University of Oxford Biochemistry building

ARCC network news for February

ARCC network news for February

ARCC projects feature in new LWEC publications

Two completed ARCC projects – BIOPICCC (Built Infrastructure for Older People’s Care in Conditions of Climate Change) and DeDeRHECC (Design and Delivery of Robust Hospital Environments in a Changing Climate) – are the subject of two new policy and practice notes from the Living With Environmental Change partnership (LWEC). The notes are part of a series, aimed at sharing the practical outputs of research more directly with stakeholders working in related sectors. These notes are the first to look at health-related matters. They can be downloaded from the LWEC website and the ARCC network office has hard copies available – please contact ARCC.

Overheating – ARCC network in new initiative from Zero Carbon Hub

The ARCC network is involved in a new initiative to raise the issue of overheating in homes as a potential impact arising from the combination of better insulated properties and a trend to higher summer temperatures. Led by Zero Carbon Hub, this work pulls together a number of partners from research, policy and practice. An interim report is planned for spring 2015 with a full report due in 2016.

ARCC at EcoBuild 2014

Dr Anastasia Mylona from the ARCC network will be a speaker at this year’s EcoBuild event in London. On 5 March, she will be talking about designs for comfortable, adaptable homes in the Mitigating overheating in dwellings seminar in the Building Performance & BIM zone.

ARCC network events

Early Career Researchers Workshop 1: Effective Communication of your Research

13–14 March 2014, Oxford

To support EPSRC’s strategic aims, the ARCC network is initiating a series of workshops for early career researchers in the built environment and infrastructure sectors. There are still a few places available at this first event which will explore approaches for exchanging knowledge and information with stakeholders. Confirmed speakers include Dr Adam Corner (Understanding Risk research group, Cardiff University) and James Painter (Head of Journalism Fellowship Programme, Reuters Institute, University of Oxford). The workshop is free to attend, and accommodation and meals are provided.

Project news & events

iSMART first stakeholder workshop: sustainable management and resilience assessment of infrastructure slopes

26 February 2014, Loughborough

An opportunity for stakeholders to engage with this new research to help create a more reliable, cost effective and sustainable transport system. Workshop details and registration

Infrastructure transitions research consortium (ITRC): the future of national infrastructure systems and economic prosperity

27–28 March 2014, St Catharine’s College, Cambridge

Participation from a wide range of related socio-technical disciplines is encouraged. Information and registration

Other news and events

Building a Resilient Future, final dissemination event for the Technology Strategy Board’s Design for Future Climate competition

26 February 2014, London

This event will focus on integrating climate change adaptation and resilience into built environment projects, and will highlight the opportunities for the UK built environment sector. The audience is designers, engineers, planners, suppliers, clients, property managers, building owners, investors and policy makers. Roger Street and Anastasia Mylona will speak on the contribution of research from the ARCC network. Programme details and Registrationinformation is at the Technology Strategy Board’s website.

Healthy-Polis workshop

6 March 2014, Manchester

Healthy-Polis is a partnership between Public Health England, the Australian National University and Duke Global Health Institute. The first Healthy-Polis workshop will focus on ‘Environmental Health Risks in Urban Areas’ and ‘Healthy Sustainable Cities’ and forms part of the International Conference on Urban Health. A workshop programme is available from Healthy-Polis (select ‘news’). Venue and registration details.

Undermining Infrastructure: avoiding the scarcity trap, final research project dissemination meeting

13 March 2014, London

This project aimed to model and quantify the requirements of critical materials and rare metals in the UK’s planned low carbon infrastructure, and to explore the connection between infrastructure deployment and critical materials. This event is for industry experts and other researchers to find out about the research outputs and their relevance to current policy debates. For more information and to register for the event, please contact Dr David Dawson. More information on Undermining Infrastructure project.

Call for papers: special issue of Building Research & Information journal – ‘Closing the policy gaps: from formulation to outcomes’

Submission deadline: 24 February 2014

Abstracts are invited for a special issue (pdf, 30 KB) that will focus on policies and initiatives for the built environment with an emphasis on: urban regeneration and housing market renewal, design for education, the transition to low-energy building stocks and recent innovations in procurement practice. Full papers due by 1 September 2014.

EPSRC call for proposals – Forecasting Environmental Change networks

Submission deadline: 20 March 2014

EPSRC is inviting proposals for networks to support researchers in three topic areas. These are: new tools for modelling environmental change, forecasting of impacts – adaptation and mitigation choices; and decision support tools for environmental change forecasts. The networks are expected to complement other research networks, including ARCC. Deadline for full submissions: 24 April 2014.

MOWE-IT questionnaire on transport resilience and extreme weather

The EU programme Management of Weather Events in the Transport System (MOWE-IT) is inviting transport sector stakeholders (including transport providers, users and policy makers) to complete a brief questionnaire about their views on short-term solutions to improve transport cross-modality and network resilience.