PIONEERING AGREEMENT
pioneering agreement to help Stoke-on-Trent become the country’s first sustainable city was signed at a landmark ceremony on 27 September. Stoke-on-Trent City Council will join with energy company E.ON in a scheme which will deliver millions of pounds of investment to the city to improve the energy efficiency of homes and use green power to drive down residents’ fuel bills and help combat climate change.
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As a first stage, the agreement has already seen E.ON provide solar panels to the first 54 council properties in the city over the next few months – the first time any of the council’s 19,000-strong housing stock will be powered by such green energy. To kick-start this programme the council has begun a procurement process which will provide a way of fitting solar panels to all suitable council properties over the next few years.
It will also commit E.ON to being one partner in a scheme which will see 1,000 council and privately-owned houses in Northwood and Birches Head, and Middleport benefit from a range of measures, subject to individual property surveys. The
measures include the installation of: • External wall insulation • New energy efficient boilers in place of old ones
• Solar panels • Air source heat pumps • A district heating system The signing ceremony sees E.ON become the first energy supplier to join a council-led low carbon task force. The city council has already secured £2.3 million funding from E.ON as part of the government-backed Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP). Only 100 areas, out of 4,200 eligible areas country-wide, have been selected for the CESP initiative. The CESP scheme requires energy suppliers to fund and deliver energy efficiency and low carbon measures into homes within low income areas.
The city council is investing a total of £1.8 million from its housing capital programmes for the initiatives, which will bring in £7 million of private sector investment from energy suppliers over the next two years. The solar panel pilot scheme will involve a total of 54 homes in Warren Road, Chell Heath. It is anticipated that the majority of the properties will be fitted with solar panels by Christmas
www.stoke.gov.uk/news
London Fire Brigade smashes carbon emissions targets
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report has revealed that London Fire Brigade has smashed its own carbon reduction goals and is now setting even more challenging targets to reach before 2015, exceeding those proposed by the Mayor of London.
The Brigade originally aimed to slash carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2012 from 1990 levels, but figures presented to a Fire Authority committee show that this has been achieved a full 18 months early. Now the Authority has urged London Fire Brigade to beat the Mayor’s 22 per cent target and aim for 25 per cent reduction over the next five years.
The Committee also approved 10 fire stations to take part in the 10:10 campaign which makes a commitment to reduce carbon emissions at the buildings by 10 per cent by the end of 2011. London Fire Brigade’s green projects are not only protecting the environment but are also saving London’s taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds every year. Initiatives and technology put in place by the Brigade have led to savings of £260,000 this year alone – equivalent to the cost of 41,000 smoke alarms – and over £1 million since the Brigade started focussing on the need to be greener.
www.london-fire.gov.uk
SKA RATING
POPULARITY SHOWS OCCUPIERS ARE TAKING SUSTAINABILITY SERIOUSLY
In only nine months, Ska Rating, the method of assessing the sustainability of the fit-out or refurbishment of a building, has already been used on over 2.5 million sq ft. Pringle Brandon, London workplace architect and among the first accredited assessors, has completed three formal assessments and is using Ska Rating on over 70% of its current/90% of its new projects.
The Ska Rating is a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) tool and was originally devised by interior construction company Skansen, hence the name, along with the RICS, Pringle Brandon and Aecom. Pringle Brandon has undertaken pilot projects and sits on the
Development Committee developing the Ska brand and testing the online tool. Ska comprises 99 measures
including energy use and CO2 generation, waste, water, pollution, transport, materials and wellbeing. Depending on the number and significance of measures achieved by a fit-out project, it can be awarded a gold, silver or bronze rating.
Since its launch in November 2009, 65 assessment projects have been set up using the Ska Rating, and one gold, three silver and one bronze rating have been awarded. Meanwhile, Pringle Brandon has other assessments underway including one for the Bank of China and another for CMC Markets, both of which are targeting a silver rating. Insurance group LV= will be targeting a gold rating in January 2011 when its new building is complete at 1-3 Bishopsgate. The Ska rating methodology can be readily obtained –
www.rics.org/ska – and used for informal self-assessment of the environmental performance of a fit-out.
SUSTAINABLE FM | OCTOBER 2010 |35
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