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Aerial image data are becoming more widely available, and analysis techniques based on supervised learning are advancing their use in a wide variety of remote sensing contexts. However, supervised learning requires training datasets which are not always available or easy to construct with aerial imagery. In this respect, unsupervised machine learning techniques present important advantages. This work presents a novel pipeline to demonstrate how available aerial imagery can be used to better the provision of services related to the built environment, using the case study of road traffic collisions (RTCs) across three cities in the UK. In this paper, we show how aerial imagery can be leveraged to extract latent features of the built environment from the purely visual representation of top-down images. With these latent image features in hand to represent the urban structure, this work then demonstrates how hazardous road segments can be clustered to provide a data-augmented aid for road safety experts to enhance their nuanced understanding of how and where different types of RTCs occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Persistent critical issues in built environment higher education (BEHE) curricula may need to be addressed by improving course organisation and management. In addition to the implications of the COVID pandemic, issues such as inadequate communication and lack of contemporary and innovative practices integrated with course delivery have resulted in a gap for Course organisation and management. The purpose of this study is to recommend a set of drivers that can assist academics and academic institutions in improving course development, organisation and management in the BEHE context. Thus, the study focused on three themes: course organisation and administration, timetabling and course communication. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic approach was taken to obtain data, where a documental analysis and a close-ended questionnaire were adopted as data collection instruments. The documental analysis considered 334 mid module reviews (MMRs) generating data from architecture, construction management, civil engineering, surveying and real estate students. Content analysis was used to identify critical themes within the MMRs and develop a closed-ended questionnaire. Twenty academics from each discipline completed the questionnaire. Eight drivers were developed from the data obtained from both MMRs and questionnaires. Content analysis and interpretive structural modelling were applied to identify the relationship between the drivers. Finally, these drivers were categorised by their level of influence and reliance to highlight how they contributed to improving course organisation and management. Findings: The study revealed eight drivers that can improve course organisation and management in the BEHE context. The study found that using virtual learning environments and communication are fundamental in course organisation and management. Practical implications: This research paper suggests drivers to improve how academics and academic institutions organise and manage courses. The study recommends eight drivers that could be used as a guideline and a best practice as per the level partitioning diagram developed to enhance the course organisation and management in BEHE. Originality/value: The study proposes a set of drivers to improve course organisation and management in BEHE curricula. Furthermore, insight into how these drivers influence and rely on each driver and their relation with the national student survey theme are novel contributions to the current body of knowledge. The paper further clarifies how they should be implemented for successful course organisation and management, thus, improving the quality of courses in higher education curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out the rationale and process for the interviewing methodology utilized during a 3-year research pilot, 'Moving Health Upstream in Urban Development' (UPSTREAM). The project had two primary aims: firstly, to attempt to value economically the health cost benefits associated with the quality of urban environments and secondly, to engage with those in control of urban development in the UK in order to determine what are the barriers to and opportunities for creating healthy urban environments, including those identified through the utilisation of economic valuation. Engagement at senior level with those who have most control over key facets of planning and development implementation-such as land disposal, investment, development delivery and planning permission-was central to the approach, which encompassed the adoption of 'elite interviewing', a method developed in the USA in the 1950s and used in the political sciences but relatively unutilized in the health and environmental sciences [1]. Two rounds of semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 15 senior decision-makers from the UK's main urban development delivery agencies, both public and private. The 'elite interviewing' approach successfully enabled the UPSTREAM project to capture and analyse the information received from the interviewees, all of whom held influential or leadership posts in organisations that are important actors in the process of planning, developing and constructing the built environment in the UK. Having academic and practitioner research leads on an equal footing created some minor tensions, but it also appeared to strengthen the rigor of the approach through a broad knowledge of context 'in-house'. This form of co-production at times challenged academic traditions in qualitative analysis, but it also appeared to build trust with interviewees and provided greater clarity of the real-world context under investigation. Findings from this study are written up in a separate paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines the political economy of financialisation with feminist care ethics and sociocultural geographies of home. Together, these perspectives explain why and how real estate is converted into liquid financial assets, and expose the implications for embedded relationships. The argument is developed through a case study of UK care homes, with particular attention to the role of real estate investment trusts. Investors in care companies have sought to render their real estate assets more calculable and profitable, by standardising the assets themselves into hotel‐like spaces. In effect, the work of translating between liquid finance and particular homes is transferred – from investors to those creating relationships in hotel‐like spaces. Yet the fundamental illiquidity of residents, relationships, and "home" constrain and destabilise financialisation. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of "liquid home" for economic, urban, and welfare geographies, and recommends that policy pay more attention to the financing of spaces for care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighbourhood-level economic inequality is thought to have important implications for social, political, and economic attitudes and behaviours. However, due to a lack of available data, to date it has been impossible to investigate how inequality varies across neighbourhoods in the UK. In this paper, I develop a novel measure of within-neighbourhood inequality in the UK by exploiting data on housing values for over 26.6 million addresses – nearly the universe of residential properties in the UK. Across two surveys, I demonstrate that housing value inequality is perceptually-salient – what people see around them in terms of housing discrepancies is associated with their beliefs about inequality. This new measure of local, salient inequality represents a powerful tool with which to investigate both the anatomy of local inequality in the UK, as well as its attitudinal and behavioural consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban building energy modelling (UBEM) is a prevalent research method to examine the multi-scale building to urban renovation in mitigating global energy-related carbon emissions. However, only a few studies delineate a complete workflow from generation to application using UBEM. In particular, to facilitate the designing of sustainable built environments, existing research needs to emphasize the integration of multi-scale energy performance evaluation within the design development process for architects and urban planners. The key challenges lie in the need for integrated datasets and incompatibility between software tools required for designing, modelling, and evaluation. This paper presents a comprehensive methodological framework to investigate applicable urban decarbonization strategies. A case study of Sheffield in the UK demonstrates the development of an automated and standardized computational workflow. This data-driven workflow aims to evaluate energy demand and supply scenarios at an urban scale to access the potential of decarbonizing built environments. The workflow is designed to be adaptable to various scales of urban regions, given a suitable geographic information system (GIS) dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions (HEI) have undergone fundamental changes driven by ICT developments, globalisation, and the advent of socio-constructivist pedagogic approaches. As a result, within the UK, capital investment in new and retrofitted