Heathrow Airport’s controversial Terminal 5 is set to be opened by the Queen in a ceremony involving hundreds of airport and construction workers. The £4.3bn terminal offers extra passenger capacity although the number of flights will not increase after it opens for business on 27 March.

Operator BAA says it will “transform” the level of service at the airport.

Environmental and residents groups who have opposed it say it will lead to more flights, noise and pollution.

The Queen, who in 1955 opened the airport’s first terminal building, what is now Terminal 2, will be accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh along with 800 invited guests, including hundreds of airport and construction workers involved in the project.

Some 60,000 people have worked a total of 100 million man hours to build Terminal 5 since construction began in September 2002!

Built on the site of a former sludge works at the western end of the existing airport, Terminal 5 has been designed by 2006 Stirling Prize winners Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners.

Its construction has involved diverting two rivers, building what is claimed to be the UK’s largest free-standing building and tunnelling 13km for rail and baggage links.

The complex includes 50 new aircraft stands, which will rise to 60 by 2010, two satellite buildings, one of which is still to be completed, rail links to London Underground and the Heathrow Express, and a new multi-storey car park. Friday’s official opening is of the project’s Phase 1, including Terminals 5A and 5B. Phase 2, which adds Terminal 5C, is set to open in 2010.

The UK’s first Internet “fibre town” could go online in the autumn, delivering Internet speeds of about 100Mbps (megabits per second) to consumers’ homes via new fibre optic networks.

Fibre firm ‘H2O’ provides super-fast broadband via the sewers; saving costly and disruptive road digging, and either Bournemouth, Northampton or Dundee will be offered the service first. These three have been selected because ‘H20′ has already installed its fibre service to local council buildings.

Last month BT announced that its own ‘fibre-to-the-home’ trial at Ebbsfleet in Kent would see the first homes connected by August of this year but this will initially be limited to around 600 new houses. The development will eventually have some 10,000 homes connected via fibre with speeds of up to 100Mbps but the project will take until 2020 to complete.

The current telecommunications system was never designed to carry large amounts of data and many have called for an urgent fibre upgrade. The mega-fast service will have instant appeal for consumers, and local businesses (i.e. for regular server updates between offices, etc).

English Partnerships’ standards were revised in November, reintroducing minimum space standards for new homes on their sites.  These standards go beyond the old Parker Morris standards of the 1960’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Morris_Committee).  New housing projects for English Partnerships’ sites will require dwellings to be a minimum of 51m2 for a 1 bed, rising to a minimum of 106m2 for a 4 bed (6 person) home.

England and Wales are the only countries in Europe with no minimum space standards for new housing.

The vast majority of private and public sector schemes we undertake will not require these standards but there is some useful design guidance on layout, storage etc on this imaginatively-titled website: www.swingacat.info

The government’s Carbon Challenge competition has produced its first winner - Barratt Developments, working with HTA architects and Arup among others, will build Britain’s first ‘eco-village’ on the site of the former Hanham Hall Hospital near Bristol.

Though on a more-modest, and many would argue more sensible scale, than the eco-towns, the Carbon Challenge schemes will have to go beyond zero carbon homes to inject a broader vision of ‘eco-lifestyle’. Hanhall Hall is to get rainwater capture, sustainable drainage, farmers’ shops, a car club and bicycle storage, while the main grade-ll listed building will be converted for community use. Onsite biomass CHP, supplying all homes in the scheme, will help achieve the requisite Level 6 in the Code for Sustainable Homes.

From RIBA Practice bulletin 427)

 If you’ve still not quite caught up with British Winter Time and feel it’s not worth the hassle when your days feel ‘off-centre’, then here’s more evidence to back our protest!

‘Turning the clocks back each winter is being blamed for boosting greenhouse gas emissions and adding millions of pounds to power bills, according to a new study!

Elizabeth Garnsey, one of the authors, and a Reader in engineering and business at Cambridge University’s Institute for Manufacturing said, ‘Under GMT, around 35% of the population are asleep when the sun rises in winter and so make no use of the extra daylight and when we come home from school or work in cold and darkness, we cause a surge in demand’.

Darker evenings under GMT cause households to use 2% more electricity, generating millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, say researchers. ’Britain can only meet these daily surges by switching on less efficient back-up generating plants such as oil-fired powerstations.

The report calculates that, cumulatively, since the re-imposition of GMT (after a three year trial) in 1971, being on GMT+1 in winter could have supplied the population of Greater London with electricity for two years at current consumption rates!

For anyone who’s interested, the paper can be downloaded here

[Brendan Cronin and Elizabeth Garnsey, (19 October 2007), Daylight Saving in GB; Is there evidence in favour of clock time on GMT?]

‘Flood prevention is better than flood resilience’ according to the philosophy of the innovative Dutch floating house. A new daring development of 46 houses built on a Government-designated flood-overflow plane offers a new solution for the UK. Each two storey home is built upon a 70 ton watertight-hollow concrete box (acting as the ‘hull’), that floats secured laterally by two 5.5m horizontal mooring posts that connect to the neighboring house and six iron posts sunk into the bottom. When the river swells the house will float up to as much as 5.5m. Flexible pipes house the building services and utilities, and when the floodwaters subside, so the houses return to their original position! Developed by Dura Vermeer builders and designed by Factor Architecten (design firm based in Amsterdam), the floating houses look as if they will catch on! But at a starting price of 260,000 euros (£180,000 or $310,000), the houses are not a cheap option.

