Bournemouth Tourism has partnered with independent global creative agency Crowd to deliver a new website for Bournemouth Beach Lodges. The site promotes beachside accommodation on the south coast of England, in the style of the traditional British beach huts, but with modern conveniences for the tourists. The visual and verbal
Capgemini will enter into a new partnership agreement with Autodesk, a leader in 3D design, engineering, construction and entertainment software, to deploy ReflectIoD, a new cloud-enabled and secure digital twin platform. The new Building Information Modelling (BIM) platform for building and infrastructure operators integrates natively 1D to 3D, point cloud,
Gira, one of the world’s leading full-range suppliers of intelligent system solutions for building management, ‘go green’ for Earth Hour 2019 and commit to 60 minutes of complete darkness… On Saturday 30th March 2019, Gira headquarters in Radevormwald, Germany turned out its lights. From 8:30 to 9:30pm, Gira switched off
Elmsbrook residents save £400 a year in energy bills as the NW Bicester scheme is confirmed as the UK’s first large-scale true zero-carbon development Elmsbrook, the initial exemplar phase of NW Bicester developed by A2Dominion, has had its status as the UK’s first large-scale true zero carbon1 development confirmed
Work has begun on the third phase of a multi-million pound business park in Leamington Spa, which will bring 180,000 sq ft of new industrial units to the town. Leading property developer Stoford Developments is building four units and has already signed up Liberty 920E, part of the prestigious Liberty
When it comes down to making a garden building more environmentally friendly, there are a couple of key things that need to be considered in order to make this a successful process. Throughout the construction phase, it is important to keep in mind the initial purpose of the building. If
Bournemouth Tourism has partnered with independent global creative agency Crowd to deliver a new website for Bournemouth Beach Lodges. The site promotes beachside accommodation on the south coast of England, in the style of the traditional British beach huts, but with modern conveniences for the tourists. The visual and verbal identity The project followed the existing brand guidelines and used photography supplied by the client. The brand-new website highlights the benefits of staying in the luxury beach lodge accommodation with attractive images of the interior and the surrounding areas. A dedicated page was created to display the nearby attractions such as Corfe Castle, the New Forest and various water-sport activities. The visuals reflect what awaits visitors on their beach lodge break and position Bournemouth as a great holiday destination. The colour scheme invokes feelings of a coastal sunrise and the typography is reminiscent of the heyday of the British Seaside in the 1930s, but with a contemporary feel. Subtle animations were used on calls to action that represent the sea rushing up the beach to provide a visual reward for those about the click. “Creating an excellent mobile experience was always key to maximising bookings and search engine rankings. With a reliance on large inspirational images, we needed to ensure that the mobile site was fast and easy to use, whilst retaining the focus on photography which was essential to generating excitement in the visitor,” said Graham Dell, Projects Director at Crowd. The website was developed on WordPress as it allows the client to edit the content of the site. Crowd built a bespoke content editor that provides an easy means to edit existing pages and create new landing pages for paid or social marketing. It provides a good balance between inspirational photography and essential information for the tourists.
Capgemini will enter into a new partnership agreement with Autodesk, a leader in 3D design, engineering, construction and entertainment software, to deploy ReflectIoD, a new cloud-enabled and secure digital twin platform. The new Building Information Modelling (BIM) platform for building and infrastructure operators integrates natively 1D to 3D, point cloud, geographical information, and Internet of Things (IOT) data while offering value added services to improve operations and maintenance. This agreement is a step towards meeting the ever growing needs of enterprises for standardized brownfields management along their entire lifecycle. The world’s population is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, with 75% living in cities. Globalization and urbanization are driving unprecedented demand for new and rehabilitated buildings and infrastructure. Given this context, a BIM single source of truth enabling data centric collaboration across the extended enterprise is a requirement. Capgemini’s services in Digital Engineering and Manufacturing are leading the convergence of the physical and digital worlds to boost its clients’ competitiveness. Its solutions, particularly for the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) sector, leverage model intelligence, digital workflows and powerful data insights to shape smart factories and assets, comfortable and secure buildings, and data-enabled infrastructure towards an efficient, sustainable and livable future. Backed by Capgemini and Autodesk’s expertise, ReflectIOD will provide operators with consistent services from handover to operations, including design reviews in operations, progressive handover and commissioning, support for real time diagnosis and inspections, IoT alerting to prevent fluctuations, remote assistance and asset revamping. “The essence of a digital twin is data- centric collaborations. Capgemini’s agreement with Autodesk will provide BIM operators with a unique cloud- enabled and secured digital twin platform. This collaboration gathers a unique set of digital transformation skills and technologies,” said Jean-Pierre Petit, Director of Digital Manufacturing at Capgemini. The platform integrates Autodesk Forge APIs and geographical information systems, as well as Capgemini integration services and platforms such as X-IoT for device management, and Andy 3D for remote assistance and asset revamping on hybrid 3D. It can be configured according to industry and project specific requirements and is adaptable to change following agile and incremental implementation. Furthermore, as certified Forge Systems Integrator, Capgemini can support and advance its clients Forge based initiatives.