facilities has reached a record expenditure. Recent research on user-related evaluations of facilities, particularly in HEI learning spaces, highlights the prevalence of evaluations dominated by reductionist approaches focused on measuring outcomes, on users, such as satisfaction, learning outcomes or engagement. These approaches have a major pitfall, neglecting the complexity of the dynamic relationships between people, spaces, technology, institutional structure and pedagogic practices. In response, this paper aims to propose a shift on current approaches by exploring the application of sociotechnical systems theory to learning space design and evaluation. Amid these, it is argued that Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) offers promising alternatives to inform design and management of higher education learning spaces. Finally, within the paper, three CWA interventions are proposed and discussed, focusing on how these address previously identified shortcomings of predominant approaches used in HEI learning space design and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to social protection in old age is crucial and yet contingent upon negotiations between the social structures of the welfare states and the personal networks within which individuals are embedded. International migration, changing family dynamics, and the transformation of care and other welfare policies in the global North make it challenging for older migrants to negotiate social protection. Drawing on 45 semi-structured interviews with first-generation older Turkish migrants in London and 13 semi-structured interviews with professional service providers for the community, the paper aims to investigate the assemblages of formal and informal social protection in the lives of older migrants. Findings indicate the complexity in accessing informal social protection and the navigation of formal care support in the UK for first generation older Turkish migrants and the contingency of access to formal care services on informal support networks for participants. It has been demonstrated that built infrastructure and policies aimed at older adults have great influence on assemblages of care, highlighting the need for more age-friendly and integrated policies to facilitate access to social protection for diverse groups of older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technologies are expected to create transformational change in the construction sector. Previous studies have either anticipated the impact of individual technologies or outlined a number of nontechnology-focused future scenarios. There is comparatively little work on how innovation champions frame the future by combining a range of digital technologies and trends (such as big data, the internet of things, and automation) to transform construction. Drawing on an interview-based study with UK construction professionals, this paper presents three emergent visions for digital transformation of the sector. These visions are efficient construction, user-data-driven built environment, and value-driven computational design. Arising in practitioner narratives, these visions all emphasize different technologies and are partially influenced, intertwined, and interconnected with technology, business, and policy discourses in the sector. Furthermore, the visions represent different trajectories for implementing digital technologies in the construction sector. This paper contributes to work on construction foresight and innovation discourses by articulating the multiplicity of visions for digital transformation of construction. This has implications for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers responsible for the digital transformation of construction toward possible, profitable, and desirable futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The issues in the current Built Environment Higher Education (BEHE) curricula recognise a critical need for enhancing the quality of teaching. This paper aims to identify the need for a best practice in teaching within BEHE curricula and recommend a set of drivers to enhance the current teaching practices in the Built Environment (BE) education. The study focused on Section 1 of the National Student Survey (NSS) – Teaching on my course, with a core focus on improving student satisfaction, making the subject interesting, creating an intellectually stimulating environment and challenging learners. Design/methodology/approach: The research method used in this study is the mixed method, a document analysis consisting of feedback from undergraduate students and a closed-ended questionnaire to the academics in the BEHE context. More than 375 student feedback were analysed to understand the teaching practices in BE and fed forward to developing the closed-ended questionnaire for 23 academics, including a Head of School, a Principal Lecturer, Subject Leads and Lecturers. The data was collected from Architecture, Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Quantity Surveying and Building surveying disciplines representing BE context. The data obtained from both instruments were analysed with content analysis to develop 24 drivers to enhance the quality of teaching. These drivers were then modelled using the interpretive structural modelling (ISM) method to identify their correlation and criticality to NSS Section 1 themes. Findings: The study revealed 10 independent, 11 dependent and three autonomous drivers, facilitating the best teaching practices in BEHE. The study further recommends that the drivers be implemented as illustrated in the level partitioning diagrams under each NSS Section 1 to enhance the quality of teaching in BEHE. Practical implications: The recommended set of drivers and the level partitioning can be set as a guideline for academics and other academic institutions to enhance the quality of teaching. This could be further used to improve student satisfaction and overall NSS results to increase the rankings of academic institutions. Originality/value: New knowledge can be recognised with the ISM analysis and level partitioning diagrams of the recommended drivers to assist academics and academic institutions in developing the quality of teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse gas emissions originating from the built environment play a significant role towards climate change. Carefully planning the future of the building sector is key to mitigating these emissions. Addressing this problem by using a predictive approach may miss possible futures that cannot be anticipated. Using explorative scenarios to perform futures analysis helps widen the range of futures taken into account, which minimises this risk. Tools that use scenarios to help study the resilience of sustainable solutions for the UK urban environment are already available. However, they do not facilitate in-depth analysis of future household energy demand. This paper considers how one such tool, 'Designing Resilient Cities' (DRC), could be modified appropriately. It includes (a) a series of indicators representing factors affecting the energy demand in dwellings and (b) their characteristics for each scenario to complement the narratives in DRC. As a case study to validate these additions, the resilience of a recommendation to decrease domestic electricity consumption is evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the West, in the post-war and post-industrial period, urban regeneration has undergone a critical shift, from focusing primarily on the built environment (1.0) to focusing also on activity within it (2.0). Predicated upon a more holistic 'place-based' approach, building culture, health, human capital, learning and other capabilities has informed or led regeneration programmes, often improving outcomes. Yet even with this shift, regeneration and renewal interventions have not always succeeded fully in their aims; they have missed opportunities, and in some cases have been detrimental to communities. The reasons for this are complex, but it is our contention that included in their ranks is a fundamental lack of understanding of the emotional and psychological impacts of city living as a whole, and the deeper existential impacts of regeneration programmes which literally reshape the urban landscape, displacing or blending communities at great speed. It is astonishing that psychology, the discipline most concerned with human behaviour and emotional well-being, has been almost absent from urban regeneration thinking, policy and practice. In response to this, a second potential shift is emerging, birthing 'regeneration 3.0', which is seeking to understand the intimate links and symbiotic effects which exist between place and person, taking a psychologically informed approach. Informed by their pioneering book Psychology and the City and their innovative 'Urban Psyche' test, since 2016 the authors have sought to make a case for the development of a new generation of urban psychology scholarship and praxis. This paper introduces readers to their thinking on why place matters to mental health and why mental health matters to place; the evolution of regeneration policy and why ways of reading the city open and foreclose opportunities to engage psychological concerns; the potential of psychology for regeneration policy and practice; and examples of tools from psychology that might be adopted. The paper focuses mainly on UK-based regeneration, although