{"id":23058,"date":"2016-08-16T11:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-08-16T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/itrc3.wpengine.com\/?page_id=23058"},"modified":"2016-08-16T11:00:31","modified_gmt":"2016-08-16T10:00:31","slug":"green-sky-thinking-week","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.arcc-network.org.uk\/adaptive-places\/green-sky-thinking-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Sky Thinking Week 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"
Green Sky Thinking<\/a> is a week-long, London-wide programme for built environment and property professionals, organised by Open-City. In 2016, we joined forces with CIBSE to help link professionals with cutting-edge research on sustainable design and building.<\/p>\n To kick off Green Sky Thinking Week, ARCC and CIBSE hosted a high-energy inspirational workshop at London South Bank University\u2019s The Clarence Centre. With a series of green infrastructure (GI) expert speed talks, participants were given a comprehensive overview of how GI can integrate as a building management service \u2013 with many positive gains for the building as well as its occupants.<\/p>\n Set the challenge to identify some of the problems in their own workplace, workshop participants spilled out into the corridors to complete this engaging group task. Some drew lists, others sketched office spaces, and we even saw the start of some ecosystems-thinking approaches to the task.<\/p>\n The technical talks identified that GI solutions don\u2019t have to be fixed, big system installations. The idea of the day went to a \u2018moveable living walls\u2019 design from Oxford Brookes University\u2019s Sustainable Building MSc student, Jalah Ahmed. This was a particular favourite of our event chair, John Field, President-Elect of CIBSE. Jalah\u2019s group described how their mobile feature can evolve in sync with the office environment, particularly as daylight changes. The design could provide shade and create a private meeting space, or be used to screen-off and create a quiet corner in an open plan office, all while positively contributing to the quality of the indoor environment.<\/p>\n A significant point mentioned by all of the groups was the importance of communication, in particular for engaging building occupants with new ideas, and also facilities managers, who tend see buildings very holistically.<\/p>\n In order to increase the mainstream application of GI, our participants identified a range of needs, knowledge gaps and a resistance to change that must be addressed for a successful design scheme.<\/p>\n Initiatives such as\u00a0Green Sky Thinking Week<\/a>\u00a0provide a great platform to bring a broad range of professionals together with subject leaders, to learn from each other and advance the industry\u2019s knowledge base and inspire sector champions.<\/p>\n Learning and inspiration don\u2019t have to end with the event: through connecting industry, research topic leaders and interested practitioners, we can continue to work together on solutions. Suggestions from the workshop varied from simple guidance on the benefits of different plants, to engaging with the future development of standards, for example, the British Council for Offices.<\/p>\n To continue this discussion in a formal capacity, do please consider joining the Green Infrastructure as a Building Service taskgroup<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0CIBSE Resilient Cities Group<\/a>, who devised this Design Challenge. You don\u2019t need to be an engineer, the group welcomes all professional and research backgrounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n John\u2019s main research interests concern factors that affect the distribution and abundance of species within agricultural environments. Recently his interests have expanded to include the value of green walls in providing wildlife habitat and air quality improvement, and green infrastructure and its role in delivering ecosystem services.<\/p>\nOur events<\/h2>\n
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Green infrastructure as a building service design challenge<\/h2>\n
Plants and buildings: improving the human environment<\/h3>\n
John Dover, Professor of Ecology, Staffordshire University<\/h4>\n