Gira, one of the world’s leading full-range suppliers of intelligent system solutions for building management, ‘go green’ for Earth Hour 2019 and commit to 60 minutes of complete darkness… On Saturday 30th March 2019, Gira headquarters in Radevormwald, Germany turned out its lights. From 8:30 to 9:30pm, Gira switched off its entire lighting system within the new Production, Development & Logistics center for one hour in a bid to help save the planet and participate in this year’s Earth Day. Not stopping there, Gira also switched off the four illuminated logos which adorn the facade of its high-bay warehouse to completely immerse itself in complete darkness for 60 minutes. For the first time, Gira played a part in ‘Earth Hour’: a global community action which is organized by the international nature and environmental organization World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Since 2007, participants around the world come together and power down lighting in the workplace for the purpose of ‘Earth Hour’. According to the WWF, the campaign should “motivate as many people around the globe as possible to live and act more environmentally friendly – far beyond the 60 minutes.” In 2018, results show that over 180 countries took part in Western Europe, made-up of the general public, entire communities, businesses and institutions. Last year saw Germany positively step up and support Earth Day with Cologne Cathedral, Hamburg City Hall, an entire skyline of high-rise buildings in downtown Frankfurt and the Town Hall in both Remscheid and Wuppertal-Barmen, all becoming dark for an hour. It is therefore no surprise that ‘Earth Hour’ is now considered one of the world’s largest community actions for environmental and climate protection. What are you doing to help? Earth Hour 2019 – 30th March 2019 Earth Day 2019 – 22nd April 2019
Elmsbrook residents save £400 a year in energy bills as the NW Bicester scheme is confirmed as the UK’s first large-scale true zero-carbon development Elmsbrook, the initial exemplar phase of NW Bicester developed by A2Dominion, has had its status as the UK’s first large-scale true zero carbon1 development confirmed by international sustainability charity, Bioregional. With savings of almost £400 per year2 compared to the average Bicester household, Elmsbrook residents are benefitting from super insulated fabric, more efficient appliances and renewable-energy generation. The combined impact of the eco-features incorporated into the homes, primary school and eco-business centre have ensured that the site as a whole is achieving true zero carbon. Elmsbrook is saving 300 tonnes of CO2 per year when compared with a new build development of a similar size. According to Bioregional’s monitoring results Elmsbrook residents used 57% less heating and hot water than their Bicester neighbours and 28% less electricity than the Bicester average, saving 1,189 KWh of electricity during the year. Bioregional co-founder and CEO Sue Riddlestone OBE said: “We are really proud to have worked with A2Dominion on this monitoring work, and to have worked in partnership with them for many years to help ensure that Elmsbrook achieves its zero-carbon ambitions while also being a great place to live. “Clearly there’s scope for further work to ensure that residents make the most of all the other opportunities to minimise their impact on the planet. But to succeed in preventing catastrophic climate change we need to see many more Elmsbrooks emerging across the country – and fast.” A2Dominion’s Head of Special Projects, Steve Hornblow said: “The successful findings of this report, coupled with the anecdotal feedback we are hearing from residents, is a huge milestone for the scheme. As a test bed, exemplar scheme, we are very proud of the achievements at Elmsbrook.” Monitoring proves eco-design a success To inform the annual monitoring of Elmsbrook’s sustainability performance, Bioregional has been capturing anonymised data through the meters within the homes at Elmsbrook, the public areas and resident surveys. This includes 86 homes from Phase One with 12 months of full data, and 32 homes from Phase Two with up to six months of data. The results of Bioregional’s sustainability monitoring report highlights the success A2Dominion has had in meeting the standards it set out during the design phase. Not only is the carbon footprint neutral, but residents are reaping the benefits of the innovative features across Elmsbrook. While 40% of residents purchased as a result of the eco town concept, almost half (47%) have said the most liked design features are eco related, including PV, better insulation, triple glazing and rainwater harvesting. Some 57% said the eco features were what they most liked about the development. Lifestyle and community emphasis delivers real value In addition to the specific eco credentials of the scheme, the lifestyle and community emphasis is delivering real value. Elmsbrook aims to make it easy for people to live happy, healthy and sustainable lives. The ample green spaces at Elmsbrook have also proved hugely popular, with half of residents making daily or weekly use of the green spaces and on average exercise 4.5 days per week. Some 81% of residents surveyed said they feel healthy or very healthy compared to the national average of 57.8%. Sustainable travel innovations include an electric car club, free Brompton bicycle rental, and free installation of electric vehicle charging points to residents who go electric within the first two years. While 48 residents have signed up to the electric car club so far, only 20% of residents are using the low-emission bus service each month. The research showed that more efforts are needed to develop further sustainable travel options and encourage people to adopt these low-carbon forms of transport. Elmsbrook residents surveyed said they say hello to more than 15 neighbours and a quarter are engaged in community governance activities like clubs and groups onsite. In the UK as a whole, a quarter of people don’t say hello to their neighbours. Notes 1 True zero carbon covers all household energy use, regulated and unregulated 2 This saving arises when maintenance, gas safety checks and eventual boiler replacement are factored in – included in standing chargers.