the conclusions are potentially applicable internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a conceptual model for critically engaging with the effects of financialization on contemporary cities. The current state of theory on financialization in the urban context focuses foremost on the real estate sector activities, regulatory frameworks and governance structures that enable urban financialization. The paper addresses the calls for a closer examination of the spatial patterns that emerge from these practices. By combining financial ecologies as an analytical tool with infrastructure as a perspective, it provides a conceptual model in order to understand the impacts of financialization on cities. The paper discusses the conceptual model in the context of the introduction of the UK Municipal Bonds Agency. It concludes by outlining some of the spatial effects of the UK's changing financial ecology of urban infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enforced poverty of austere capitalism continues to wreck the worlds we inhabit. These worlds are built with a variety of social infrastructures: houses, pipes, schools, parks, libraries, and other sites of coexistence. Austerity, in turn, is spatialized and experienced across this built environment – slashing the potential of everyday worlds to provide a dignified life. By 'worlding' austerity, I thus argue that violence against the built environment – or what I term 'slow urbicide' – is simultaneously a violence against people. My focus is on the UK, and housing in particular, where government austerity continues to inflict an insidious spatial trauma. As spatial beings, our physical and mental wellbeing is bound to the landscapes we inhabit. If these landscapes are ruined by government cutbacks – compounding the already violent production of neoliberal space – a deep world alienation and insecurity can set in. I thus reflect on the ruined social and psychological geographies of austerity. But I also offer a positive political vision: an imperative to work for the world and repair the blasted landscapes of our coexistence. The paper finishes by outlining a new right to the world: a rallying cry to flourish in more dignified spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the transition towards a circular economy (CE) being a significant element in achieving the decarbonisation of the built environment, a clear and common pathway to applying CE principles to building design is still lacking in both industry practice and academia. The integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has the potential to enable the identification of feasible pathways to increase circularity. This study aims to investigate its practical use to facilitate the application of circular economy principles at the early stage of building design via using LCA-based BIM plugins. Within this aim, the paper centres on a co-production approach and presents a gap analysis by identifying gaps in knowledge and implementation as well as addressing the pressing needs of the current practice in the UK. A series of semi-structured interviews with expert practitioners in the field were conducted for data collection, contributing to the following phases of the co-production by allowing for an in-depth investigation and reflection of the practice. The findings have revealed that: (a) there is still an insufficient level of contextual awareness and readiness in the implementation of CE principles in the built environment and LCA understanding and (b) the adoption of BIM at the early stages of building design is still limited in the current practice; BIM models with sufficient level of data details and quality to enable circularity assessment are rarely produced. Thus, the paper highlights the need for enabling mechanisms, including the introduction of legislative instruments, the involvement and commitment of the industry and key stakeholders, the support for training and skills improvement, and the establishment of effective communication and implementation process management frameworks. Future research agenda points to the need of formulation of a BIM protocol to enable integration of BIM and LCA to promote CE principles in the building design process. [Display omitted] • Co-production is a promising approach to capture and respond to the industry needs. • Lack of seamless integration between BIM and LCA tools. • Insufficient understanding of how to apply CE principles in the building design. • Lack of systematic guidance and standardised process to implement BIM and LCA integration. • A tailored BIM protocol needed for applying LCA from a CE perspective in the building design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Following the increasing need for faster construction, improved quality and evidence value propositions, offsite construction is increasingly being proffered as a viable contender to "traditional" construction approaches. However, whilst evidence supports the move towards offsite, its uptake has been lower than expected. Whilst the precise reasons for this seem to be influenced by a number of issues, including contextual drivers and market maturity; some project stakeholders also view offsite as carrying greater risks. The purpose of this paper is to report on the quality of information flow, in particular, the impact and influence of this on design risks in offsite construction projects.Design/methodology/approach An existing design risk framework is used as the point of departure for this research. This is further expanded into a specific model for evaluating offsite construction projects design risks, the rubrics of which were informed by two case studies of offsite construction projects in Australia and the UK analysed with a process-tracing technique. Whilst these cases were geographically separated, the constructs were aligned to uncover fundamental design information requirements and concomitant risks associated with offsite.Findings The findings of the research reported in this paper include the crucial information feeding into the design process emanating from the lifecycle of offsite construction projects, namely, design, offsite (manufacturing), handling and transporting, site works and installation and also occupancy. These are contextualised within the four categories, namely, client requirements, project requirements, regulation aspects and social aspects and the final outcomes were summarised into a holistic diagram.Originality/value Given that the offsite construction has shifted the working paradigm into assigning a significant level of efforts and emphasis at the front end of the construction projects, the importance of its design process and hence design risks management has gone up significantly in construction projects delivered using this technique. This research and paper contributes significantly to the built environment domain by identifying the crucial aspects along the project lifecycle to be considered to minimise the potential occurrence of design risks and hence increasing the confidence of project stakeholders in adopting offsite construction techniques in their projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social sustainability is a growing area of debate in the built environment, particularly in relation to housing. Homebuilders in the United Kingdom have responded to organizational and policy drivers by developing expost assessment frameworks to measure the social sustainability of new housing development. In this paper, I offer a critical perspective of these frameworks by: (1) examining the origins of the concept of social sustainability at the neighborhood level; (2) analyzing the critical challenges and research questions about social sustainability that the underlying methodologies raise; and, (3) how such frameworks might be improved and developed further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper is to examine some of the issues that the UK surveying profession need to consider with regard to climate change in the built environment. