Category Archives: News

TWO PLANNING PERMISSIONS IN ONE WEEK

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Planning Permission approved for a difficult Housing Development and a Phase II Office retrofit

We are delighted to announce that we have received planning permission for two of our ongoing projects.

Planning Permission approved for a difficult Housing Development and a Phase II Office retrofit work

Project One: 6 New Homes, Barcombe Cross, Lewes

Last week saw Lewes District Council’s planning committee grant outline planning approval for proposals to develop six new dwellings on a site outside the planning boundary of the rural village of Barcombe. The process started back in 2014 when BBM were approached by the clients, who had the plot for over forty years, to look into the feasibility of obtaining a planning permission for new housing on the site. BBM suggested a strategy of first promoting the plot for a site allocation through the local planning authority’s Strategic Land Availability Assessment. BBM then prepared a capacity study looking at the development potential which it then presented to the local Parish Council and local neighbours of the development. Feedback was taken on board and the quantum of development, with the clients blessing, was reduced from the twelve units to eventually six. With the assistance of planning consultants, Kember Loudon Williams, representations were made to the draft Local Plan Part 2 in January 2018 which were successful in gaining the plot an allocation in the draft Local Plan. At this point the team assessed there was a good chance the scheme would be positively received by the LPA so long as all the necessary supporting surveys and assessments were in place including ecological, heritage, arboricultural, soil contamination and transport reports as well as an outline drainage strategy. That assessment has now been proven correct with the planning committee granting the outline approval on the 21st November 2018.

Planning Permission approved for a difficult Housing Development and a Phase II Office retrofit work

Project Two: Community Base retrofit Phase II

The Community Base building located on Queens Road, Brighton, East Sussex currently houses nearly thirty charities and voluntary organisations. Through 2016 – 2017, BBM were involved in the initial phase of work as the building underwent a major refurbishment and upgrade of the facades including new windows, new wall insulation and cladding. The works have so far seen a 20% reduction in energy bills and a significant improvement to occupant comfort. These phase 2 works will see other elements of the six storey / 54 metre long building receive similar refurbishments and upgrades.

CHANGING PLANET SEMINAR WITH DUNCAN BAKER-BROWN

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Duncan Invited to Speak at Imperial College London Grantham Institute

Date: 05 Dec 2018
Time: 16:00 – 17:00
Venue: Business School 200, LT2
The Grantham Institute is located in building is #21 on this map.
Campus: South Kensington Campus

Full details

Register your free ticket

This Wednesday Duncan will be a keynote speaker at “Changing Planet Seminar” hosted by The Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College. The subject of the seminar will revolve around the connection between the Designers, Products, Materials, Networks & Cities and examining their role in supporting the Circular Economy. It will also highlight the issue of new strategies for waste and disposable materials.

More details on subjects mentioned in the seminar can be found in The Re-Use Atlas: A designer’s guide to the circular economy

Duncan’s book is a highly illustrated ‘atlas’, taking the reader on a journey, via four distinct ‘steps’ (recycling, reuse, reduce, closed loop), from our current ‘linear economy’ towards a system emulating the natural world, i.e, a ‘circular economy’.  The atlas features over 25 detailed case studies describing design exemplars from the worlds of textile & fashion design, product design, interior architecture, architecture and urban design. The purpose is to show designers how they can successfully navigate the emerging field of resource management and the circular economy.

The Grantham Changing Planet Seminars run on a monthly basis during term time. They are held in the Grantham Institute Boardroom, and are followed by a drinks reception. Organisation of the seminar series is student led and supported by the Grantham Institute. The aim is to complement the diversity of research at Imperial College London and promote links to the broader environmental community in UK and beyond.

 

 

THE WASTE ZONE AT FUTUREBUILD 2019

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BBM returning to curate The Waste Zone once again

WasteZone Website

Futurebuild 2019 Website

Location: Excel London, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, London, E16 1XL

Planning your trip 

Dates: Tuesday 5th March until Thursday 7th March 2019

Get your free visitor ticket

Book a stand

THE WASTE ZONE AT FUTUREBUILD 2019

“Futurebuild is the evolution of ecobuild and fulfilment of the bold vision for the future that we first announced following the acquisition of the event at the end of 2016. Futurebuild 2019 brings together opinion-shapers, decision-makers and product innovators under a common purpose to explore the latest technologies and approaches, and debate the biggest issues facing the build environment – now and in the future – both in the UK and overseas.”

