Low Carbon Design: The power to deliver change

It is now recognised that in order to mitigate the effects of anthropogenic climate change we can not focus only on lowering the environmental impact of new construction, we must also improve the efficiency of those buildings which will continue to be a significant part of our built environment for years to come.

There are many challenges to be overcome in domestic and non-domestic retrofit, both technical and economic. How can we engage with the development of policy in the sector and put into practice the latest thinking on sustainability, retrofit and low carbon technology? How can architects and other industry professionals take advantage of the many opportunities arising in creative reuse and retrofit?

These issues were discussed in the recent RIBA Low Carbon Conference in Bristol. A brief overview of the issues discussed is outlined below. This is taken from the twitter diary written by RIBA Yorkshire’s Ruth Donnelly.



Harry Rich, CEO RIBA


Harry Rich, Chief Executive of RIBA welcomed everyone to the Low Carbon Design Conference in Bristol, by stating that at a time of changing policy and increasing focus on sustainability in the NPPF and other documents, professionals need to know how to progress. He expanded to say that this conference is about learning how to do exactly that.

Design and Planning for the age of climate change
Peter Madden, Forum for the Future

Peter Madden, Forum for the Future

Peter looked to the future and the impact of urbanism, increasing population, warming world and climate change, and questioned how we respond to this?

He suggested that the increasing use of smart technologies, to create smart buildings and smart cities would facilitate, and that the application of digital infrastructure to existing buildings would significantly improve the efficiencies of existing buildings. The dematerialisation associated with the advancement and reduction in size of technologies results in the need for fewer materials. This is an obvious environmental advantage.

In order to do this he pointed out the need to measure, manage and use resources more efficiently to enable buildings, cities and transport systems to work more successfully. The seamless integration of applications results in a convergence and joining up of thinking between applications and the physical world.

An example of this: people are taking more intelligent decisions about travel due to the technologies available, allowing them to choose shorter routes, or routes with the least congestion. This in turn has environmental benefits as it means vehicles are in use for shorter periods of time.

Is “smart” enough? What happens when the systems go wrong? Peter explained that there are three things to bear in mind for the future:

• We need to design for resilience.
• We need to design for participation so that people are not vulnerable to immense and speedy change.
• We need to design for reduction, and make sure that we bear in mind total reduction, not just individual parts. As Aristotle said “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Peter concluded his talk by stating that technology can be a partner to be more sustainable future.

Overcoming the barriers in commercial retrofit
Patrick Brown: British Property Federation

Patrick Brown, British Property Federation

Patrick began his talk by asking us to remember that most of the buildings in use now will still be in use in 50 years; we need to focus on these.

He outlined that the main barriers to energy efficiency in commercial buildings are:operational issues,

• information related issues,
• commercial issues,
• legal issues.

He outlined the policy responses:

• Energy Performance Certificates;
• The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRCEES);
• The Green Deal.

The Green Deal is intended to revolutionise energy efficiency of buildings in England and Wales. The Energy Act was given Royal Assent 18 October 2011. The Green Deal is the coalition’s national plan of home improvements to make houses and businesses cheaper to run through better energy efficiency. From next year, people will be able to access finance to pay for the upfront cost of work which will be paid back through savings on lower fuel bills.The “Golden Rule” of Green Deal implies that customer will not be out of pocket and the cost of installation of energy saving devices is covered by savings in use.

The Green Deal outlines minimum energy efficiency standards that must be met by all properties. By April 2018 it will be unlawful to rent out a house or business premises which has less than an “E” energy efficiency rating, ensuring that at least 682,000 properties will have to improved.

Patrick identified 2 big questions regarding minimum standards:

• When will the minimum standards come into effect? “BY” 2018 could actually mean much sooner
• To what extent, if any, will leases already in existence at deadline be grandfathered?

Patrick noted that 18% of existing property  are F/G EPC rated. Owners and occupiers of small and medium enterprises are likely to be exposed to F/G rated properties, and are also likely to be more reliant on Green Deal finance.

