Designing Buildings - User contributions [en]

Social Sustainability at Master-planning Stage

2018-03-20T11:00:50Z

Atiyeh Rose Pourmatin:

A click on the search engines and you can find many articles on better asset value, increased rental or sales prices, lower operating and energy costs related to certified ‘Green Buildings’. Whilst these are all true benefits of independent certification and more, the value of buildings and communities to people also needs to be assessed and quantified. It seems that we have pretty much mastered the art of creating energy efficient, environmentally friendly built environment and now is the time to focus on what has been missing: socially sustainable places that can deliver value to people.

One of the first things we teach about sustainability is its three pillars; environmental, economic and social informally referred to as planet, profits, and people.

The Environmental Pillar

In most industries and sectors, the environmental pillar often gets the most attention when it comes to sustainability. The construction industry is no exception to this rule. Reducing energy and water consumption, waste management and the overall impact of the construction process and the building on the environment are the main focus of most green building rating systems and methodologies in the market.

This most often aligns with most governments’ UNFCCC commitments, where there may be regulatory obligations, incentives and best practice standards in place to help achieve certain CO2 reduction targets.

The Economic Pillar

The economic pillar of sustainability is where most developers feel they are on firm ground. To be sustainable, a development must be profitable. Activities that fit under the economic pillar include compliance, proper governance and risk management. It is the inclusion of the economic pillar and profit that makes it possible for developers to come on board with sustainability strategies.

From a masterplanning point of view, considering the economic aspect of sustainability can provide a counterweight to ensure that the development will not result in employment reduction and may even create employment, earning and/or productivity gains in the local area.

The Social Pillar

Despite the universal acceptance and understating of the concept of sustainable development, the meaning and associated objectives of the social pillar remain vague. There are four widely distinguished perceptions of the social pillar; Equity, Awareness, Participation and Social Cohesion.

‘Equity’ refers to the distribution of welfare goods and life chances on the basis of fairness and it applies to national, international, and intergenerational contexts.

Raising public ‘Awareness’ of sustainability issues with a view to encouraging alternative, sustainable consumption patterns and triggering behavioral change is another key concept of social pillar.

‘Participation’ is the notion of consultation and refers to the goal of empowering as many social groups as possible to influence the decision-making processes.

Promoting happiness/well-being; minimizing social strife, reducing crime, promoting health (mental and physical), combating bullying, and antisocial behavior are some of the elements that define ‘Social Cohesion’.

Social Sustainability encompasses the four concepts of the social pillar and more. Empowering the communities, consultation and engagement, designing for the demographic needs and priorities, creating vibrant, walkable and inclusive developments are amongst the elements that constitute Social Sustainability and can add social value.

[http://www.breeam.com/communities BREEEAM Communities] as an independent, accredited sustainability certification can help implement Social Sustainability and measure its value. The scheme looks at all aspects of Social Sustainability at design and planning stage where the opportunities to increase Social Sustainability across the entire site are far greater through economies of scale, public consultation, and site-wide solutions.

Sustainable development generally refers to achieving a balance among the environmental, economic, and social pillars of sustainability. BREEAM Communities is a holistic approach to sustainability with a focus on the three key pillars and integrates this with strong links to regulatory principles with a view to ensuring that a community functions as a whole.

--[[User:Atiyeh Rose Pourmatin|Atiyeh Rose Pourmatin]] 11:00, 20 Mar 2018 (BST)

[[Category:Education]] [[Category:DCN_Education_and_Training]] [[Category:BREEAM]] [[Category:Sustainability]]

The case for BREEAM Communities

2018-03-20T10:53:45Z

Atiyeh Rose Pourmatin:

BREEAM Communities is a way to improve, measure and certify the social, environmental and economic sustainability of the plans for large-scale developments by integrating sustainable design into the masterplanning process. There is a range of benefits for developers, local authorities and other masterplanning professionals from using BREEAM Communities. It significantly improves the process of stakeholder engagement on large developments, smoothing out the planning process and reducing associated costs. It also provides a credible and transparent means of measuring and defining sustainability at the neighbourhood scale, differentiating the site and demonstrating alignment with National Planning Policy Framework policies. This document further highlights the benefits of BREEAM Communities, including feedback from numerous stakeholders who have had experience of using the scheme.

