ARCC enews for May 2017
Hello All,
Did you know that curb-side greenery can reduce air temperatures by up to 10ºC? That having ivy on your walls helps to keep the building cooler in summer and warmer in winter? That we are genetically connectedto the natural world? And that plants can help with indoor air quality?
These are just some of the excellent points that make the case for using green infrastructure as a building service and that were discussed during our Green Infrastructure Design Challenge event held with CIBSE last week as part of Green Sky Thinking Week 2017. I encourage you to take a look at the resources on the ARCC website from this event, that include leading UCL researchers challenging contemporary architecture’s fondness for smooth and straight surfaces… what if we had bioreceptive façades that grew their own shade?
Roger B Street
Principal Investigator
From the ARCC network
Green Infrastructure Design Challenge… Congratulations!
ARCC is pleased to congratulate our winning entries for the 2017 design challenge on the use of green infrastructure as a building service. These entries provided designs for office buildings that demonstrated how both indoor and outdoor green infrastructure could contribute to the health, wellbeing and productivity of staff, while simultaneously improving the building’s energy efficiency and climatic resilience.
Congratulations to Stephen Handley & Louise Handley from Amey and Deependra Pourel, Bernadette Widjaja & Karan Patel from the University of Westminster.
Royal Meteorological Society
13–14 July 2017, Exeter
The theme of this year’s annual conference is Weather and Climate Impacts: from research and services to application and policy. Please join the ARCC network for a workshop on Improving climate resilience in the urban environment: using built environment research tools to support climate-related decisions.
Join ARCC at the European Climate Change Adaptation conference… tickets still available
This is being held next month in Glasgow from 5–9 June 2017, and the ARCC network is participating in areas including communication, and infrastructure risk management. Don’t miss out…
Healthy homes and future materials at Refurbishment Symposium
15 September, London
This year will see the joint-running of the International Refurbishment Symposium and the Association of Environmental Conscious Buildingconferences, including a speaking programme as well an exhibition that the ARCC network is pleased to coordinating a research display of the latest from EPSRC
Register now – and watch this space for more details on the ARCC display. If you are interesting in working with ARCC to exhibit your research, then please contact Tanya Wilkins.
Opportunities & events
Sustainable cities: Is there a future? Is it green
22 June 2017, London
CIRIA is hosting an evening debate to discuss current issues of environmental sustainability in the new urban era balancing economic growth, environmental protection and social inclusion for future cities and infrastructure systems.
Overheating in new-build homes – Knowledge Transfer Partnership
This partnership between Oxford Brookes University and engineering consultancy Encraft will develop novel tools and products for assessing and preventing the occurrence of summertime overheating in new-build housing and extra care homes.
NERC funding – infrastructure, oil and gas, and offshore renewable energy sectors
Closing 15 June 2017
Initial proposals are invited for innovation projects focused on monitoring approaches to tackle industry, policy, regular or other relevant end-use defined challenges and opportunities.
NERC innovation placements
Closing 29 June 2017
Researchers are invited to apply for 6–12 month placements based in business, policy and civil organisations. The researcher will be expected to spend time with their host organisation, demonstrating how their partner can best make use of scientific knowledge and outputs.
Future Fuels for Flight and Freight Competition, Stage One
Open until 30 June 2017
The Future Fuels for Flight and Freight Competition (F4C) was launched on 27 April 2017 by the Department for Transport (DfT) to promote the development of an advanced low carbon fuels industry within the UK, including supplier capabilities and skills in relevant technologies. The F4C will provide up to £20 million in capital grant funding over 3 years (2018–21) for major demonstration projects providing transformative and innovative solutions. The F4C will also provide up to £2 million of Project Development Funding in 2017–18 to support the development of proposals.
International Symposium for Next Generation Infrastructure (ISNGI)
11–13 September 2017, London
There is still time to submit abstracts and papers for this conference – the fifth in a series of symposia series to commence a coordinated global infrastructure research program about long-term infrastructure and land use planning.
Cities and Climate Conference 2017
19–21 September, Potsdam Germany
This conference will explore the latest advances in research and practice addressing climate change in cities, including issues of risk management, economics of adaptation, infrastructure, planning, governance, and their possible trade-offs and synergies with mitigation and sustainability objectives.