Patrick makes suggestions as to how to move forward:

• CRCEES should be replaced with a simple retrospective Carbon Tax;
• League table needs to be revised to encourage joint energy efficiency programmes: reputational drivers;
• Carbon reporting is needed to encourage board level attention, provide important incentives;
• Clarity needed on minimum buildings energy performance standards. An early warning would impact on market;
• Fiscal incentives needed for deeper retrofit: use existing tax levers (SDLT,Business Rates, ECAs, VAT) to stimulate retrofit;
• Cultural change needed in addition to policy change. A publicity drive is needed to “name and shame.” This needs to include actual energy use in addition to the theoretical energy efficiency of properties;
• Should minimum standards be applied to historic buildings? BPF is in the process of preparing a report to government.

Harry Rich concluded that partnership is needed between developers, property owners and designers, and that information about property energy use needs to be shared.

Opportunities and challenges in low carbon delivery
Angela Brady, RIBA President and Director of Brady Mallalieu Architects

Angela Brady, PRIBA

Angela gave an overview of the challenges and opportunities for architects in delivering on the low carbon agenda and why the profession needs to tool up now.

Angela stated that if you could see carbon, we might take more notice, but as it is invisible, many people do not believe the problem exists. Angela uses the work of Dave Hampton as a good example of this. He is the government’s “Carbon Coach” and uses a big purple balloon to visualise the quantity of 1 kilogram of carbon. This is very easy to relate to. To put it in context, the UK need to aim to reduce their carbon intake to 2000kg per person per year.

Angela identified four key challenges:

• financial: £2 Billion needs to deal with the problem;
• natural resources: reliance on oil and gas. Angela identifies that oil should be reserved for use in plastics not fuel;
• clients: sharing of knowledge needed;
• political will: politics shapes architecture. Politicians need to show real leadership to take climate change seriously.

Angela questioned how we, as architects, persuade our clients to go that little bit further? The answer is that we need to get others on board. The energy/carbon hierarchy 5 golden rules are:

• engage;
• reduce energy demand;
• drive out waste;
• decarbonise;
• neutralise energy supplies.

There has been a big shift in power with the Localism agenda. Architects need to learn to engage. She outlined the following as examples of engagement used to date:

• RIBA Plan of Work has been reproduced with a green overlay to encourage clients to do more;
• Angela highlights the great work the Tree Design Access Group do to highlight the importance of trees;
• Manchester University are doing research on the effects of urbanisation;
• RIBA Building Futures;
• RIBA Guides to Localism: Opportunities for architects;
• With carbon targets ahead, schools need to become involved. Architects can “adopt a school” and talk to pupils about buildings in local area.

Angela concluded by stating that need to slow down and consume less.

CASE STUDY 1 

“I’ve seen the future”: Zero Carbon House, Birmingham
John Christophers, Associated Architects

John Christophers, Associated Architects

John Christophers designed the first and only retrofit house to achieve Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6 (before criteria changed). This was a house for himself that was shortlisted for the RIBA Manser Medal 2010. It focused on natural lighting, air-tightness and the use of low carbon building materials.

Dr Lubo Jankoviv, Birmingham City University BIAD centre for low carbon research is undertaking post occupancy research into the actual carbon use of the property. To date there have been no fuel bills and income is generated from energy produced by the house. It is predicted that the payback for the green technologies is 8.6 years.

The general sustainable design principles are:

• High thermal mass means that internal temperatures are relatively constant despite external fluctuations. Unfired clay masonry blocks were used for walls and to increase thermal mass. John explained that the external wall design was the most cost efficient and carbon efficient for that site. In an inner city site with high land values, a thinner wall construction could be used with a more thermally efficient but less carbon efficient insulant.
• Insulation and air tightness is absolutely key to the success of this building. John explained that as little as a 1mm gap in insulation would result in more than 450% reduction in airtightness so it was important to get this right. There is no thermal bridging and insulation wraps round building. There are no metal ties and resin adhesive is used to attach insulation onto masonry. The general concern with airtight buildings is that condensation occurs due to lack of ventilation. John explained that we need ventilation, but this needs to be controlled: i.e. not through fabric
• Ash tree in the garden has two uses: solar shading in summer, supplementary fuel for wood-burning stove in winter.
• Natural light from above is between 3 and 5 times effective than light coming through a window. The design of the house makes the most of top lighting to bring light deep into the house. Mirrors are also used to bounce light into the space and also as a heat store.
• Recycled materials were used as much as possible: reclaimed timber and ironmongery was used for floors, doors, stairs

John concluded by stating that he believes that designing for climate change can be a positive force.