The Waste Zone will return to this year’s Futurebuild with new and extended features. Curated by our very own Duncan Baker-brown, the event space will contain a new Circular Economy Hub, a marketplace and new platform dedicated to direct interaction between visitors and manufacturers. This will allow for presentations of new and emerging materials, systems and groundbreaking ideas that will shape the future of sustainable construction industry. The Hub will be held in a unique and refreshing format of beach huts, developed and provided by the School of Architecture and Design at the University of Brighton. The exhibition space will be complemented by the Waste Zone seminar programme, which due to extraordinary success of 2018 will be further extended providing additional audience spaces. This years session will explore the ideas revolving around use of waste materials in the construction process and the use of existing and future buildings as material stores for the future.

With the focus is on creating a truly waste free experience, apart from the reusable exhibition beach huts, Futurebuild is also calling out for Cradle to Cradle Certified™ suppliers to provide their support in bring the Waste Zone to life.

The WasteZone discussions will be supported by an inspirational exhibition of the products, materials and buildings, as well as new digital platforms and films, which are enabling an emergent circular economy and proving “that there is no such thing as waste, just stuff in the ‘wrong place’.

THE WASTE ZONE AT FUTUREBUILD 2019

 

 

BBM INVITED BACK TO THE BREAKY BOTTOM AND OFF THE LINE VINEYARD PROJECTS

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BBM have recently had the pleasure to be invited to re-visit some of our vineyard projects, including the well established Breaky Bottom Vineyard in Rodmell near Lewes and the newly created Off the Line Vineyard in Hellinglly, East Sussex. We visited Breaky Bottom during the bumper 2018 season harvest, to see the processes first hand. This season we also had an opportunity to visit the newly completed BBM’s purposed-designed winery building at Off the Line Vineyard, which had just processed the grapes for the first time.

Visiting projects after completion allows us to carry out post occupancy evaluation (POE), which is a crucial part of what we do as architects as it helps determine the positive and negative aspects of completed design work.

To find out more about these projects follow the links bellow:

Off the Line Vineyard project page, here

Breaky Bottom project page, here

You can also visit both of vineyards websites by clicking here or here.

BBC NEWS ARTICLE

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Climate change: Prince launches ‘Waste to Wealth’ summit

The ‘Waste to Wealth’ summit was held in London today, bringing together over 200 leaders including the Prince of Wales and the Environment Secretary Michael Gove along with members of government, businesses, volunteers and university groups from all over the country. The summit targeted reducing avoidable waste by 2030 and to double the nation’s resource productivity.

According to BBC News One of the most remarkable events of the summit was a speech given by Prince Charles in which he stated:”Making goods (like polyester duvets) uses energy and releases greenhouses gases – and the Prince and the politician both say we can’t tackle climate change unless we use materials more intelligently.”

The University of Brighton’s Waste House, built from waste material and using innovative waste materials as insulation has been further acknowledged in the article.

“The Waste House is almost entirely made from thrown away materials most of which were heading for landfill or incineration. Materials used in the construction include toothbrushes, denim jeans, dvd cases, floppy discs, carpet tiles and construction waste. These materials have now been joined by used duvets from The University of Brighton’s halls of residence which are being used as insulation. Whilst oyster shells from the critically acclaimed English’s oyster bar have been mixed with waste aggregates from a neighbouring building site (Preston Barracks) to form wall tiles.”

On the subject of managing resources and reducing avoidable waste, Duncan Baker-Brown – Director of BBM and the project architect of the Waste House, told BBC News: “You pay 20% VAT to refurbish a building, but zero VAT to demolish and rebuild. There is a tax incentive to knock buildings down, which is frankly insane.”

The full article can be found here.

