TALKING TIMBER
TRACEY WHITEFOOT / MELIUS HOMES
This net-zero energy project , the first of its kind in the UK , was commissioned by Nottingham City Homes and adopts the Energiesprong approach , which focuses on upgrading homes with energy-saving and energygenerating measures .
ZED PODS LIMITED a high-tech rewilding project , restoring native forest and peatlands and reintroducing locally extinct species to 100 acres of land in the Scottish Highlands , which will form a template for similar nature regeneration globally .
As well as government-funded research into retrofitting Scotland ’ s iconic but hard-to-heat tenement homes , the exhibition featured a favela in Brazil and affordable sustainable housing solutions in the UK , New Zealand and Pakistan . Also included was an adaptable cross laminated timber bridge concept designed for a circular economy , as well as an initiative to develop a sustainable mass timber building market building in East Africa .
Cristina Gamboa , CEO , World Green Building Council , speaking at the launch of Build Better Now said , “ We are coming together for COP26 to spotlight the built environment as a solution to climate change . This is the most visible and coordinated the industry has ever been at a climate summit of this calibre . Build Better Now provides us with an opportunity to learn how sustainable building practices are having a positive impact on people ' s lives . We must ensure that the world listens to the steps needed to create sustainable buildings , which means building and renovating with Whole Life Carbon principles , embracing a circular economy and creating people centric , healthy buildings that are resilient to the effects of climate change .”
The COP26 Built Environment Virtual Pavilion was designed and developed by the Visualisation and VR team at AECOM in collaboration with exhibition designers Install Archive .
SOME OF THE PROJECTS CHOSEN FOR THE VIRTUAL PLATFORM :
The 5 Systems Programme : Nga Kãinga Anamata , Auckland , New Zealand : This programme aims to build homes to 2030 standards today , while incorporating the values of New Zealand ' s
indigenous culture . It is led by the country ' s Urban Development Authority and will develop five apartment buildings in total .
These will have different structural systems : steel , concrete , light frame timber , mass / cross-laminated timber ( CLT ), and a light / mass timber hybrid . All will have solar panels to give tenants free electricity , and the houses will also achieve Passivhaus certification .
" We can build net zero energy healthy homes for vulnerable people , and we can do it by growing the industry ," Brian Berg MBSc , Carbon Neutral Housing Manager , Kãinga Ora , said .
" We ' ve proven that the trifecta of mass timber , Passivhaus and local energy generation can benefit people and planet for years to come ."
Hope Rise , Bristol , England : The Hope Rise development was erected on stilts above a public car park and consists of 11 net-zero carbon homes for young people who risk becoming homeless . It has kept the existing parking spaces and added an electric-car charging upgrade .
The Hope Rises homes consist of housing modules that are 90 % completed in a offset factory before being installed on-site within five days . They are designed to be super-insulated and feature lowenergy heating systems , as well as rooftop solar panels and other renewable energy technologies .
" This ground-breaking concept of erecting zero carbon homes on steel frame stilts on brownfield sites in city centres could change the way underutilised urban land can overcome the UK social housing crisis ," the UKGBC said .
Pioneering a Mass Timber Market in East Africa , Nairobi , Kenya : This cross-laminated timber ( CLT ) prototype in Nairobi is part of a wider two-year mass-timber project . East Africa has high
32 DECEMBER 2021 / JANUARY 2022 // www . timberiq . co . za