CASE STUDY 2

Unilever Corporate Headquarters London: A case study in sustainable redevelopment



Laura King, KPF

Michelle Taylor from Unilever started by giving the point of view of the client. She stated that the building needed to be a good workplace for staff, it had to respect the heritage of the existing building but act as efficiently as a modern building. The driving principle behind the new building was the ambition of Unilever to double the size of its business while reducing its environmental impact.

She explained that they discovered how to improve the use of the building by tracking how people used the existing building and learning from experience.

Laura King from KPF gave the architects point of view and described how they transformed the aspirations of the client into built form.

KPF used engagement techniques to identify how Unilever staff use their office space to feed into space planning. They also looked at efficiencies in terms of space planning and sustainability with the aim to gain a better use of space whilst reducing financial and environmental costs.

They undertook plan analysis looking at the history of the building and how it had been added to and changed over the years.
KPF then learnt from past mistakes and positives to create a better building.

Dr James Thonger from Arup explained the environmental principles behind the building:

• 43% reduction in external façade from original building: therefore reduction in solar heat gain;
• Recycling of materials;
• Replace all glazing with double glazed low E low G-value glazing;
• Insulate all external facades including a vapour barrier;
• The former building was a natrally ventilated building due to its narrow floor plates. The new design required full mechanical system. This used a system with low energy air movement

Harry Rich concluded that this project shows how the shared aspirations and a great relationship between client and design team can result in an exemplary building. The building achieves exemplary energy efficiency and sustainability standards in design, construction and operation.

Energy efficiency and buildings retrofit: the Government’s approach
Phil Wynn Owen, Department for Energy and Climate Change

Phil Wynn Owen, Department for Energy and Climate Change

Phil started by discussing The Green Deal.

The UK building stock is responsible for 43% energy use, and is some of the worst in developed world. The Green Deal enables private companies to make energy efficiency available to millions of homes and businesses at no upfront cost. It also paves the way for a new Energy Company Obligation (ECO). The intention is that energy savings should equal or exceed payments of the installation bill. The Government will be promoting the Green Deal locally, with advice and support for customers. It is seen as a future solution by making carbon savings at a household level.

He explained that the customer journey would involve:

• Advice; there will be a lot of time spent educating people how to use technologies to enable flexible customer use/control;
• Finance; 
• Installation: suppliers will need to be accredited in order to join the scheme; 
• Repayments: Electricity suppliers collect Green Deal payments via customer bills.

The benefits were outlined as:Reduce energy demand and carbon emissions

• Improve thermal efficiency of properties;
• Save households and businesses money.

Green Deal timeline:

• Autumn 2011: launch consultation; 
• Spring 2012: publish secondary legislation and Government response;
• October 2012: Green Deal launched;
• Spring 2013: ECO launched.

The government’s aim is that the Green Deal will help to revitalise construction industry.
Phil expressed hope that architectural practices will take the opportunity to get involved. This may be by providing expertise in terms of retrofit; building systems; or even upgrading whole streets or areas. Manchester City Council is currently looking into upgrading whole areas through this process. Architects may also provide specialist expertise in terms of heritage and planning; solid wall insulation and planning; understanding of building industry; or through research programmes.

Phil went on to discuss the zero carbon standard. The Zero carbon standard for all new homes will be in place from 2016. The Zero Carbon Hub are helping to prepare the industry for this policy change. Phil explained that the Government took the lead and in one of his first speeches, the Primeminister demanded that Government buildings had to cut carbon usage by 10% in 12 months. Reduction has recently been confirmed as surpassing this and achieving a 13% reduction.