A better description…!!

Dura Vermeer is designing a ‘floating city’ for 12,000 people near Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, which could include floating schools, hospitals and shops! Construction is planned in 2010.

This Photograph was taken on site on Tuesday the 3rd of July 2007.

The project is coming along well with the majority of glazing and louvres now in place.

The rainscreen cladding is due to be fixed week commencing 23.07.07.

In a short article on BD’s website, writer Phil Clarke pokes a few big names with the pointy stick of online culture. P+HS appear in amongst the likes of HOK and Foreign Office Architects, but not to be lambasted, rather held up as an example of innovative web-use.

This link will take you to the site, which contains a link back to our blog, I can’t confirm whether clicking that link will result in you being engulfed in a swirling vortex of internet feedback.

  I wanted my first blog post to be something positive but this eye-wateringly ugly image from the front cover of today’s BD magazine has provoked me into type.  The arrogance of this ’distinctive contemporary design’ is startling.  I can’t believe that many architects think this building has sufficient merit to be on the front cover of a national publication either but it does prove the value of a good PR firm.

Wall protection needn’t be boring… be inspired by the hungry caterpiller!

The writings of James Joyce, the scribblings of Kate Bush and the design work of my ex-employer, Nightingales. Who’d have thought they could be so intertwined? Probably just me. Below, is the text from an as yet unreleased press report by journalist Will Hurst regarding research into alternative therapy and it’s possible impact on healthcare design. I hope you find it of interest, especially as it shows some insight into the work of a potential competitor in the health sector, particularly where both P+HS and NA’s spheres overlap across South Yorks and the Midlands. 

Nightingale Associates is to put a decades’ worth of research into the healing aspects of design to the test, under a unique project also involving the Building Centre, Arup and electronics giant Philips. By Will Hurst  Together they have devised the Hpod, designed to demonstrate how manipulating the five senses can affect wellbeing and healing.  The Hpod will form the centrepiece of a public exhibition at the Building Centre next autumn, and is set to influence government policy on hospitals and could even revolutionise building design in general by focusing architects on the benefits of lighting and sound rather than the fabric of buildings.  

The pod — which individuals sit in to receive a tailor-made cocktail of sensations according to an individual “prescription” — is designed to show how single rooms in hospitals can respond to a patient’s needs through smart card technology.  Richard Mazuch, a respected figure in healthcare design and director of Nightingale’s, who has been working on the prototype device explained: “We have been collecting data on sense-sensitive design from around the world for 10 years, and I can actually give you a prescription to get better based on colour, views lighting, touch and so on.  

“Studies have shown, for instance, that visions of snow and ice can reduce the pain of burns victims. We know that the colour orange helps mothers lactate and the smell of vanilla helps babies to feed.  “We are going to build these pods in the Building Centre. They will have flatscreen monitors inside and some will be heated, some will be oscillating, some will have air pumped in… it all relates to research. We are trying to bring all the evidence-based knowledge we have to create the optimum healing environment.”  

Chief architect at the Department of Health’s estates and facilities department Chris Farrah called the Hpod an “exciting and innovative” development.  “This is the first time anyone has tried to grab hold of all of the information [on sense-sensitive design] and make… tangible modifications to the healthcare environment in this way,” he said. “I will be very interested to see it in action and would like to be able to use it to inform the department’s work.”  

The partners also hope the device can be modified for use in the education sector by using lighting and acoustics to influence the ability to learn.

As part of our commitment to ISO 14001 - Environmental Management Systems, we are monitoring the progress of the Significant Environmental Aspects that are listed within the EMS booklet. By way of an update, I would like to identify the actions that are currently taking place and the progress being made: 

Sustainable Building Design - By far the most important aspect for us and where we can make the biggest impact! This is an element that ties in the Vision and Strategy of the Company and is being overseen by Chris Dennis. A workgroup is being formed and lead by Cath Kidd, to ensure that environmental issues are at the forefront of our designs.

Use of Electricity - Electricity use is being monitored across both Offices. I will be comparing the meter readings, on a 6 monthly basis, with last years readings. We all need to maintain our discipline and ensure that all electrical items are switched off when not being used.

Use of Gas - Gas use is being monitored within the Leeds Office. A reduction can be made by locally monitoring the heating controls on individual radiators. It is up to you and your colleagues to be sensible and agree a suitable radiator heat output. 

Use of Oil - Oil use is being monitored within the Stokesley Office. A reduction can be made by locally monitoring the heating controls on individual radiators. It is up to you and your colleagues to be sensible and agree a suitable radiator heat output. 

Use of Cars - The challenge is to reduce company mileage by 10% over the next two years. Please consider your next car journey; is it necessary? can I use the Train? can I cover a number of sites visits/meetings in one journey? Mileage should be monitored and reduced, but without any detrimental effect to our projects. 

Use of Paper / Recycling - The idea of a paperless office is not an unfamiliar concept. However, it is accepted that, at present, this is not feasible, but we can do more to reduce the amount of paper we use. Please give careful thought before printing. Also, please use the Planning Portal, this omits the need for submitting paper copies. With respect to paper recycling - the Leeds Office have a good recycling system and the Stokesley Office are currently reviewing their procedures.