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on an examination of literature related to adaptation and mitigation and the flow of information in the context of climate change and the built environment. The findings in this paper are based on a questionnaire survey (September 2008) of recent graduates from 23 programmes in the UK to assess the current state of knowledge and understanding of the issues confronting the profession with regard to the impact of climate change. They follow on from an earlier independent perception survey of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) members which specifically focused on climate change. The findings from this survey suggested a degree of unpreparedness amongst the surveying community in the UK regarding issues around climate change and the built environment. Findings – The paper suggests that, whilst the RICS stress the importance of sustainability in their literature and most university course documents include reference to sustainability and the effects of climate change, the message from graduates is mixed. For example, approximately 50 per cent of graduates considered that there was no, or little reference to the issue in their own programmes. Originality/value – This paper addresses sustainability literacy and questions the way in which climate change in the built environment specifically is taught on surveying programmes. The findings help inform gaps in the manner in which the subject is approached. Leading on from this, it may be possible to put forward suggestion for a more proactive approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - A previous paper in this journal focused on how the integration of standards-based management systems used by major contractors operating within the construction sector could contribute to improvements in the environmental performance of a company. However, it was seen that the lack of a recognised management system framework to guide organisations and their operations was proving inhibitive to success. This paper aims to address that shortcoming, presenting a workable and useful framework for configuring integrated management systems (IMSs) targeted at delivering better environmental performance. It aims to report on a government-funded research project examining the developments in and applications of IMSs applied to the environment, quality and safety of construction projects in the UK. Design/methodology/approach - The research project used a triangulated approach collating qualitative and quantitative data acquired by the multiple collection methods of questionnaire survey, structured and semi-structured interviews and case studies. The qualitative approach involved the development of theory from data, or grounded theory, and evaluation of data, or analytic induction, while the quantitative approach used data-sampling methods and database coding and analysis. Findings - The findings show that a number of prominent UK principal contracting organisations have introduced integrated standards-based systems for managing a construction project's environment, quality and safety. Notwithstanding, problems have readily been encountered and these appear to have occurred predominantly from a lack of an effective management system framework within which corporate organisation and project operations are arranged within the context of their business environment. The establishment of a robust framework is highlighted as being fundamental and essential to ensuring better environmental performance. Originality/value - The research examines environmental performance within the project environment of the construction industry. The findings add to the current body of knowledge and will be of value to contractors seeking to satisfy the environmental requirements of their business through an effective management approach. Moreover, the research has wider value through transferable applications and experiences for other industry sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The paper seeks to examine the background to the UK Government White Paper on the conservation of the built environment, and particularly to identify drivers for legislative change and possible consequences of new legislation for conservation practice. Design/methodology/approach - A critical review is undertaken of major trends in conservation and management of the historic built environment that may affect future conservation legislation. Findings - Three major trends are identified: the development of holistic landscape-based approaches to conservation; the widening of heritage values to include those of particular groups and communities as well as those based on academic disciplines; and a shift from control-based approaches to conservation towards those based on dynamic management of change. Each of these trends presents opportunities and challenges in framing of legislation and policy. Research limitations/implications - This is a wide and fast-developing field. The UK Government's proposals for legislation are not yet in place and the framework for debate may change. Practical implications - There has been a long period of stability and consolidation in the legal framework for conservation of the historic built environment. It is likely that we are moving towards a period of accelerating change in which accepted values may be challenged and new skills may be required. Originality/value - The paper draws together a diverse set of themes that are likely to affect the future development of conservation legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - For many academics in UK universities the nature and orientation of their research is overwhelmingly determined by considerations of how that work will be graded in research assessment exercises (RAEs). The grades awarded to work in a particular subject area can have a considerable impact on the individual and their university. There is a need to better understand those factors which may influence these grades. The paper seeks to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach - The paper considers relationships between the grades awarded and the quantitative information provided to the assessment panels for the 1996 and 2001 RAEs for two subject areas, built environment and town and country planning, and for three other subject areas, civil engineering, geography and archaeology, in the 2001 RAE. Findings - A simple model demonstrating strong and consistent relationships is established. RAE performance relates to numbers of research active staff, the production of books and journal papers, numbers of research studentships and graduations, and research income. Important differences between subject areas are identified. Research limitations/implications - Important issues are raised about the extent to which the new assessment methodology to be adopted for the 2008 RAE will capture the essence of good quality research in architecture and built environment. Originality/value - The findings provide a developmental perspective of RAEs and show how, despite a changed methodology, various research activities might be valued in the 2008 RAE. The basis for a methodology for reviewing the credibility of the judgements of panels is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013, Portland Stone, a creamy white limestone from the Isle of Portland in Dorset, was named the world's first "Global Heritage Stone Resource" (GSHR) by the Heritage Stone Task Group, a sub‐commission of the International Union of Geological Sciences. The criteria for GSHR designation are ambiguous, with the Task Group championing Portland Stone's "cultural value" and "heritage," neither of which are critically interrogated. In this paper we undertake a detailed critical discourse analysis of Hansard entries mentioning Portland Stone between 1803 and 2020. We reveal that the use of Portland Stone is intertwined with colonial oppression, class subjugation, empire politics, structural racism, and a mythologised, England‐centric vision of British national identity. In celebrating the use of Portland Stone as part of Britain's "heritage", we are condoning a narrative of Britishness that is exclusionary and whitewashed, and that supports an elite rewriting of national and international history. Drawing on critical heritage literature, we argue that the Heritage Stone Task Group must urgently reconsider their uncritical appraisal of "heritage" and "culture" and consult with social science colleagues to ensure that all voices are heard. Our study shows that through the history and nature of their usage, the rocks beneath our feet, our natural foundation, can become imbued with notions of regional and national identity, belonging and exclusion, memory and loss – they can become a powerful manifestation of symbolic and unequal power structures. While British society's attention is turned to the imprint of colonialism, empire, and race on our geographies, we urge further consideration of the built environment: the very stones that construct our towns and cities, the plinths on which statues are erected, tell stories of oppression and domination that are an important part of British history, culture, and heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews and reflects on how the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns became a unique period in the United Kingdom’s life and the management of its continence when away from home. The lack of forethought and planning for public toilet provision would make local and national headlines during both lockdown and lockdown easing and remind people how essential such a service is to affording movement and participation in our built environment. This work charts the public perception of public toilet provision and its decline both before and during to the pandemic. It discusses how the shift of a majority of provision into the private sector resulted in reliance on a once public service that would fail in general lockdown, provoking debate on public toilet provision and its essential role in our built environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The built environment has been a significant contributor to global carbon emissions. It, therefore, has a vital role to play in the reduction efforts of future climate change. While the design of buildings may determine future energy use for cooling, heating, and lighting during the operational stage of the building, this study aims to observe the effect of the building design on the operational as well as the whole-life carbon emissions. Past studies have focused on either the operational carbon or the embodied carbon of a building. Using a cradle-to-grave assessment of a typical UK supermarket, this study explores the relationship between embodied carbon and operational carbon. Additionally, it examines the effects of the variables between three approved