The Green Overlay
Bill Gething, Sustainability and Architecture

Green Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work

The “green overlay” to the RIBA Plan of Work has recently been published. This was prepared following discussion by a group of architects from large and small practice, engineers and academics. Bill Gething was the Chair of the panel.

Bill explained that the changes made to the 2007 Plan of Work are mere tweeks, and resulted in a change of a total of 39 words. These words are to bring awareness to sustainable issues at various points throughout the design and construction process.

In addition to the change in wording the document includes Sustainability Checkpoints to bear in mind alongside the Plan of Work.

The overlay is just the beginning of a series of work that is underway to do with sustainability and the design and construction process. A similar piece of work is underway to do with BIM and its impact on the process.

Bill explained that the issues with Plan of Work is that the design and construction process is not a linear process. He explained that the green overlay acts as a  trigger for reminders on issues that need to be considered at the various stages.

The Green Overlay to the Plan of Work can be downloaded here
 

Harry Rich finished the afternoon by asking a question to the day’s speakers: if you could change one thing (feasible or not) to change sustainability agenda in the UK what would it be?

Stephen Taylor from AHMM: measurement and post occupancy evaluation.
Lewis Lowe, Octavia Housing Association: make the public aware of the benefits of low carbon buildings in terms of cost and comfort.
Dr James Thonger, Arup: a coherent plan needs to be put in place to achieve the required 80% reduction in energy usage.
Bill Gething, Sustainable Architecture: create energy quotas/rationing so that if these are exceeded, fines are in place to cover the cost of installation of insulation and other measures.

Planning and Localism: whose design is it anyway?

“Experience here and overseas shows that when local people have the chance to influence the function and appearance of developments, opposition can be turned into enthusiasm and buildings are constructed that we can be proud of.”
Planning & decentralisation minister Greg Clark


The UK construction industry had enjoyed a decade of unprecedented boom. However, since the advent of the Coalition Government, their emergency budget, the Comprehensive Spending Review and their continued drive for public sector cuts, the world of construction is being forced to remodel and adapt to a new era of austerity.

The Coalition Government's spring Budget announcement for a series of radical changes to the planning system, procurement and the introduction of Localism through their 'Big Society' initiative will change the face of the architectural and built environment sectors. These issues were discussed in the recent RIBA Planning and Localism Conference in Newcastle. A brief overview of the issues discussed is outlined below. This is taken from the twitter diary written by RIBA Yorkshire’s Ruth Donnelly.

Harry Rich, Chief Executive of RIBA, welcomed everyone to today's RIBA Planning and Localism Conference, by stating that we are in a time of great opportunity and great risk in this time of change.

Why design matters (but is still undervalued)
Colin Haylock RTPI President Elect

Harry Rich and Colin Haylock. Photographer Moira Conway.

Colin spoke about the importance of good design and the frustration that it is still not valued by clients. He explained that 2010 brought with it a new government with a new agenda, but questioned whether the agenda was in fact a new idea. He commented that localism may result in a reduction in policy, but may also result in a reduction in guidance.

He explained that the positive aspect of the Localism agenda is that it gives communities the opportunity and power to say yes to development and growth.

His discussion moved onto the importance and future of collaberative, multi-disciplinary design review and its place within legislative framework. The recently published Bishop Report proposes national Design Review, delivered locally, funded through planning fees. Moving forward, it is important to learn from Design Reviews and reinject this learning into the whole design process.

Colin summed up by stating that Localism is a challenge and an opportunity. It will, and needs to, change people's perceptions of their environments.

Beyond bricks and mortar: The architect’s role in the Big Society
Steve McAdam, architect and director of Fluid Office

Steve McAdam, Fluid Office. Photographer Moira Conway.

In practice, Steve has had a lot of experience in regeneration and community engagement, and explained the importance of successful engagement, as a method of engaging people and communities to establish what they want from the places that surround them. He discussed the different methods of engagement he has used. These include:

• Walk and talk:follow map and talk to people on route
• Parachutes: random selection of locations, photograph and undertake interviews in the chosen locations
• Route mapping: ask people to draw popular routes
• Daily diaries: people to take a photo of their location every hour in a day

He concluded by stating that community engagement is not about asking people to design, it is about identifying how people live and using the skills of the architect to use this information to make successful places.

