our afternoon session will be live streamed and web enabled allowing real global sharing from and into the event.

BE2 (Be2Camp) are Greenbuild Expo’’s social media partners, and a social media advocacy for built environment sustainability and collaborative working

Green Vision, part of the Leeds Sustainability Institute and Centre for Knowledge Exchange and committed to driving sustainable change for construction professionals

The transcript, Storify style,  of the excellent Green Vision half day conference can be read here

Catch up with the comments and tweets through the day, revisit presentations and explore the numerous links shared during the event. Also read through tweets and observations from the day’s round table discussions

• Financing Low Carbon Retrofit
• The Real Green Deal
• Better things to spend your money on
• The business case for commercial retrofit
• Revalue – Assessing the Improvement Fundamentals of Buildings

A sample of the presentations delivered include: John Alker

and Amanda Sturgeon live from the Bullitt centre

A packed out room of Construction professionals gathered for yesterday’s Green Vision seminar at Squires Sanders.  Nigel Banks, Group Sustainability Director for Keepmoat   gave a compelling presentation on the Green Deal and the current Governments’ approach to tackling Fuel Poverty. George Munson Energy and Climate Change Manager at Leeds City Council highlighted the excellent retrofit programmes being delivered by the Leeds City Region and the tangible energy savings and health benefits achieved by household residents. Whilst Karen Stafeckis, Area Manager for Turner and Townsend  discussed the process and business case for adopting low carbon retrofit projects in the public and private sectors.  .

Nigel titled his presentation somewhat tongue in cheek as ‘Selling Fuel Poverty’ highlighting the importance of fuel poverty as a key priority for government. Yet despite it being high on the government agenda we are currently in our first government since 1970 which does not have a government programme in place to tackle the issue of the fuel poor.  The Green Deal with its 7% interest rate could prove off-putting for poorer households, and fuel-poor consumers could miss out altogether. Nigel argued that the Green Deal will not stop fuel poverty rocketing as fuel prices rise.

Nigel advocated the importance of understanding and working solutions appropriate to the house and occupiers when looking to improve social housing stocks on a whole estate basis . He also emphasised the importance of these upgrades being offered at Low or no cost helping residents move out of extreme fuel poverty in tough times when fuel bills have tripled. Keepmoat have done extensive work and research around solutions and technologies and how they work together , delivering savings of up to 80% on carbon in some properties and demonstrating considerable cost savings to residents . Nigel said the Green Deal has excited the construction industry but it may only bring benefit and be appropriate for a tranche of the market with its 7% interest rates and can’t be seen as a solution to tackle Fuel Poverty as the bottom 20% may not even be eligible for the Green Deal finance.

George Munson shared Leeds City Councils learning of delivering the green deal in the Leeds City Region on the Green Deal Demonstrator programme which started in October 2012. The programme emerged following on from DEEP and Wrap upLeeds.LeedsCityregion agreed to collaborate for the 2.6 million green deal demonstrator programme involving a small framework of suppliers. The programme was set up with the primary aims of testing the green deal with a longer term agreement to work on a 3-8 year green deal programme  . This project was a test bed to investigate the appetite for loans and test the market for new niche housing types  of solid wall properties and hard to treat cavities. George indicated the first project of external insulation to 1960s properties as a real success with great take up and low impact in terms of intrusion and high impact in terms of comfort improvements. Great way to transform an estate. The second part to the demonstrator is testing the appetite for loans which when offered at 0% enquiries have been flooding in. There is a third element to the programme in the pipeline which will look at Victorian terraces where internal  insulation would not have been possible had the  Government not just released its new planning guidance whereby external wall insulation is permitted unless in listed buildings or conservation areas.  George brought his presentation to a close by drawing out key learning to date indicating an appetite for loans, an appetite from the market yet the need for an alternative to the Green Deal finance. Leeds City Region will be looking ahead to their long term Green Deal offer to deliver improvements on 450,000 properties over the next 3-8 years.

