Paul Testa Architecture is me, Paul Testa.  I have always been an active outdoor person.  This gives me a social & physical appreciation of our environment.

This strongly influences my other passion; for Architecture and the built environment.  I am especially interested in the way buildings are procured and made; the nuts and bolts of the process. I have always seen the technology of building to be something that can enhance buildings and the built environment functionally, aesthetically and environmentally.

I work closely with my clients to produce designs that closely meet their project requirements.  I take the values of good design, good value, long term flexibility and environmental sustainability to produce healthy, flexible and useful buildings and places in which people enjoy living and working.

I am regulated by the architects registration board (arb) and am an active member of the AECB in Yorkshire as part of my aim to promote sustainable building.  I am also an associate design tutor at the Sheffield School of Architecture and teach environment and technology to both undergraduate and March students.

If you are interested I write regular news updates and short articles on sustainable construction and sustainable issues on my website news page.  I am always keen to connect with likeminded building professionals, designers and potential clients.  If you want to chat or ask a question, please get in touch.

Paul Testa Architecture is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

A one day conference with lectures, stalls and exhibitions.

This years theme: Connecting buildings and landscapes

A day of ideas and information for anyone concerned with buildings – those who design them, build them, live in them or work in them.

Saturday 20 March 2010

Brighton Permaculture Trust is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Choice, options and range: Key trend for 2009/2010.

Supreme Creations, with over a decade’s track record as a specialist supplier to companies large and small, offers the widest range of fabrics, styles and options. Bags, like fashion items are very personal items – having one style or design to suite all promotions is impossible.

A little known secret is that we will manufacture bespoke bag styles for quantities over 1000. You can have cotton calico, canvas, jute or juco fabrics, webbing handles, buttons, pockets, colour linings and zips. Your imagination is the limit.

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Quick link to the largest range of bag styles, colours and options.

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Gillian and Kevan Trott became involved in sustainable design and construction several years ago.  They saw Mike Reynolds (the visionary behind a fully sustainable building design called an earthship} speak in Brighton and decided to help promote his concept in Europe.  The buildings incorporate a large amount of waste materials in their construction.  They are also buildings which are self-sufficient for power and water and a large amount of food is also produced on site.

Kevan worked as Mike Reynold’s European Associate to develop
the earthship concept in Europe for over 5 years.  They have been
involved in developing earthships in Holland and Scotland.  The
company, Earthbuilds has evolved from the original earthship concept
using new technologies and materials and ways of working.  There is a
strong emphasis on Permaculture which is at the heart of the
organisation.  The Normandy earthship was the first project which was
completed in June 2OO8.  The earthship in Zwolle was completed in an
amazing 13 weeks last Autumn and progress on the current earthship in
Glasgow can be checked out on the Earthbuilds Facebook page. 
Earthbuild workshops are being run later this year in Portugal and
Poland.  A number of projects are also in the pipeline for 2O1O
including a 5 earthbuild development in the Orkneys, as well as
planning applications being processed in Nottinghamshire, Cornwall,
Gloucester and Holland.  

Earthbuilds is a public limited company with a strong emphasis on education, information sharing and networking.  

Design
and planning applications are undertaken by Kevan, they are developing
a Euro Crew for construction and Gillian runs workshops, courses,
co-ordinates volunteers and develops promotional material.

Kevan
and Gillian are based in Brighton but built their own earthship with
initial assistance from Mike Reynolds, in Normandy France.  They are
involved in developing this type of construction in Northern Ireland,
England, Scotland and Wales, France, Holland, Portugal and Poland so
far. They are in the process of developing opportunities in other
European countries in the near future.

See www.earthbuilds.com
for information about construction.  Earthship ‘Perrine’ is available
for rent so that earthship living can be experienced first hand see www.earthship-france.com and up to date information about developments can be found on the Earthbuilds Facebook page.

In support of fair trade fortnight Purity www.purityStyle.com are giving away this Heart Bead Necklace from Nomads with every order over £45 received between 23rd Feb and 8th March.

Made by the Tara project who work in and around Dehli to get kids out of work and back into school etc through the funds from producing this jewellery from recycled materials. This beautiful necklace is made from glass stone and cotton and is worth £8. See it at Purity

Do you know the best ways of implementing the Code for Sustainable Homes?