How localism is shaping planning
Steve Quartermain, Department for Communities and Local Government

Harry Rich, John Rowland and Steve Quartermain. Photographer Moira Conway.

Steve is the governments chief planner. In his session he discussed how localism is shaping planning and how it will affect communities.

He started by outlining the current problems in the planning system. He stated that the current system is costly, it alienates and disempowers communities, and it has failed to deliver. He stated that the aim of the reform is to achieve greater democratic and local control, and to rebalance the system in favour of sustainable development.

He then explained that the purpose of the new Planning Framework is to streamline national planning policy, protect and enhance natural and historic environment and promote sustainable development.

He defined 'sustainable development' as planning for prosperity (economic), people (social) and places (environmental).

Steve ended on a positive note stating that the government aims to promote good design in order to create better places.

New suburbia, community and self build
John Rowland, John Rowland Urban Design

John started by identifying the placelessness of British suburbia, using an image of two identical suburban developments, in two different areas.

He stated that localism can enable communities to have more of a say in the making of their own environments, to reduce the identikit nature of housing across the country.

Like Steve McAdam earlier, he identified that community engagement without the involvement of a cross section of the community is pointless, and that involvement is needed across the board to allow the community to feel a sense of ownership of decisions.

He outlined a few community engagement tools such as charettes, planning weekends, design and other workshops, explaining that the main aim of community engagement tools is to gain a consensus of opinion, or this cannot be reached, a majority vote. John used a few statistics to outline issues of housing in the UK:

• CABE report from 2005 found that 86% housing is of poor or average quality, meaning only 18% is good or excellent.
• Just 10 housebuilders control the UK housing market.

John discussed a few European examples of successful place making. He used Malmo in Sweden as an example of good housing. He described Der Strip in the Hague as having a range of house typologies within a successful masterplan. Another example used showed a play area, whose design was developed with community involvement. This had no railings, no notices saying 'no,' giving the responsibility and ownership to the community.

NPPF and the Localism Bill: what does it all mean?
Zack Simons and Ellen Wiles, Thirty Nine Essex Street

Ellen Wiles and Zack Simons. Photographer Moira Conway.

Zack questioned whether an abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies will shift the power down to local level as intended, or up to a national level. He suggested that there will be a black spot where the power will shift upwards before the shift balances out.

Ellen provided some explanations to the following:

• Neighbourhood Development Order: order that grants planning permission in an area to developments or classes of developments.
• Neighbourhood Development Plan: policy relating to development and use of land in area specified in the Plan.
• National Planning Policy Framework is a combination of 25 planning policies in one document. Ellen explained that its main aim is to simplify the system, to speed up the process and stimulate growth. The idea being that the smaller the government involvement, the greater the localism.

Ellen's main criticism of the NPPF is that there is no legal definition of sustainable development. Steve Quartermain gave the government definition earlier in the day, but this is too broad to mean anything in legal terms. Ellen continued to say that the NPPF focuses on economic growth and predicts that this will, by default, become the definition of sustainable development.

One positive aspect about the document is that design covers two whole pages, and is identified as a key element in achieving sustainable development. Significant weight is given to truly outstanding or innovative designs in the document.

Ellen concluded that the NPPF document is still being defined and it will be interesting to see what impact it will have when it is published.

Co-producing the common place for the common wealth
Stephen Hill, Chartered surveyor from F20 Futureplanners

Stephen stated that design is only one component of development and organic growth is important, to allow a place to develop at its own pace. He expressed the importance of building centres and along connections. He referred to Les Grottes in Geneva, Switzerland as an example of successful organic growth. This is a neighbourhood that popped up as a social and architectural experiment. The whole area was bought by the city in 1930 as it was known for its poverty and danger to public health. Due to the advent of the War, nothing happened until the late 1960s when a group of local squatters decided to renovate the neighbourhood themselves.
He also used Vauban, south of Frieburg, Germany as a model of sustainable development.
This 'new town' has developed since its inception in the mid 1990s.

