The renaissance of earth building in the UK reflects not only the beauty and utility of the material but also the pressures of rising building costs and the need for lower energy use and waste in building products. This is Earth Building UK and Ireland, EBUKI’s fourth Clayfest as a way
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Airtightness blamed for health risks in homes
Throughout the past year a slew of reports has been published that raise serious questions about the safety of new-build homes. Increasingly stringent building regulations aimed at reducing carbon emissions are resulting in new houses that are ever more airtight. While this helps reduce fuel consumption, the burden is on architects to ensure that occupants of new homes can breathe clean and fresh air. Recent evidence suggests that the construction industry, designers included, is failing to meet this challenge. Read more
Paul Harrison, an independent toxicologist and member of a working group on air quality created by the Royal College of Physicians, describes serious health risks associated with poor ventilation systems. ‘Sick building syndrome describes a variety of symptoms including headaches, allergies, reduced productivity, a sore throat and dry skin,’ he says. ‘In addition, poor air quality can provoke asthma.’ Architects Journal
Mixed reactions to the third runway announcement at Heathrow
Reacting to today’s vote by MPs in support of a third runway at Heathrow Airport, Oliver Hayes, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “MPs who backed this climate-wrecking new runway will be harshly judged by history. The evidence on the accelerating climate crisis, which is already hitting the world’s most vulnerable people, is overwhelming – and expanding Heathrow will only intensify the misery”.Read more
“The aviation industry has been promising cleaner planes forever and a day, with little progress or investment. With no government plan to mitigate Heathrow’s carbon emissions, or to address its already illegal levels of local air pollution, it’s astounding that this scheme has been given the go-ahead. The only credible vote was to reject the third runway.”
Yet in stark contrast the CBI say: “The race for global competitiveness is well underway and the UK must now be quick off the mark – work on the new runway should start as soon as possible. The prize is tens of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of growth for the British economy. As the UK forges a new path to trade, we must also make the best use of existing runways in regions across the country. A truly global Britain will need increased connections and routes from the whole of the UK, now and for the future.”
