Congratulations to the team on the handover of Rivendale, a new Extra Care facility for Broadacres in Northallerton.

Photos courtesy of Doug Jackson

Construction has started on Porch Close (The Ardens) in Northallerton for Broadacres Housing Association. Accommodation comprises 10 apartments for rent to people over the age of 55. The project is due to be completed in February 2011.

The site is located to the rear of Porch House, the oldest house in Northallerton, and falls within the conservaton area. The building is largely traditional in appearance with some modern features such as the double height curtain walling and a glazed canopy to the entrance.

The building will achieve Level 3 under the Code for Sustainable Homes, using solar panels for water heating and high standards of thermal insulation. Each apartment has also been designed to meet Lifetime Homes, with full disabled access and storage for mobility scooters within the hall.

One of me because Steve will be disappointed if I don’t include this photo!

More updates to follow as work progresses…

The Yorkshire Post Environment Awards 2010 took place last night at the Queens Hotel in Leeds. There were a total of 89 entries, and in our category of Built Environment for Projects over £1M there were three projects shortlisted;

Morrisons Halifax, designed by Bauman Lyons
Safety Central, Bramley, a pioneering £3.5m safety education centre.
The Regional Agricultural Centre, at The Great Yorkshire Showground.

Presented by Hilary Ben MP and Julia Bradbury (of Countryfile fame) the title gives away the winner.

Along with Nigel Pulling, (YAS, Managing Director) and Heather Parry (YAS, Deputy Chief Executive) I was delighted to accept the award on behalf of P+HS Architects.
Photographs to follow (of me being hugged by Julia!)

Thanks again to all those who work on the project, not least Eamon, Mike & Dave.

Wallpaper that can glow with light and bendable flat-panel screens are a step closer thanks to research into organic LEDs (OLEDs), which are widely hailed as the next generation of environmentally friendly lighting technology. See the Guardian report here.

Having established that the Regional Agricultural Centre is a much loved development within local circles, it seems that national experts agree. The building has won an EG Green Award for sustainability: declared a joint winner alongside Cabot Circus (a £500m development from Land Securities and Hammerson), the Centre was highly praised by the judges for its ‘thoughtful design’. Not bad for a ’small’ development!

Hambleton Council have recently introduced a new requirement for a Sustainable Development Statement to be submitted with any planning application for 10 or more dwellings, or developments larger than 1,000 sqm.

A number of Planning Authorities now require these statements, so it is something worth checking before any new planning application.

Link to Hambleton’s Sustainable Development SPD

HBN 11-01 Facilities for Primary and Community Care has now been issued. This superceeds any previous guidance on primary care, and provides information on new room sizes which have changed significantly from the previous guidance.

It also provides a new direction to establishing sizes of primary care premises, finally superceding the old “Red Book” [which really ceased to be relevant in 2003!]. Available from the KIP site, or via Technical Indexes for subscribers.

P+HS have a working spreadsheet for calculation of consulting and treatment rooms, in accordance with the methodology outline in the guide.

The Regional Agricultural Centre has been short listed for the 2009 EG Green Awards in the category Retail/Leisure Development of the Year.

This is a fantastic achievement for the team (Yorkshire Agricultural Society, P+HS, Houseman & Falshaw, and DKP) who all worked so hard to make this highly sustainable building a reality. Other short listed finalists in this category are Land Securities,Tesco, and Hammerson - all £multimillion/billion operations with national and international presence: so I reckon our team from Yorkshire have done pretty well!

The building was conceived as a green development from the start and it’s about sustainability right through from its timber frame upwards; using local teams, skills and materials wherever we could, and incorporating more special sustainable features than you could shake a stick at, making it one of the most sustainable buildings in Yorkshire.

It’s now down to the public vote, so here’s the link for you to show your support for what small, regional alliances can achieve with vision, creativity and honest hard graft.
Vote Here.

The new development at The Yorkshire Showground was officially opened last night: it includes superb office accommodation and meeting rooms for the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, along with office space for start up businessses with agricultural links from the region. The really tasty bit though is the farm shop and cafe, where trading is brisk. ’Fodder’ as it is aptly named,  opened its doors to the public earlier this month, and it really is worth a visit:  not only is it located in a great building with lots of eco friendly features, the shop is stacked full of locally sourced fresh and speciality foods.  So if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, take a trip to Harrogate..and fill your baskets (made from recycled plastic of course).

 

Following Ben’s post on green roofs, here’s the sedum one at the Yorkshire Agricultural Centre.  The intrepid Heather Parry is pictured with Stuart Falshaw giving the roof some TLC.  This piece was in the Yorkshire Post on 14th March.

Here’s a link to EcoSalon’s list of 17 green roofs from around the world.

Interesting to flick through for 5 minutes and don’t worry, there’s some more modern stuff than the house shown above in there too.

One minute they’re designing fantastic buildings such as the new Regional Agriculture Centre at the Yorkshire Showground, the next they’re using their natural calming influence over one of the raw material suppliers: this is a reference to the sheep NOT the client!

In this picure Heather Parry of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and Eamon Shutt of P+HS at a photocall promoting the sheepswool insulation used in this highly sustainable building.

This and the following picture are of a Loch side B&B i came across in Broadford on the Isle of Skye recently.  This had an absolutley amazing view from it’s front window.