Karen Stafeckis shifted the focus of the evening from housing to an in-depth look at Retrofit of non domestic buildings , both Public and Private, highlighting the importance of optimising energy performance in existing occupied buildings. Karen saw social and economic pressure driving businesses towards the low carbon retrofit agenda change alongside increased movements around CSR and increased consumer demand for optimised buildings.  She delivered a clear message around the process of measurement, benchmarking, setting realistic energy targets and bundling of buildings to optimise paybacks.  Karen shared her experience of the Mayor of London’s public Sector initiative RE:FITwhich was first launched in 2008 and guarantees energy savings achieved through low carbon retrofit. 5 years into the scheme and it is achieving guaranteed savings typically up to 28% pa and payback periods typically less than seven years.   .

Karen concluded with discussion of the recently launched World Green Business Council’s ‘Business Case’for Green Buildings, and a strong message that optimising energy efficiency can deliver economic as well as environmental benefits.

GVis members posed some excellent questions around occupier behavior and its impact on the Green Deal. Also good points raised on multi occupancy buildings and a shift towards community heating systems. Green Deal finance was a hot topic as ever raising the questions around interest rates, saleable value of homes under the Green Deal.

This year sees our third year of Green Vision tweet chats under the #GVischat hashtag. Previous tweet chats have included discussions exploring CSR, Retrofit, Cradle to Cradle and Green Materials amongst many other topical sustainability themes.

We are delighted to announce our 2013 Green Vision series, which we hope will settle into a regular Monday 8pm slot. Topics to date are:

Jan 28th 8pm       Are we getting closer to Zero?

Feb 25th 8pm       ThinkBIM chat #tbimchat

March 18th 8pm    Retrofit Revisited

April 15th 8pm       Living Building Challenge

May 20th 8pm        ThinkBIM chat (using #tbimchat)

June 24th 8pm       Green Vision

More dates and topics will be announced in the summer. Details on how to tweetchat can be found here.  Transcripts of previous tweetchats can be found on the fairsnape storify site.

Our latest Green Vision tweetchat continued the autumn 2012 series and explored transparency in Green and Healthy building products. The chat certainly was green and vibrant, View the story “Green and Healthy Building Products ” on Martin’s Storify page.

The theme and comments from this chat will gp forward to our half day conference on the 12th December in Leeds.

Can we even start to imagine a Built Environment without Ash, or Scots Pine for that matter? Or a built environment with severe restrictions on movement and transportation of timber, where design and construction, from necessity has to be focused on local timber sources.

A built environment we may have to face up to and prepare for, fast, argues Martin Brown @fairsnape:

There has been a huge amount of coverage in the media, and indeed across social media on Ash dieback disease, but little as yet related to the built environment, and the role we may have played in the spread of the disease or the potential impact it may, no will, have on the built environment.

Despite the UK Government (DEFRA) slow response, not to mention odd instructions to wash boots dogs and children after visits to the countryside, the causes of Ash Dieback seems to be emerging as:

• Climate Change
• Bio Security, or lack of
• Demand for instant landscaping

The built environment is accountable for around 40% of climate change issues (waste, transport, carbon, energy etc) but its the increase in demand for instant green that may be our biggest contribution.  Odd isn’t it that efforts to plant trees and plants to provide green landscapes and green roofs in response to CO2 and biodiversity issues may have opened the door to yet bigger problems.

There is of course a great example of complexity theory at play here, we can no longer rely on cause effect thinking, but need to consider wider, biodiversity consequences. As Muir is quoted as saying ” when we tug at one part of nature we tug at the whole of nature”

• We face a tidal wave of diseases with over 30 damaging pathogens identified poised, ready to threaten UK trees and plants. See Guardian article.
• We face movement and transport restriction on timbers from Ash, Scots Pine and other plants, both in landscaping and use in construction, finishes and furniture.
• We need to rethink, and fast

I am reminded of my visit to UBC CIRS building in Vancouver last year and the gorgeous timbers in the atrium and main hall, timbers ‘salvaged’ from local forests affected by pine beetle disease and closely monitored by the Living Building Challenge.