Code Consultancy Services will be presenting at this year’s Ecobuild on Wednesday 4th March at 3.30pm in the Hampton Room at the Ecobuild exhibition, Earls Court, London, in a seminar entitled: “How do the Code’s levels translate in practice?”

The free seminar is to help housing firms understand some of the
biggest challenges and quick wins when implementing the Code for
Sustainable Homes. Steven Knight, Managing Director of Code Consultancy
Services, Manchester, will be speaking alongside representatives from
Communities and Local Government (LCG), Bramall Construction, Barratt
Homes and London & Quadrant Group.

The Code for Sustainable Homes is set to be a much-discussed topic at
this year’s Ecobuild. As all new social housing requires at least a
Code Level 3 certification under the Code and by 2011 this will be Code
Level 4, it is more critical than ever that all companies in this
sector gear up with the knowledge they need to fill in PQQ’s
(pre-qualification questionnaires), tender for work and keep a
competitive edge through these recessionary times.

As there are now only seven years before all new homes have to be zero
carbon (reaching level 6 of the Code), it is urgent that firms who
haven’t yet mastered the best way to Level 3 start to gear up fast. The
seminar will report on the experience of hundreds of Code projects to
draw out the key issues and help firms climb their learning curve.

The seminar on Wed 4th March will also reference the critical Surface
Water Run-off section of the Code for Sustainable Homes which has been
completely revised since Ecobuild last year. Many contractors are
finding it hard to comply because projects in the pipeline which were
designed to meet the criteria of the earlier versions of the Code now
don’t meet the mandatory requirements for Surface Water Run-off. “We
urge developers to check very carefully ongoing projects that were
designed more than a year ago to check they still comply with the
latest version,” says Steven Knight.

Steven Knight’s background is as a civil engineer, sustainability specialist and BRE-licensed Code for Sustainable Homes Assessor. He was one of the technical authors on
the Code Technical Guide as an associate for the BRE and worked on the
first BRE Code training courses. His broad experience of the
construction industry comes from working in the UK and abroad in roles
spanning structural engineering, to drainage, site agent, to project
management and new product development in the water industry.

The seminar will also cover areas where greater harmonisation of
standards and requirements of different agencies is necessary to smooth
the process of compliance with the Code. Advice will be on hand to make
it clearer for developers about how to balance the requirements of
various agencies. This is an area which will be of increasing
importance for local authority planning departments in the near future.

Steven Knight says: “We are delighted to be invited to speak at this
high-profile event and are looking forward to sharing our knowledge and
views on the Code for those visiting Ecobuild this year.” Steven Knight
and associates will be on hand to speak to individuals after the event
about their specific queries about the Code.

www.codeconsultancy.co.uk

The first feminine hygiene product in the World to achieve an international Environmental Product Declaration

Natracare’s Ultra Pads are the first feminine hygiene products in the world to achieve an independent acknowledgement of their carbon footprint, in the form of an independently-assessed International Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).

Now Natracare is throwing down the gauntlet to other companies to go through the same process so that the public can start to make informed choices based on fact not spin.

Many people living in the UK would like to make a difference and help to protect the environment but messages are confusing and the public are being green-washed from all directions. There is now a reasonably high public awareness that reducing our carbon footprints is a good thing but few people know what their current footprint is or what it should be. Susie Hewson, founder of the Natracare range says "The market for carbon off-setting is growing at break-neck speed with all sorts of companies and brands claiming that they offset their carbon footprints, but it’s a very haphazard approach. Few actually know what their footprint is, so how do they know what action is needed to counter the impact on the environment?"

Natracare worked with PIRA² to pull together the data needed for its application for a European Product Declaration. The International EPD Consortium (IEC) assessed the information provided and has granted the EPD to Natracare for its Ultra Pads. It has been calculated that if the average woman uses 17,000 pads in a lifetime, for Natracare pads that adds up to just 398.888 kg of carbon dioxide. According to The Woodland Trust planting and managing five trees will offset one metric tonne of CO², so a lifetime’s use of Natracare pads can be offset with just two trees! As a result, Natracare is supporting the Woodland Trust to plant trees to offset the carbon footprint from all their Ultra Pads produced last year for the UK. Every future pack produced will be offset in the same way.