construction methods of the same design on the whole life of carbon. These methods are a steel structural frame and cladding panel external wall, steel frame and poroton walls, precast concrete and glulam frame and precast concrete walls. The findings of this research will contribute to mitigation strategies for the environmental impacts of supermarket building construction whilst providing a framework for future assessment of the whole-life carbon of supermarket buildings. Practical Application : Employing the life cycle assessment methodology, this paper examines the potential of minimising both embodied and operational carbon by observing the whole life carbon. Highlighting the influence of the GHG emission contributing factors in each stage on each other. Additionally, the recommended methodology for the supermarket building types of this case study, could be adapted for other types of buildings. The findings could also augment carbon emission research and guide the development of supermarket buildings to low carbon intensive. Furthermore, collaboration with the industry in carrying out this research aids in adopting the findings as practical and theoretical guides for engineers and designers in reducing the building sector's harmful environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an emerging literature on guerrilla gardening as a political practice in public spaces, with few exceptions, these accounts theorise it as working against many corporate and bureaucratic forms of power. Using the example of ‘F Troop’—a group of gardeners operating on a site in an English midland city—this paper focuses on the practices of urban guerrilla gardening in order to illustrate that these are perhaps not as ‘resistant’ or ‘celebratory’ as previous accounts have suggested. Rather, this paper draws on ethnographic data to focus attention on the micro politics of garden activism, arguing that the social backgrounds and motivations of those involved in guerrilla gardening and their relationship with other users of the space surrounding the dig site are also important—but largely underacknowledged—aspects of guerrilla gardening. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Urban design studio education aims to prepare future urban designers to more effectively understand how cities work and critically engage with the role of design intervention in the built environment. A design studio is an appropriate setting where this can take place. This paper details the design and delivery of a postgraduate urban design studio subject in the MA Urban Design programme at Cardiff University during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. We particularly investigate the capacities and challenges of blended learning and teaching, with a primary focus on the experience and perception of students in the context of design studio pedagogy. To this end, we discuss the findings from an online survey of postgraduate urban design students and reflect on their experience and perception of the related learning and teaching activities, assessment, feedback, field study visits, workshops, and digital platforms during the subject delivery period in the 2021–2022 academic year. The outcomes of this paper can inform future practices of blended learning and teaching incorporating a mix of face-to-face and online modes of delivery in relation to design studio education, particularly in the context of unprecedented global health challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how QFD can enhance a healthcare organisation's strategic operational alignment, by synchronising the infrastructure design with the service intention. In this empirical paper, a case study of a £15 million infrastructure development has been used as the unique context to assess and test the experimental findings. QFD was utilised in order to capture and transform the requirements of decision-makers, providers, patients and local communities into both service and building design for Project K, a healthcare infrastructure, in the U.K. Two full iterations of the QFD results are presented. Using QFD generated effectiveness and efficiency by creating an information exchange platform and providing the stakeholders with a framework to optimise the decision-making. This paper makes a practical contribution by empirically testing the QFD modelling and providing evidence of its implementation within the complex, dynamic and evolving nature of the healthcare built environment sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research and evaluation needs to support radical decarbonisation in the built environment are examined for the UK. Since buildings account for approximately 40% of UK energy demand, energy use in buildings will need to be transformed if ambitious climate policy objectives are to be met. In the context of wider energy system change, the needs are for greater efficiency, greater use of electric technologies such as heat pumps as electricity become cleaner, and the use of renewable heat such as biomass. At the same time, the introduction of smart technology offers new opportunities to measure and evaluate changes in demand patterns and the impact of policy interventions. The paper notes that the technical and social dimensions of radical decarbonisation are intimately intertwined. Therefore, social and economic research has a vital role to play in supporting the design and implementation of effective policy, taking advantage of new data-collection opportunities. Drawing on lessons from other policy domains, the paper explores the role that rigorous policy evaluation techniques, little used in the energy domain, could play. It identifies a range of concerns, relating to the political sphere, policy delivery and consumer acceptance, that would need to be addressed. Il est procédé à l'examen pour le Royaume-Uni des besoins en matière de recherche et d'évaluation pour appuyer une décarbonisation radicale dans le cadre bâti. Etant donné que les bâtiments représentent 40 % environ de la demande énergétique britannique, la consommation d'énergie dans les bâtiments devra être transformée si l'on veut atteindre des objectifs ambitieux en matière de politique climatique. Dans le contexte d'une évolution plus large du système énergétique, les besoins portent sur une efficacité accrue, une plus grande utilisation de technologies électriques telles que les pompes à chaleur au fur et à mesure que l'électricité devient plus propre, et l'utilisation d'une source de chaleur renouvelable telle que la biomasse. Dans le même temps, l'introduction des technologies intelligentes offre de nouvelles possibilités de mesurer et d'évaluer les changements intervenant dans les schémas de la demande et l'impact des interventions de politique. L'article note que les aspects techniques et sociaux d'une décarbonisation radicale sont intimement liés. En conséquence, les travaux de recherche dans le domaine social et économique ont un rôle essentiel à jouer dans l'appui à apporter à la conception et à la mise en oeuvre d'une politique efficace, en tirant parti des nouvelles possibilités de collecte de données. Tirant les enseignements des autres domaines d'intervention politique, l'article examine le rôle que pourraient jouer les techniques rigoureuses d'évaluation des politiques, peu utilisées dans le domaine de l'énergie. Il identifie un éventail de préoccupations, en rapport avec la sphère politique, la mise en oeuvre des politiques et leur acceptation par les consommateurs, auxquelles il conviendrait d'apporter des réponses. Mots clés: bâtiments, changement climatique, efficacité énergétique, énergie, mesures politiques, chaleur renouvelable, recherche et évaluation, programme de recherche [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we discuss learning about using visual methodologies in a research project exploring social networks, neighbourhood spaces and community in an inner city-area of a British northern city. We draw on the substantive and methodological experiences of visual researchers and provide an account of the ways in which we discussed, developed, and reflected on the value and possibilities of visual methods in our data collection and analysis. We present the paper as a dialogue to represent how, as a research team, we engaged in an on-going iterative engagement with the visual methods we used. Our dialogue considers visual data we collected through a walkaround method, focusing on how these data contributed to our understanding of the field, data analysis, the refinement of research questions, and theoretical development in the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on a pilot programme to evaluate the use and effectiveness of design coding. It focuses on the roles and relationships between the different stakeholders in the coding process and compares the preconceptions about coding with actual experiences in use. The paper reveals the gulf in professional cultures that impact on the development process. This is underpinned by the continuing struggle between creative, market-driven and regulatory modes of praxis. The paper is polemical in that it points the finger at approaches that potentially undermine the creation of the built environment as a collective endeavour. It is also propositional in that it draws from the evidence-base provided by the pilot programme to propose that design coding could, if used correctly, positively regulate the essentials of urbanism, whilst