As we launch Living Building in the UK with a UK collaborative, it may well be that the certification of future green buildings in the UK is through standards such as the Living Building Challenge, that give hard earned recognition to buildings and facilities that, like plants, contribute to making the world a better place.

The CIRS Building was recently profiled in our CKE Green Vision series with a presentation from Max Richter at Perkin+Will.

Green Vision is a key driver in launching Living Building thinking into the UK. Look out for more announcements at the next Green Vision conference event on the 12th Dec in Leeds and across the web. (Hashtag #GVis2012)

For more information on the Living Building collaborative in the UK, leave a comment, get in touch or pop over to our Living Building UK Collaborative page on Facebook and say hello.

(This blog originally appeared on the fairsnape blog)

#GVis Sustainable Materials : Whole life thinking 

The core Green Vision team gathered at Squires Sanders at 2 Park Lane in Leeds yesterday evening for another engaging Green Vision event. An excellent panel of speakers covering the drivers for sustainable material selection, importance of material selection in driving down Carbon and advocating the use of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and treating Buildings as Ecosystems . Paul Toyne presented a compelling case for Sustainable Procurement policies and evidence based sustainability assessment whilst admitting that our current financial models do not support LCA. Louis gave us a glimmer of hope about Whole Life thinking advocating the use of LCA with a triple bottom line approach. Gary then made the compelling case for Buildings to be addressed as Ecosystems highlighting exemplar case studies from across the world.

Paul Toyne of WSP UK shared with us his desire for the UK construction Sector to embrace Whole life thinking but hinted that whilst there much talking of LCA he has found that there can be a lack of consistency , baseline data and product data to enable the sector to take advantage of this methodology. Paul , clearly passionate about the issue of resource use and natural resource management advocates a move toward the circular economy which we are starting to see in Denmark and Holland involving organisations within the wider system coming together to rethink the way they operate.

It was a pleasure to attend the Green Vision event where people with different backgrounds and experiences share knowledge and exchange viewpoints on how to make progress on sustainability . My hope is that attendees will be more aware of and will help promote lifecycle thinking to help support future decision making (Louis Brimacombe , TATAsteel )

Louis Brimacombe of TATASteel shone some light into the room with his detailed account of LCA of Steel in particular highlighting the recent British Standard BS 8905 Sustainable use of materials helping companies perform a full sustainability assessment on their potential material choices. He highlighted some interesting figures on end of life scenarios of product types with Timber coming out at the worst with over 50% ending in landfill

Gary, author of recent book ‘Ecosystems Services Come to Town’ brought a softer tone to the evening with his thought provoking presentation of ecosystems services , cutting through the jargon to show the simplicity and ecological benefits of green walls and roofs . Gary’s enthusiasm is infectious and he successfully demystified the world of green roofs and effectively presented buildings as ecosystems , with inspiring images of living roofs from across the world ..

A lively Q and A followed covering a variety of issues such as Consistency in LCA approaches , barriers for change yet need for change in both procurement processes and financial models we currently work within .All relevant and topical to construction and future cities.

Slides from the presentations can be found here

As part of our CSR In Construction Green Vision series, our next tweetchat, (Weds 20th June at 8pm BST), will explore CSR, Construction in the context of the Rio Earth Summit.

Guidance on joining our tweetchats can be found here “How to Tweetchat”

Background:

It’s 1992, five years after the Brundtland Commission launched the now well accepted  Sustainable Development definition. Heads of State and environmentalists convened in Rio to agree, or attempt to agree, a strategy to implement the sustainable definition globally.

At that time I was changing role from Project Management to Business Improvement Management, taking an interest in improvement issues and wondered then at the relevance of Rio and ‘sustainability’ on construction.

The impact was to be slow burn. Sustainable construction was then a very rarely heard expression, if at all. However Agenda 21, the global national and local strategy from Rio ’92 would go on to kick start and shape our Sustainable Construction agenda in so many ways, from strategy to standards to winning and delivering work. It would also shape our sustainability thinking linking economic, social as well as environmental aspects.