Stephen also noted Byker Wall in Newcastle as a precedent of community engagement. All of these examples go to show that community engagement is not a new idea, and can be used to create sustainable and healthy environments, where people want to live.

Workshops

Breakout workshop from RIBA Building Futures Game. Photographer Moira Conway.

The afternoon continued into a series of workshops:

Design Review workshop
North East Design Review Service

John Devlin made a very succinct point that a society is remembered for its legacy in art and architecture and not its bank rate. The Design Review Service is a peer review of a scheme by fellow professionals who aim to increase the quality of developments whilst adding value.

The Business case for community engagements
Steve McAdam, Fluid Office

Steve expanded on the community engagement tools he explained earlier by involving the group in workshops to help individuals to understand the architects role, and how they can use community engagement to their advantage.

Building Futures Game: A consultation tool
RIBA Building Futures team
This workshop split the group into teams to question where and how people will be living in 50 to 100 years time when the climate has changed and cities are bigger than ever.

The afternoon concluded in a debate about the future of planning and design drawing on lessons learnt during the day.

Ruth will be tweeting at the Low Carbon Conference in Bristol on Tuesday 22 November. Follow her diary here

RIBA Northern Network Awards announced

For the first time, all three northern regions of the RIBA, North East North West and Yorkshire, came together to celebrate and reward architecture, landscape and interior design across the north of England. This culminated in the RIBA Northern Network Awards ceremony at Newcastle Civic Centre on Friday 4 November. Amongst the winning buildings commended for best practice in contributing to their approach to sustainability and value for money as well as excellence in design are five buildings from the Yorkshire Region.


RIBA Northern Network Project of the Year - White Rose Award
Sandal Magna Community Primary School, Wakefield by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

Mark Hadden Photography

This new school replaced a Victorian Primary School. It accommodates pupils aged 5 to 11 years with capacity for future expansion, a nursery provision for 26 children and a community room for use by parents for adult education and other activities.

The design references its immediate context of terraced streets, laid out as three parallel single storey wings facilitating easy access to the outside from all classrooms.

Constructed largely in the vernacular red brick, ventilation stacks echo the roof line of nearby houses and at its centre the school features a striking new tower that re-houses the original school bell.

The design is a holistic sustainable exemplar using the masonry structure to provide thermal mass combined with a natural ventilation strategy throughout, assisted by wind towers over classrooms.

This project also won a Northern Network Gold Award, and the Award for Sustainability.

As stated in Building Magazine: “if sustainable action is about enabling people to better understand their buildings rather than prescribing a set of rules for them to follow, then this is how to do it”. 


RIBA Northern Network Gold Award
Heslington East Campus, Cluster 1, University of York by BDP Architects

Photographer: Martine Hamilton Knight

The campus Masterplan creates a “living and learning” new quarter, mixing academic research and teaching with student accommodation. The building groups enclose a sequence of landscaped gardens and pedestrian spaces which encourage both movement and gathering.

The new campus accommodates a diverse variety of buildings and landscapes creating micro-environments all designed at a very legible human scale.

This is an extremely complex project that has been carried out with great dexterity. The judges were impressed by the skilful design approach that wraps academic and residential buildings together and it can be best described as a “Yin and Yang arrangement”, all held together by a subtle, yet distinctive landscape strategy.


RIBA Northern Network Gold Award
Heslington East Campus, Ron Cook Hub, University of York by BDP Architects

Photographer: Martine Hamilton Knight

This Hub building is the public face of the new campus. It is conceived as a “grand hall” with multiple activities under one roof encouraging academics, researchers, students and external enterprises to meet and exchange ideas.

In keeping with the rest of the campus buildings, the Hub manages to retain a very comfortable human scale yet as the client has said “there is an air of excitement about the building which transmits itself into the activities and people in it”. It is a great place for informal meetings with a café, informal seating areas and the “demonstration box” housing both a surround projection and audio facility.