=== Creating sustainable places ===

BREEAM Communities supports the creation of more sustainable places by providing design teams with a simple framework to consider sustainability. The scheme supports engagement with the community and key stakeholders at the earliest possible stages, optimising the opportunity for the integration of sustainable design. Design teams have reported that using BREEAM Communities brought about a variety of sustainability benefits including:

* More sustainable, safe and well-integrated transport infrastructure
* Enhanced economic activity in the local area
* Vibrant public space, with well-integrated green infrastructure and high-quality landscaping
* Reduced energy and water demand, in turn, reducing operational costs
* Optimal provision of facilities, amenities, and utilities

=== Saving time and money ===

BREEAM Communities saves money and time by;

* Promoting early consideration of sustainable opportunities and challenges, thus ensuring that they are addressed with cost-effective solutions
* Using site-wide design approaches or technical solutions that result in economies of scale. For example energy technologies, drainage systems, materials, etc.
* Reducing long-term costs related to: security, flooding, transport infrastructure and social sustainability issues such as public health and fuel poverty, through good design

[[File:Cost_benefits.JPG|link=File:Cost_benefits.JPG]]

* Smoothing out and reducing costs in the planning process, by front-loading stakeholder engagement, resulting in a smoother and more efficient planning process, avoiding refusals and appeals and the need to re-work designs
* Increasing the long-term value of the area, promoting the higher sale and rental prices

=== Improving the planning process ===

Internationally, BREEAM Communities gives developers and local authorities a clear framework to demonstrate sustainability of a development proposal. Both parties know what to expect and can easily measure the sustainability outcomes and successes of the development. The scheme will aid pre-application discussions, bringing them to the forefront in the early stages of the project, thus improving efficiency and reducing the likelihood of the need to rework of designs.

In the UK BREEAM Communities helps to demonstrate that a development proposal satisfies local policies and the National Planning Policy Framework. This is particularly useful in the case of the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’.

Benefits of certification

BREEAM Communities provides third-party certification that is designed to ensure independence, credibility, and consistency. This supports;

* Stakeholder buy-in, marketing activities and PR for the development and associated stakeholders
* The communication of the; sustainability achievements and benefits of the site and enables international comparability
* A flexible approach, enabling phased certification of developments to account for long timescales and different ownership
* Higher ratings for building level assessments as a result of realising additional sustainability opportunities at this earlier stage and on a wider scale.

=== Improving Project Management ===

Feedback to date suggests that BREEAM Communities reduces the amount of work involved in the masterplanning process. It is a framework to facilitate good planning, with most of the mandatory requirements being studies that developers are already required to complete for projects of a significant size, for example, an Environmental Impact Assessment.

The scheme ensures these studies are undertaken at the right time, bringing together and making use of the evidence from these studies to identify what can be done with the unique issues and opportunities on the site.

[[File:Stakeholder_involvement.jpg|link=File:Stakeholder_involvement.jpg]]

=== Facts and Figures ===

BREEAM Communities is being used both within the UK and internationally. This map demonstrates the international uptake of the BREEAM Communities scheme.

[[File:Map_2.JPG|link=File:Map_2.JPG]]

To date 19 projects have been certified under BREEAM Communities with a further 37 currently registered and undergoing assessment, with the size of development ranging from 2 ha to 179ha (as of the publication date). There are currently 94 licensed assessors in 15 countries across the world.

Further information about the BREEAM Communities scheme including case studies can be found on the BREEAM Communities UK and International webpages here: [http://www.breeam.com/communities http://www.breeam.com/communities]

--[[User:Atiyeh Rose Pourmatin|Atiyeh Rose Pourmatin]] 10:53, 20 Mar 2018 (BST)

[[Category:BREEAM]] [[Category:Planning_permission]] [[Category:Policy]] [[Category:DCN_Policy]] [[Category:Sustainability]]

A renaissance in the idea of garden villages and towns

2018-03-20T10:52:50Z

Atiyeh Rose Pourmatin:

[[File:Bicester James Webb.jpg]]

The concept of Garden Towns or Garden Villages was first introduced in the UK in 1898 and has continued to modestly grow ever since to be defined as: a free-standing, self-sustaining, high-quality urban space that can address the housing issues and is led by the local authority and supported by the community.

While Garden Villages/Towns are universally seen as a good idea, their relatively slow growth is down to the existing ones failing to be the Utopia they promised to be. This discouraging outcome rooted in lack of a mechanism that considers all social and technical impacts of a new development in its context in a wholesome manner.