leaving room for design creativity and enhanced market value. Effective coding can help to mediate the tyrannies of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 created a positive duty on the public sector to promote disability equality. This duty extends to higher education and local planning authorities. Based on Zuber-Skerrit's CRASP model for professional development, this paper examines an initiative to enact the duty. It details a completed action research project with undergraduate students and an adult learning project, that works with adults labeled as 'learning disabled'. The paper considers how this co-educational learning experience enabled the undergraduate students to engage with the principles of inclusive design in the built environment and offers a model for how inclusive policy and practice may be implemented at the university level, and particularly in built environment courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper responds to recent calls for further work on vulnerable people's experiences of official planned attempts to create safe cities that are based on ableist assumptions. Go-along interviews elicited from people with cognitive, physical or motor impairments, together with interviews taken from built environment professionals are used to highlight the diverse ways in which differently disabled individuals encounter official efforts to create safe, secure urban spaces and suppress terrorist threats in one UK city centre (Birmingham). Focusing on individuals' embodied spatio-temporal experiences provide wider lessons for planners and urban stakeholders about the decision-making processes people adopt during urban crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is robust evidence that the places where people live have a profound influence on whether or not they are able to live healthy lives. This link between quality of place and well-being is now recognised by the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and is viewed as a key progenitor of pernicious health inequalities. Increasingly, it is also being recognised and reflected in UK national planning policy. Planning policy is weak, however, with few mandatory quality standards, and many of the new homes and places being built in the UK are of a poor quality. Unless there is an urgent effort to strengthen and co-ordinate national policy regarding public health, planning and housing, it is highly likely that the design and management of the built environment will continue to increase the already large health inequalities between rich and poor. In support of thinking anew about place-making as preventative public health, this paper reports insights and lessons arising from NHS England's Healthy New Towns project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the environmental performance of non-domestic buildings is a complex and ‘wicked’ problem due to conflicting interests and incentives. This is particularly challenging in tenanted spaces, where landlord and tenant interactions are regulated through leases that traditionally ignore environmental considerations. ‘Green leasing’ is conceptualized as a form of ‘middle-out’ inter-organizational environmental governance that operates between organizations, alongside other drivers. This paper investigates how leases are evolving to become ‘greener’ in the UK and Australia, providing evidence from five varied sources on: (1) UK office and retail leases, (2) UK retail sector energy management, (3) a major UK retailer case study; (4) office leasing in Sydney, and (5) expert interviews on Australian retail leases. With some exceptions, the evidence reveals an increasing trend towards green leases in prime offices in both countries, but not in retail or sub-prime offices. Generally introduced by landlords, adopted green leases contain a variety of ambitions and levels of enforcement. As an evolving form of private–private environmental governance, green leases form a valuable framework for further tenant–landlord cooperation within properties and across portfolios. This increased cohesion could create new opportunities for polycentric governance, particularly at the interface of cities and the property industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract Regenerative eco-innovation , demanding radical and architectural change to restore, renew and revitalise the natural system, is arguably the most important type of eco-innovation to address the pressing challenges of sustainable development. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of the regulatory framework and wider contextual conditions in facilitating or hindering regenerative eco-innovations. This is especially relevant for the built environment, a sector that is highly regulated and where rates of innovation are typically slow. We combined a review of relevant archival material with an interview programme involving key stakeholders from the UK's built environment sector. We contribute to the literature by extending and elaborating our understanding of regenerative eco-innovation in two ways. First, we extend the literature on regulation and eco-innovation by exploring what constitutes high quality regulation in the context of regenerative development. Second, we elaborate on how regenerative eco-innovations are facilitated or hindered by wider contextual conditions. Our paper also has practical utility. More understanding of how effective regulation can support regenerative eco-innovations, and of how the wider contextual conditions facilitate or hinder regenerative eco-innovations, allows industry and government to respond better to the urgent global challenge of closing material cycles. Highlights • Explores the influence of regulation and wider contextual conditions on regenerative eco-innovation • Focuses on a case study of extracted materials in the UK built environment sector • Extends and elaborates our understanding of regenerative eco-innovation in two ways: • what constitutes high quality regulation in the context of regenerative development • how the regulatory roots of regenerative eco-innovation are affected by wider contextual conditions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The re-use of good design solutions is a key source of evidence and knowledge in the design of healthcare buildings. However, due to the unique nature of healthcare built environments, the critical application of this evidence is of paramount importance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the features of such critical application and identify the aspects that need to be considered during the re-use of good designs. Design/methodology/approach: Data from three case studies of hospital designs in the UK were used to explore the processes behind the adaption and re-use of design solutions during the design of healthcare buildings. Data were thematically analysed to distinguish the aspects that should be carefully compared and contrasted during design re-use. Findings: Existing designs of healthcare buildings should be captured and evaluated along with: patient demographics, care models of the hospital, other local departmental needs and facility operational aspects in order to ensure the effectiveness of re-use. In addition, properly introducing the design to the users is also a part of successful design re-use. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this research were integrated into a framework to support healthcare designers on the effective re-use of good designs. This data-driven framework could be validated further with design practitioners. Further, this research relied on memory recall of the interviewees and the accuracy and completeness of documentary records. Practical implications: This research provides details of how healthcare built environment designs are embedded in project-unique circumstances. The results could therefore be used to develop meaningful and informative evaluation mechanisms for new and re-used healthcare building design features. Originality/value: This research extends the understanding of the critical application of healthcare design evidence, by explaining how healthcare design solutions should be evaluated during the design process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability agenda is already taken in consideration widely in disciplines dealing with the built environment. What here is less agreed upon is how exactly each discipline herein repositions itself with regard to this agenda. This is exemplified when examining the fields of planning and real estate - two fields that actively embrace sustainability goals, but from two very different starting points. Planning approaches predominantly share a broader socio-spatial logic in their examination of areas, whereas real estate, by definition, works from the level of individual building and site, from which it potentially can connect with broader urban and economic concerns. There is also a constant interaction between the two: cities do not exist without homes and workplaces for their inhabitants; on the other, a well maintained and high quality urban amenity level together with timely provision of buildings and building land will keep property prices at moderate levels. This paper suggests a bottom-up oriented approach to overcome the friction between the two fields. This idea can be applied for analysis of either individual property management or revitalization of whole neighbourhood. This is demonstrated with the case of Portsmouth (UK). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2006 the UK Government announced a move to zero-carbon homes by 2016. The demand posed a major challenge to policy-makers and construction professionals entailing a protracted process of policy design. The task of giving content to this target is used to explore the role of evidence in the policy process. Whereas much literature on policy and evidence treats evidence as an external input, independent of politics, this paper explores the ongoing mutual constitution of both. Drawing on theories of policy framing and the sociology of classification, the account follows the story of a policy for Zero Carbon Homes from the parameters and values used to specify the target. Particular attention is given to the role of regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) and to the creation of a new policy venue, the Zero Carbon Hub. The analysis underlines the way in which the choices about how to model and measure the aims potentially transforms them, the importance of policy venues for transparency and the role of RIAs in the authorization of particular definitions. A more transparent, open approach to policy formulation is needed in which theframingof evidence is recognized as an integral part of the policy process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to establish the extent to which life cycle costing (LCC) is used as an early stage project evaluation tool by practitioners in the UK construction industry. The use of this evaluation tool has long been advocated by academics as a means of ensuring best value rather than lowest cost is a driver for business decisions related to potential built environment projects. Therefore there is a need to appraise its current uptake levels amongst built environment professionals and assess whether there are any barriers affecting its use in UK practice. Design/methodology/approach -- Using a mixed methods approach, the authors present the findings from a survey of construction professionals located in the UK and the results from a series of follow up semi-structured interviews designed to further explore the factors found to affect the use of LCC in practice. Findings -- The study shows that LCC is still not widely used by built environment professionals in the UK. The greatest inhibitor on the take up of the tool is the need of clients to budget on short-term horizons. Other factors such as a lack awareness of the tool by practitioners and clients, unreliability of data into the long term and the overriding need for commercially driven projects to achieve maximum return on investment continue to inhibit the widespread adoption of LCC as an early stage project evaluation tool. These findings have implications for the capability of the UK construction industry to deliver on its commitment to enhance the sustainability of the built environment. Originality/value -- The paper offers insights into the current use of LCC and the factors affecting its use in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares contractual practices and resultant financial profits in commercial archaeology in the UK with those of the construction industry. It argues that, until archaeologists adopt or emulate those practices, they will be unable to afford the training they need or the intellectual gratification and public engagement they desire, and suggests simple objectives by which that aim might be realised. It is based on the author's (almost) 30 years' experience in commercial archaeology and recent studies in construction management. It builds on a paper given at the Institute for Archaeologists (IfA) Conference in 2008, a precis of which was published in The Archaeologist (2007), and a seminar held at the University of the West of England in June 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Podium decks — a basement roof at, or around, ground level which is not covered by superstructure — are an increasingly common feature in the modern built environment. This increase may be partly attributed to growing awareness of the need for sustainability. Green roofs, sustainable urban drainage, water attenuation and even parks and farms are being located on top of podium decks. Waterproofing of these podium decks is vital in order to use the space created beneath and also to prolong the life expectancy of the structure. This research analyses the available best practice guidance and then compares the key waterproofing design features with opinions from industry. Opinions are gathered first through 78 questionnaire respondents and then interviews with four experienced respondents with unusual views. These findings are then compared with case studies of podium decks with waterproofing failures. This research suggests that robust podium deck waterproofing design comes from the following choices in the fundamental features of waterproofing design for podium decks: a) reinforced concrete structural deck; b) fully bonded waterproofing membrane; c) waterproofing laid to a gradient to falls; and d) provision of a drainage void over the waterproofing layer. As a result of these findings, this paper calls for more authoritative best practice guidance on podium deck waterproofing design in a bid to reduce pressures in procurement that lead to weaker waterproofing design choices. This research may be of interest to built environment professionals because it identifies some fundamental features of podium deck waterproofing design and clarifies which design choices are perceived to deliver more robust waterproofing than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programs in which youth work collectively on an environmental stewardship project may provide social learning opportunities that support social-ecological system resilience and the development of social ties. However, few empirical investigations document the social learning processes that actually occur in these programs. This paper presents a multi-case study ethnography of six summer youth civic ecology education programs. Methods included participant observation, interviews, and group mind-mapping. The results suggest that programs offered moderate social learning contexts, with participants having little say over the direction and design of the program’s environmental stewardship goals. Nevertheless, participants worked together and collaborated on projects led by program leaders, with whom they developed strong ties. In programs focused on a single issue in one place, participants shifted their conceptual frames to include locally relevant concepts. While participants did not form strong ties with other program participants or with individuals from outside programs, they valued experiences where they led volunteers or were observed by others doing stewardship work. These results suggest that environmental stewardship programs can be designed to enhance social learning opportunities, which could incorporate strategies to increase youth developing ties with each other and with outside organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The need to enhance student support is evident in higher education (HE) curricula. In addition to the complications created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the current strategies used in academia are criticised for their lack of appropriate student support in HE. The study focused on the themes under Section 4 of the National Student Survey (NSS): availability to contact tutors, receiving good advice and guidance and availability of good advice. The study aimed to provide recommendations for enhancing academic support by developing drivers that need implementation during course delivery. Design/methodology/approach: A documental analysis and a qualitative survey were adopted for this study. A documental analysis of 334 mid-module reviews (MMRs) from levels three to six students in the built environment (BE) discipline. Critical themes identified from the MMRs were fed forward in developing a questionnaire for academics. A sample of 23 academics, including a Head of school, a Principal lecturer, Subject leads and Lecturers, participated in the questionnaire survey. Content analysis is adopted through questionnaire data to develop drivers to enhance academic support in BE. These drivers are then modelled by interpretive structural modelling (ISM) to identify their correlation to NSS Section 4 themes. A level partition analysis establishes how influential they are in enhancing academic support. Findings: The study identified nine drivers, where two drivers were categorised as fundamental, two as significant, four as important, and one insignificant in enhancing academic support in HE. Module leaders'/tutors' improving awareness and detailing how academic support is provided were identified as fundamental. Differentiating roles in giving advice and the importance of one-to-one meetings were identified as significant. A level partitioning diagram was developed from the nine drivers to illustrate how these drivers need to be implemented to promote the best practices in academic support in HE. Practical implications: The identified drivers and their categories can be used to set prioritised guidelines for academics and other educational institutions to improve students' overall satisfaction. Originality/value: Novelty from the study will be the developed drivers and the level partitioning diagram to assist academics and academic