Elizabeth Heaps from University of York won Client of the Year Award for her work on the Heslington East Campus. The judges stated that her enthusiasm for her projects was highly infectious. The University comprises an incredibly complex mix of buildings within a new landscape framework that would tax the skills and ingenuity of most clients and yet this client has successfully delivered a series of projects on time, on budget and too high quality. Great Architecture can only be delivered with the foresight of great clients and Elizabeth falls firmly into this category.

RIBA Northern Network Silver Award
Hanging Water House, Sheffield by Butterworth Architecture

Photographer: Carolyn Butterworth

This House is a new family home located in an inner Victorian suburb of Sheffield. Living accommodation is on the upper floor with bedrooms to the lower level, partially buried within the sloping site.

The material palette has been kept simple with painted concrete floors and birch-faced ply walls inside and lavender lime render above a blue brick single storey plinth externally.

The judges were impressed by the restrained simplicity of the design which clearly defines the various functions of the house whilst responding well to the sites topography.

Although this is a building very much of its time, it fits comfortably within its’ context.

This project also won the Northern Network Award for Housing. This house is constructed to a high level of air-tightness and is well insulated. It has a living roof to maintain the biodiversity of the former brownfield site. It has been designed to adapt over the years to the demands of the occupants young family and creates an interesting “new neighbour” within the older street-scene.


RIBA Northern Network Bronze Award
Washburn Heritage Centre by Pearce Bottomley Architects

Photographer: Pearce Bottomley Architects

This scheme lies within the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The project, which was awarded a grant from the HLF, creates an extension to this Grade II* Listed Parish Church.

The building is used for community and cultural events, providing heritage information and has a small café for visitors. The project involved extensive archaeological investigation, major ground-works, the strengthening of the 14th century church tower and the rebuilding of the west wall of the North aisle following the demolition of an existing house.


For information on the other winners and shortlisted schemes please visit the RIBA website.

Public picks favourite forgotten space

Its innovative approach to lighting a dark alleyway impressed competition judges and now the winning entry for Forgotten Spaces 2011: Sheffield has won over the general public too.

Guiding Lights by Chris Paterson, which brings to life Frog Walk, a poorly lit pedestrian pathway in Sheffield, with animated 'avatars' and an LED screen, came out on top in a 'people's choice' vote to find the public's favourite design.

His design beat off stiff competition from the 18 other shortlisted entries to come top of an online poll. Votes were also cast by attendees to the competition winners' event in September.

Chris, who is an architecture graduate of Sheffield Hallam, chose the site after several friends expressed their trepidation at using the pathway, between Stalker Lees Road (off Ecclesall Road) and Sharrow in Sheffield, at night.

Map of illuminated Frog Walk

His proposal uses innovative smartphone technology to magically light the path with a LED screen. It interacts with travellers at night, using motion sensors to track their movements and generating bright colourful silhouettes, which escort them.

And a smartphone app can be used to choose and customise avatars, which signal when other people are approaching to reassure lone travellers. The idea for the avatars was inspired by Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

Visualisation of avatars acompanying walkers at night

Chris, 30, who lives in Firth Park in Sheffield but is originally from Holland, said: "I'm really pleased the general public has responded so positively to my design. I've had loads of fantastic feedback from people who have also felt unsafe using the alleyway at night and it would be amazing if some changes could occur in the area as a result of my design's success in this competition."

And now Sheffield Hallam University is keen to start a city-wide dialogue about how the shortlisted ideas could be turned into real-life projects.

John Palmer, director of communications and public affairs at Sheffield Hallam, said: "It would be great to think we can get a forum going where people can come together to discuss some of these potentially exciting projects, with the aim of turning at least one of them into reality.

"It would provide a fitting climax to the Forgotten Spaces 2011: Sheffield project and create a lasting tribute to a campaign that has engaged the whole community."

Ideas competition Forgotten Spaces 2011: Sheffield, run by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Yorkshire and Sheffield Hallam University, encouraged architects, designers and artists to come up with innovative ideas that found new uses for the region's 'forgotten spaces'. The project was sponsored by British Land, owners of Meadowhall; Creative Sheffield; Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and developers and engineers Buro Happold.