News Headlines

A message from our Director

Whatever happens next month at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-15) will be a big deal. Following the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012, officials from 192 countries will meet in Copenhagen to agree on the main points of a deal to reduce carbon emissions. Climate science is saying that we need to make big cuts and fast, so we are sincerely hoping that the leaders of these 192 countries have the courage to do what’s necessary.

I feel it’s BioRegional’s duty to be there alongside other NGOs to help keep up the pressure and to provide inspiration. We will be speaking to the delegates about our solutions for a low carbon future and also exhibiting our solutions at a pre-conference public expo - The Copenhagen Climate Exchange, and at KlimaForum09 which runs alongside the COP-15. If you are coming to Copenhagen do please come and find us there. Find out more about COP15

Sue Riddlestone, Director

Loving local food in Sutton

We’ve teamed up with environment charity, EcoLocal, to launch One Planet Food - a project to increase the availability of affordable, fresh local food in the London Borough of Sutton and provide healthy food growing activities.

The project has grown out of our research which shows that there is a high demand for food growing training in Sutton and a scarce availability of fresh food in some areas.

One Planet Food will provide food growing and healthy eating training in a fun non-judgmental way. It will see Sutton’s first community farm set up and establish local food markets providing fresh affordable local produce in areas with limited access. A local food network linking local producers to supply healthy local food to Sutton’s schools and hospitals will also be formed. Find out more

Plans for reusing construction materials comes up trumps in Glasgow

Last year we worked with partners to draw up a business plan for Building Material Reuse Centres that could be taken on by third parties. We are happy to report that the plan has been put into action in Glasgow with the first Centre being launched last month.

Social enterprise, "Yooz", will reclaim unwanted clean, unused or re-usable building materials which would otherwise be sent to landfill, or to be recycled and instead sell them on in their current form to smaller builders and DIY enthusiasts at half the trade price.

As well as the obvious cost benefits to large construction companies, smaller builders, and ultimately the environment, all profits created by "Yooz" will also go towards locally building the first ever custom-built Sports Centre of Excellence for disabled people in the United Kingdom.

The Yooz web site will be published soon at www.yooz.me
If you are interested in setting up a similar scheme please download the business plan from our web site or get in touch www.reiy.net

When it comes to procurement we're good as gold

100% of customers would consider using our consultancy services again

Publications

All reports now free to download
In order to help the building industry to reduce its carbon impact, BioRegional, as a partner in Peabody’s pioneering BedZED eco-village, has made all its sustainable building research publications free to download. The move was timed to coincide with the International Day of Climate Action which took place on 24th October 2009.
BioRegional’s three BedZED reports include: the Toolkits for Carbon Neutral Developments Parts 1 and 2 which detail costs and strategies, and the latest monitoring report which looks at the environmental performance of the eco-village and what residents like and dislike about living there. There are many more free reports on offer too; covering everything from strategies to reduce construction waste and landfill costs through to developing a waste infrastructure that makes it easy for residents to reduce waste.
Download at www.bioregional.com/news-views/publications

One Planet Communities: A real-life guide to sustainable living
How can we create sustainable zero carbon communities cost-effectively at the same leading happy and healthy lives? Written from the perspective of practical experience gained from world-leading projects such as BedZED, One Brighton and Masdar City, Pooran Desai’s latest book provides a clear overview and simple insights for students, interested individuals and professionals in all areas of the property development and planning industries – including architecture, planning, engineering, surveying, development management, finance, legal, sales and marketing and estates management.
It combines leading edge thinking with simple practical advice in this fast emerging field.
Available to order from Amazon.
The book will be launched at a RIBA event on 25th November

Capital consumption: the transition to sustainable consumption and production in London
London’s government aspires for the city to be a world leader in environmental performance. This is certainly an aspiration that we support and later this year we will be launching the results of our research project with London Sustainable Development Commission which looks at how carbon emissions from consumption (indirect and direct emissions) can be reduced by 90% over the next forty years.

We have modelled a package of measures which would enable London to achieve a 90% reduction and will also show how the Greater London Authority can catalyse this low carbon transition.



Pushing reuse
We will be launching a report soon about the benefits of using reclaimed construction materials to help deliver carbon savings. With the construction industry responsible for around 16% of all carbon emissions in the UK, policies to boost reclamation will help to drive down this sector’s carbon impact. The report will be aimed at a policy audience and will be available to download from our web site later this month.

Want to hear more? BioRegional training and talks coming up...

12th November 2009, 8:30am – 10:30am
Will less be more
Central London
An executive breakfast exploring consumption in a low carbon, sustainable London, and how the London Plan could help get us there. Sue Riddlestone will present a paper.
www.bioregional.com/news-views/events/will-less-be-more

12th & 13th November 2009
Greening London’s roofs
Central London
Find out everything you need to know about green roofs from leading expert Dusty Gedge and BioRegional.
www.bioregional.com/news-views/events/greening-londons-roofs

20th - 21st November 2009
The transition to low carbon
Winchester, UK
A 2-day interactive workshop exploring national policy options and changes that we can make in our communities to help prevent runaway climate change. Sue Riddlestone, BioRegional's Director, will speak on the 21st about ‘solutions for living on one planet’.
http://lowc.transitionsouthampton.org

25th November 2009
Masdar City to One Brighton
RIBA, Central London
What are the lessons to be learned from zero carbon communities being built across the world? Senior architects from two RIBA Stirling Prize winning practices, David Nelson (Head of Design, Foster and Partners) and Peter Clegg (Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios) join Pooran Desai, International Director of BioRegional's One Planet Communities programme to consider how world class design can make property development more sustainable.
Pooran will also be launching his new book - One Planet Communities at the event.

For more information www.architecture.com/NewsAndPress/News/RIBANews/Press/2009/
InternationalDialoguestalksautumn2009.aspx