As the Government announces its plans to support 14 new Garden Villages, we analyze some of the most common problems with Garden Villages/towns are criticised for and their respective solutions:

* Loss of Character

Garden Villages/Towns have been often criticised for not respecting or retaining the original characters of the locale they are developed in.

Every region and community holds its own unique characteristics and vernacular. Continuity between architectural style and building design within the development and the surrounding area will create a coalition between the existing and new residents which in turn adds value to the quality of life within that community.

Injecting a new neighborhood with its own facilities and potentially brand new occupants into the countryside, requires a great deal of scrutiny into the existing and local features through studying the surroundings and consultation with stakeholders and community representatives. BREEAM Communities scheme has an assessment issue worth of 2 credits dedicated to the subject of Local vernacular to confirm that the development relates to the local character whilst reinforcing its own identity through a few practical steps.

* Infrastructure

Concentrating new homes in purpose-built new towns or villages has a twofold effect on infrastructure;

# Services and infrastructure (such as new drainage systems and gas and electricity services etc.) are built as part of the development which upsets people who live nearby in numerous ways if not done properly. Power loss, road closures, interrupt customer supply or unnecessary expenses are some of the unwelcome outcomes of the inefficient structure for the existing/surrounding communities.

This is addressed under BREEAM Communities’ 'Utilities' assessment issue where 3 credits are awarded for providing ducting and access point for services and also for service providers’ coordination to ensure that installation and maintenance would not interrupt consumers’ supply.

<ol start="2">
<li>Puts pressure on the existing infrastructure and services where no extra infrastructure or services to support the new homes has been provided.</li></ol>

The notion of considering communities needs and requirements in terms of services and facilities and also the delivery of these are visited in a few assessment issues within BREEAM Communities at the very early stages of development.

* Traffic

Milton Keynes, as one of the first new age Garden Towns, has over the years been criticised for its grid of broad roads that steers the residents towards driving their cars rather using public transport. The grid also frustrates developers by taking up more space than a traditional city street despite the fact that it distributes traffic.

Other Garden Villages, on the other hand, seem to have been unable to cope with the traffic load due to poor or no evaluation of the infrastructural needs of a newly built community.

Both of the above cases have led to unhappy stakeholders, whether that’s the community or the local authority. Whereas an early consultation with the stakeholders alongside an assessment of the transportation situation in the area followed by a design review in line with the results can prevent either of the above issues.

To achieve this BREEAM Communities provides step by step guidance to:

* Ensure the needs, ideas and knowledge of the community are used to improve the quality of the design, planning and construction process. (Consultation)
* Ensure that the masterplan’s design is reviewed by the community and other key stakeholders, ensuring that it supports a vibrant, healthy, functional and inclusive development. (Governance) and;
* Ensure transport and movement strategies reduce the impact of the development upon the existing transport infrastructure and improve environmental and social sustainability through transport. (Transport and Movement)

* Other issues

Overloaded schools and surgeries and lack of essential facilities such as shops, post office, banks etc. and absence of green infrastructure are some of the other issues that have made Garden Cities movement unsustainable. These are all as a result of lack of consideration to demographic needs in general which, is the core of BREEAM Communities methodology.

Undeniably there are other types of hurdles to building a practical Garden Village/Town. However, with the Government’s financial backing, lessons learned from the previous projects and the sciences within the Communities assessment methodology, NOW is the right time to create Garden Villages that are, more than ever, environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

The most commonly accepted number of homes the UK needs to be building each year, in order to meet future housing need, is 240,000. Despite the small increase (6%)[http://brebuzz.net/2017/05/11/breeam-communities-a-renaissance-in-the-idea-of-garden-villages-and-towns/#_ftn1 [1]] in the number of the newly built homes in the past year, we are far from achieving the above, hence the Government backing of the garden villages. However, the housing crisis is not about how many homes we can build each year, it is about how many of these homes are affordable, habitable and practical for the people, the community. This is where the politically sponsored, sustainably created and socially approved Garden Villages/Towns come into play.

[http://brebuzz.net/2017/05/11/breeam-communities-a-renaissance-in-the-idea-of-garden-villages-and-towns/#_ftnref1 [1]] [https://www.gov.uk/government/news/increase-in-number-of-new-homes-built-and-started https://www.gov.uk/government/news/increase-in-number-of-new-homes-built-and-started]

--[[User:Atiyeh Rose Pourmatin|Atiyeh Rose Pourmatin]] 10:52, 20 Mar 2018 (BST)

[[Category:BREEAM]] [[Category:Planning_permission]] [[Category:Sustainability]]