institutions in successfully integrating academic support into HE curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the correlation between residents' subjective assessments of urban neighbourhoods, obtained through virtual walkthroughs, and objective measures of deprivation. Our study was set within a specific city in the United Kingdom, with neighbourhoods selected based on Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). We invited residents in the UK through Prolific, a crowdsourcing platform. Employing complete case analysis, TF-IDF keyword extraction, the Kruskal–Wallis test, and Spearman's rank-order correlation, our study examines the alignment between subjective assessments and existing deprivation measures (IMD). The results reveal a nuanced relationship, suggesting potential subjective biases influencing residents' perceptions. Despite these complexities, the study highlights the value of virtual walkthroughs in offering a holistic overview of neighbourhoods. While acknowledging the limitations posed by subjective biases, we argue that virtual walkthroughs provide insights into residents' experiences that potentially complement traditional objective measures of deprivation. By capturing the intricacies of residents' perceptions, virtual walkthroughs contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of neighbourhood deprivation. This research informs future endeavours to integrate subjective assessments with objective measures for robust neighbourhood evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK government and many international experts have pointed out that nuclear energy has an important role to play in the transition towards a decarbonised energy system since it is the only freely manageable very low-carbon energy technology with 24/7 availability to complement renewables. Besides current investments in light water reactor technologies, we need innovation for improved fuel usage and reduced waste creation, like that offered by iMAGINE, for the required broad success of nuclear technologies. To allow for quick progress in innovative technologies like iMAGINE and their regulation, a timely investment into urgently needed experimental infrastructure and expertise development will be required to assure the availability of capacities and capabilities. The initial steps to start the development of such a new reactor physics experimental facility to investigate molten salt fast reactor technology are discussed, and a stepwise approach for the development of the experimental facility is described. The down selection for the choice for a diverse control and shutdown system is described through manipulating the reflector (control) and splitting the core (shutdown). The developed innovative core design of having the two core parts in two different rooms opens completely new opportunities and will allow for the manifestation of the request for separated operational and experimental crews, as nowadays requested by regulators into the built environment. The proposed physical separation of safety-relevant operational systems from the experimental room should on the one hand help to ease the access to the facility for visiting experimental specialists. On the other hand, the location of all safety-relevant systems in a now separated access-controlled area for the operational team will limit the risk of misuse through third party access. The planned experimental programme is described with the major steps as follows: core criticality experiments, followed by experiments to determine the neutron flux, neutron spectrum and power distribution as well as experiments to understand the effect of changes in reactivity and flux as a function of salt density, temperature and composition change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demolition or refurbishment of older housing has been an active policy area since the late 1880s in the UK, when the government first authorised the statutory demolition of unsanitary slums. The debate on demolition and new building has been intensified since 2003, with government proposals for large-scale clearance and new construction. This paper summarises the evidence and debate on whether demolition would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. It examines whether a more achievable and socially beneficial route to reducing energy use in the built environment exists, based on the fact that buildings account for half of the UK's carbon emissions. This paper argues that large-scale and accelerated demolition would neither help with meeting energy and climate change targets, nor would it address social needs. Refurbishment offers clear advantages in time, cost, community impact, prevention of building sprawl, reuse of existing infrastructure and protection of existing communities. It can also lead to significantly reduced energy use in buildings in both the short and long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a research paper which examines the progress of international policy support and direction for sustainable refurbishment in Great Britain. It reviews national and international policy documents and related professional commentary. It notes that the international targets for carbon dioxide reduction and energy efficiency in the built environment are concentrated on new-build schemes.

The UK government has established an agenda for ‘greening’ government activity and, as it accounts for approximately 40% of all UK construction procurement, is actively encouraging sustainability initiatives in this particular sector. However, there have been criticisms of its approach. The UK government anticipates investing approximately £3 billion in the social housing sector over the next three years and, as a prelude to this, has asked the Housing Corporation to promote a raft of sustainable development initiatives. This paper draws on two tranches of data in order to examine the impact of the UK government's sustainability policy on the way the public sector procures housing construction. The first of these is the sustainability improvement targets from 143 public sector housing associations. The evidence from this first tranche of data suggests that sustainability is currently seen as a low priority and that government initiatives have yet to make a significant impact. The second tranche of data uses comments from housing association development managers to examine the reasons for this apparent lack of impact. This focuses on their views and opinions of sustainability as an issue in social housing development and enables inferences to be made about their attitudes to this issue. There has been criticism about the lack of progress so far seen and the results in this paper suggest that this criticism is justified. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Masterplanning large development and regeneration projects appears to have become more common in Britain since the late 1990s. This paper argues that one reason for this is the increased realization amongst promoters of development about the economic benefits of using such masterplans. This realization has partly occurred because of changes in the local economy and in property markets but also because of developer learning about the advantages of masterplanning. Optimistically, this suggests there has been a renewed interest in improving the built environment and a renewed faith in at least one type of plan making. More worryingly, it raises questions about the dominance of private interests in the production and planning of the built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of implementing circular economy within the built environment, quantifying progress and performance towards this effort has posed a substantial challenge. In response, this paper reviews the current state of building-specific circularity indicators, creates a taxonomy, and integrates them within the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Plan of Work, a commonly employed framework within the UK's built environment. Through a systematic literature review considering both academic and grey literature, 32 building circularity indicators, developed by academia, consulting agencies, and governments, are identified. The first contribution of this study is the creation of a taxonomy of building circularity indicators, which classifies the identified indicators into 8 categories, such as basic characteristics of indicators, circularity level, and sustainability pillars. The second contribution of this study is the alignment of circularity within the stages of Plan of Work framework. It is revealed that the framework does not currently incorporate circularity, resulting in the proposal of a new Stage 8: End of Life to encompass demolition, disassembly, and deconstruction activities. Alignment of the taxonomy to Plan of Work framework provides a guide in utilization of building circularity indicators throughout the process of designing, constructing and operating building projects. • Building-specific circularity indicators are reviewed for the built environment. • A taxonomy of 32 building circularity indicators is created across eight categories. • A new Stage 8: End of Life is proposed for RIBA framework to enhance circularity. • The circularity indicators are integrated with the RIBA Plan of Work framework. • A traffic light approach is employed to guide the use of circularity indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]