And continues to do so. Only last month I had a call from a contractor looking for help in understanding a Local Authority PQQ question “How do you meet our Local Agenda21 principles”

20 years later it is worth reflecting on progress in sustainable construction. Undoubtably a mixed bag, we have moved a long way in some areas, but we are still debating the some same 1992 issues a generation later.  And have we avoided compromising the current generation? No

With design, construction and the way we use buildings (the “built environment”) Accounting for 40% of energy use, waste and resources we have a profound impact, but where in Rio +20 is the voice of the built environment? (Follow the hashtag #Rioplus20 and an embyronic Rio twitter list for those with a built environment interest)

Whatever the outcome the Rio+20, with a (perhaps flawed) focus on a Green Economy we can expect significant impact on the way we approach sustainable construction, not least in the financial accounting and price of ‘nature’ (biodiversity, carbon emissions, waste)

Green Economy growth would in many ways be good for the construction sector, but to be good for the planet, good for a sustainable and resilience sector, growth has to be tempered with effective corporate social responsibility, collaborative working and appropriate sourcing. That is doing more with less.

Interesting days ahead…

link - 10 things you need to know about Rioplus20

Is your PQQ or Bid success rate dopping? Are you loosing out to competitors and not sure why? You could do no better than to get along to one of the numerous best practice or knowledge exchange events such as the excellent Green Vision programme from CKE in Leeds.

Last night the focus was on CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, which has moved a million miles away from just doing good, volunteering and charity donation, important though as these are. No, supply chain CSR approaches in the words of Bob Simpson (Walmart/ex ASDA) have to be ‘contemporary’ and demonstrate value to clients.

Bob went on to emphasis how the supply chain has to demonstrate “a point of difference” through CSR, when bidding for work, that includes:

• Design Problems out (through BIM for example)
• Improving site efficiency (maximising considerate constructor scores?)
• Embracing localism
• Hating waste in all its forms including energy, carbon, transport
• Exceeding safety standards
• Taking the initiative. The supply chains are the experts in construction.

Paul Connell E.on consultant reinforced the same message describing how supply chains adding value to E.on to help them deliver their ambitious Cities Programme of collective intelligence, enabling large organisations to engage with individuals on a meaningful level.

Setting the scene, my CSR presentation focused on the changing world of communications and transparency, and the need for construction not only to be solid and reliable but also innovative in CSR. Particularly in the public sector, where the newly minted Social Value Act will require construction to start to really understand and demonstrate the value of CSR approaches.

There is a storify record of the event here.

This event will befollowed up by a CSR in Construction tweetchat on the 18th June 8pm and the GVIs2012 CSR half day conference on the 5th July 

Join us at our Green Vision 2012 Web enabled Half Day Conference

Taking the Corporate Social Responsibility discussion global and building on the success of our earlier seminar, we would like to invite you to our web enabled Building CSR Conference event hosted by Leeds Metropolitan’s Centre for Knowledge Exchange and supported by the Construction Sector Network

Delegates will:

• ·         Discover the lessons learnt on the Living Building Challenge.
• ·         Understand the relationship between Building Performance and Corporate Social Responsibility
• ·         Participate in two hands-on expert roundtables of their choice on CSR Reporting, the Emerging trends in CSR, Sustainable supply chain management, CSR and Competitive advantage
• ·         Experience a lively Pecha Kucha presentation showcase covering different aspects of CSR in Construction (Building Performance and CSR  ,Strategic CSR, case studies).

The event will be blogged and discussed live across social media to encourage perspectives from international individuals and organisations that may not be able to attend in person, to give Leeds businesses a wider business vision.

The hashtag for the event is #GVis2012

Green Vision at Leeds Metropolitan University is an open Knowledge Exchange Network focusing its 2012 networking series on Building CSR, to drive the Sustainability agenda in construction.

Event Programme