Architect Duncan Baker-Brown with wall tiles made from crushed waste oyster shells

 

AN AUTUMN MAKEOVER FOR THE BRIGHTON WASTE HOUSE

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A revamp for The University of Brighton’s Waste House

The Brighton Waste House project page

Supported by: INTERREG VA France (Channel) England

The award winning University of Brighton’s Waste House is currently undergoing an innovative makeover.

AN AUTUMN MAKEOVER FOR THE BRIGHTON WASTE HOUSEIn line with Duncan’s ongoing research project with Sustainable Bio & Waste Resources for Construction (SB&WRC) and INTERREG VA France (Channel) England The Waste House has incorporated new recycled and reused materials into the building fabric.

Since the recent success and publicity of David Attenborough’s BBC series Blue Planet II The Waste House has gained further recognition.

The Waste House is almost entirely made from thrown away materials most of which were heading for landfill or incineration. Materials used in the construction include toothbrushes, denim jeans, dvd cases, floppy discs, carpet tiles and construction waste. These materials have now been joined by used duvets from The University of Brighton’s halls of residence which are being used as insulation. Whilst oyster shells from the critically acclaimed English’s oyster bar have been mixed with waste aggregates from a neighbouring building site (Preston Barracks) to form wall tiles.

AN AUTUMN MAKEOVER FOR THE BRIGHTON WASTE HOUSE

Duncan recently spoke about the buildings modifications:

“It is great to see the Waste House continuing to break new ground four years after it was first completed. Duvets and oyster shells are not currently widely recycled yet, like so many of the other materials we have used, are perfectly suited to alternative uses. We will now be testing how they perform so that we can demonstrate to others the huge potential.”

Further reading: The University of Brighton’s Architecture and Interior Architecture blog.

AN AUTUMN MAKEOVER FOR THE BRIGHTON WASTE HOUSE

INTERREG RESEARCH PROJECT UPDATE

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The world is their oyster

The partners at Sustainable Bio & Waste Resources for Construction (SB&WRC) research project have continued to make significant progress towards the design and manufacture of the first insulation prototypes made from biobased and recycled materials. The University of Brighton is one of the English partners of the SB&WRC project. Their deep involvement in alternative building technologies has led to impressive experiments and results that continue to inspire researchers and practitioners.

The project is supported by the INTERREG VA France (Channel) England programme and receives financial support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Duncan, Dr Ryan Woodard, Nick Gant of Community 21, Dr. Ryan Southall and Ben Bosence of Local Works Studio are looking at the potentials of sourcing waste material flows local to construction sites to provide material for insulation and rain screen cladding of social housing developments.

INTERREG RESEARCH PROJECT UPDATE
Over 7 million tonnes of mollusc shells are discarded by the seafood industry every year. These shells consist of over 90% calcium carbonate. Crushed shells can reduce soil acidity in agriculture or be fed to egg-laying hens as a calcium supplement. However calcium carbonate is also a common ingredient in the production of cement that is one of the largest sources of harmful CO2 emissions. Currently the majority of the cement industry’s calcium carbonate is coming from ecologically harmful and unsustainable limestone mining.

INTERREG RESEARCH PROJECT UPDATE
One of the projects has the University of Brighton team partnering with restaurants recycling oyster shells into beautiful tiles suitable to hang on the outside of buildings. One restaurant, ‘English’s of Brighton’, who throw away over 50,000 oyster shells annually, have donated shells to the project. Local Works Studio fire some shells to 900°C to create ‘quick lime’ and mix it with unfired crushed oyster shells forming an aggregate. Pressing the mixture into silicone castes there is a natural chemical reaction when water is added to the mix creating some heat. This hydraulic reaction is similar to concrete ‘curing’. After about 3 weeks the tiles are hard enough to hang on a building. Ben from Local Works states that “We’re working on 50kg of oyster per m2 of hung tile. Traditional clay tiles are 78kg/m2.” So not only we are working with waste material, but the manufacturing process is more efficient that the current system.

INTERREG RESEARCH PROJECT UPDATE
To read the full article click here.
Further details on the projects earlier research can be found here.