Whilst the carbon footprint is important, within the ecological makeup of Natracare pads, there are other lifecycles to consider, such as the use of organically grown and processed cotton and its low chemical impact on the environment compared to brands using conventionally grown cotton (grown using pesticides and herbicides) and processed synthetics and plastics. The production and use of pesticides, such as Endosulfan and fertilisers, plastics from crude oil, and chlorine, burden the environment with their carbon footprint and the toxic effects of production and release of these chemicals into the environment, including pesticide poisoning, acidification of trees, loss of wildlife and diversification of species as well as a negative impact on climate.

Societal responsibility, such as European Governments commitment to greener energy production, can further help to reduce the CO² footprint of LCA products. This is one factor holding Natracare pads back from achieving even more carbon neutrality. More than one quarter of the Ultra Pads’ carbon footprint is attributed to the energy used to produce the organic cotton nonwoven because of the lack of commitment to greener energy sources in parts of the EU where this material is made. This factor gives a clear indication of what else the manufacturers of Natracare Ultra Pads are doing to sustain such extremely low CO² emissions product.

Natracare tampons, pads, liners and wipes are all 100% totally chlorine-free, plastic-free and crude oil derivatives-free. The company behind Natracare, Bodywise, is a British-owned company, manufacturing only in Europe since 1989.

The full Natracare range of over 24 feminine hygiene products includes:

• *Certified Organic 100% Cotton tampons with and without applicators (Soil Association*)
• Natural Ultra pads with and without wings and Panty liners with certified organic 100% cotton covers
• Organic cotton Intimate wipes and Baby wipes Maxi pads and Nursing pads.

1 Reference S-P00135 http://www.environdec.com/

2 PIRA International is a leading consultancy, testing and media business, which specialises in retail supply chain technologies related to industries, such as packaging, paper, plastics, printing, publishing and consumer goods. PIRA is acknowledged as one of the key knowledge providers in these industry sectors.

http://www.natracare.com

The Green Building Bible, Volume 2, 4th Edition The natural choice for anyone interested in eco-building.

The fourth edition of The Green Building Bible, Volume 2, has just been published. This book gives in-depth technical information and data on the strategies and the systems needed to create low energy, green buildings. The new edition builds upon the great success of the previous edition, which sold out earlier this year. The new edition has been completely updated and extended (now 295 pages) with new sections on glazing systems, conservatories, post occupancy evaluation, hydrogen and fuel cells, biomass heating systems, thermal mass, optimum insulation thickness, whole life costing and embodied energy and heat pumps. It offers comprehensive information, in an easily understood, full colour format that is certain to help anyone interested in protecting the planet and reducing their fuel bills at the same time. Both books have been written and edited specifically to guide the reader through the processes involved and to help them to understand what is possible and what is not.

Subjects covered in detail include: climate and energy, siting buildings, the building’s form and function, fabric and elements, complying with the Building Regulations, infiltration and ventilation, air tightness, energy and renewables, lighting and heating, cooling, water conservation, energy management and monitoring.

With all this information, the book cannot fail to inform and educate both professionals and homeowners about the opportunities available for improving the quality of their home for their family, the community and the wider environment. The authors are all green building experts.

Volume 2 costs just £9.95 inc. p&p. It can be ordered online at www.greenbuildingbible.co.uk or direct from the Green Building Press: PO Box 32, Llandysul,SA44 5ZA

Collaborating with Hemingway Design, Wildcard Creative have designed and produced another dynamic space in which to showcase the most exciting talent in the Danish Architectural community.

Taking over the underground car-park of the Arne Jacobsen designed Danish Embassy for an exhibition of sustainable Danish Architecture, Wildcard transformed the entire space with over 1000 CAD cut cardboard profiles up to 3 metres high, incorporating plasma screens, audio and digital print. The entire installation uses recycled materials and will eventually be recycled at the end of its life.

 "The opportunity to showcase forward thinking, sustainable architectural projects in such an unusual yet iconic location just couldn’t be missed. Everything we do comes from a sustainable viewpoint, and being able to show just exactly what can be done with the most humble of materials, cardboard, is really exciting for us" says Director Jamie Douglas. Part of London Festival of Architecture, the event is open to the public until 12th July, Tues – Fri 3-7 PM, Saturday 12-4 PM.

The exhibition is due to travel to other Danish embassies around the globe, schedules to be announced.

Wildcard consider every aspect of their projects with a view to sustainability, and were the first exhibition contractor to be audited and achieve Low Carbon Product and Low Carbon Supplier status through Put Something Back, part of the Carbon Clear initiative.

Wildcard believes that a sustainable approach to design shouldn’t come at a premium or with any compromise on creativity.