Work has begun on the third phase of a multi-million pound business park in Leamington Spa, which will bring 180,000 sq ft of new industrial units to the town. Leading property developer Stoford Developments is building four units and has already signed up Liberty 920E, part of the prestigious Liberty Vehicle Technologies, for a 50,000 sq ft unit at the park, which is located on Tachbrook Road. A further three units of 30,000 sq ft, 40,000 sq ft, and 60,000 sq ft, all with ancillary offices and suitable for advanced manufacturing and e-fulfilment and distribution uses (B1, B2 and B8 classes), will also be constructed. When it is fully operational, Liberty 920E’s state-of-the art, flagship 50,000 sq ft centre will become a global hub for its research and development and engineering expertise, housing house more than 100 technical professionals, including 40 new engineering posts. The company, which employs 5,000 people in the UK, is a Tier 1 supplier to major automotive manufacturers domestically and overseas. The centre, adjacent to its original plant, will also house Liberty’s Vehicle Technologies, 920Engineering (920E) and Shiftec businesses, which are internationally renowned for their advanced lightweight braking and control systems respectively. Contractor Benniman has been appointed to undertake the first tranche of phase three construction, which is due for completion in Q4 this year. Dan Gallagher, Joint Managing Director at Stoford Developments, which is developing the site jointly with leading asset management company BlackRock, said: “Starting on phase three of Spa Park is a key milestone in this significant development that could bring hundreds of jobs to the area. “We are pleased to have signed Liberty 920E for one of the larger units that we are delivering and we are also in talks with other prospective occupiers and hope to make further announcements soon. There is still huge demand for business units and warehouses of this size in the region, which has a long track record for advanced manufacturing and engineering industries.” Stoford is retaining a large portion of the site that will enable it to construct units ranging from 30,000 sq ft – 290,000 sq ft on a build-to-suit basis. Paul Tebbit at BlackRock said: “We are pleased to be on site in Leamington working in partnership with Stoford once more, following on from our recent project in Siskin Parkway West, Coventry, where we successfully built and let 310,000 sq ft in two buildings. Spa Park forms part of BlackRock’s strategy to build and own best in class, strategically located logistics assets within the BlackRock UK Property Fund, which now stands at nearly £3.5bn. Spa Park offers access to a strong skilled labour pool, good infrastructure and connections and importantly a significant power supply.” Anthony Blackwell, chief technical officer for Liberty Engineering, who is leading the development of the global technology centre, said: “This industry-leading new facility at Spa Park will play a pivotal role in our development of sophisticated components for the next generation of vehicles. “This site has nearly a century of heritage in automotive manufacturing and our new centre here will help us write an exciting new chapter in this success story.” Spa Park is ideally located, close to the A46 and junctions 14 and 15 of the M40. Leamington Spa train station is less than one mile away. Spa Park is already home to lingerie and swimwear brand Bravissimo, Detroit Electric and global medical company Smith + Nephew. For more details about Spa Park, visit www.spapark.co.uk Photo caption (l-r): Dan Gallagher, Joint Managing Director, Stoford Developments; Anthony Blackwell, Chief Technology Officer for Liberty Engineering; Steven Smith, Managing Director, Benniman.
When it comes down to making a garden building more environmentally friendly, there are a couple of key things that need to be considered in order to make this a successful process. Throughout the construction phase, it is important to keep in mind the initial purpose of the building. If your garden building is going to be utilised for the sole purpose of additional storage, less work and environmental factors need to be considered, whereas if you plan on using your garden building as additional living space, there could be further implications. Premier retailer of quality garden and leisure buildings GBC group have rounded up their top tips for making a garden building more eco-friendly. Design When it comes to design, there’s a key link between space and environmental factors. As with anything, smaller spaces are much easier to heat than larger ones, which makes them not only cost effective but friendlier to the environment. Be mindful of the size of the space you are choosing, if you don’t require a vast amount of space, select something moderate that will be kinder to the atmosphere. Placement of windows The placement of windows can have a significant effect on the eco-friendliness of your garden building. By working out the direction of natural breezes and the positioning of the sun throughout the day, you are able to optimise the amount of sun that will stream through the windows. This in turn should produce a heating effect and should reduce the amount of artificial heating required. Insulation Ensuring you insulate the building both appropriately and correctly is a hugely beneficial step in order to increase how environmentally friendly the building actually is. Using good quality insulation should create a consistent heating effect, by keeping the area cool in the warmer months and trapping heat in during the colder months. This in turn should reduce the need to run any electrical or gas heating and cooling units regularly. Using eco-materials Where possible, be mindful of the materials being used to construct the building. To help save money and minimise environmental impacts, try and source recycled plastic, glass and timber. This process should be much less damaging to the environment than purchasing the materials brand new. Solar Panels Although expensive and dependent on what type of outdoor building it you are considering, investing in solar panels is a potential option. As well as the huge environmental benefits, installing solar panels is a fantastic long-term financial investment within itself. There are a great range of solar panels available, and in most instances the more powerful of the systems simply wouldn’t be required. In general, garden buildings require very little electrical power, therefore the output wouldn’t need to be huge, so a simple set of cost-effective panels should work sufficiently.
