Face-to-face
Alistair Gould MRICS of the Carbon Free Group talks to Duncan Johnson about the sustainable Pines Calyx development, as featured in ‘As nature intended’ in RICS Business May
What was the aim of the development?
In terms of the construction, what we tried to achieve from the starting basis of trying to create a healthy building was to look at how we could use local materials as much as possible, and look for local vernacular as much as was relevant.
We wanted the centre to act as a hub for corporate leaders and members of the building industry to meet and discuss sustainability. Also, a key driver here was to blend in and harmonize with the beautiful landscape.
And how was this achieved?
With an average 15-17% overspend on most construction sites on materials that just goes straight to the landfill, we wanted to create a message to reduce waste as much as possible.
Everything at Pines Calyx is pretty much waste. The floor, for example, is Japanese maple that came from a Guinness Social Club in north west London that was going to be burnt.
It’s vital that the industry begins to appreciate the economics of waste. In the natural world there’s no such thing as waste. If we start applying our knowledge of the natural world to how we build buildings we can make some very attractive bottom line savings.
There are added costs if it’s bolt on, but if you plan from scratch and actually rethink how we design buildings from square one, costs can be reduced.
What have you learned from the project?
Clearly the use of rammed chalk is not the solution for everywhere but it was suitable for this site. The main ethos grows from working with organic land management and looking at how you apply that to building. Then came a recognition of how natural systems can provide some very elegant and economic solutions.
It was an important history lesson, a lesson in the art of the master builder. The architect and builder of old was in tune with his site and because of transport limitations, raw materials would normally come from close to the site. We’ve just become lazy since then.
How difficult was it to develop on such a beautiful and sensitive site?
Here we’re in a Conservation area, SSSI, An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and a heritage coastline. Yet we were given planning within six weeks.
The planners said, “we want this to happen, how can we help you?” Now that’s relevant for the bottom line as a development.
Modern, engineering solutions are important but don’t take into account social needs. Creating sustainable enterprise hubs, there needs to be a focus on genuine community development. And there are tangible benefits with this approach.
The Homes and Community Agency is keen to partner with us to inform on how they approach a much larger development of a 600 zero-carbon-home site next to Dover Castle.
So your vision is for your work to act as a model for the local area?
Dover is the second most visited town in Kent but nobody stays – sadly Dover has been a planning disaster. Yet, it has fascinating opportunities to be regenerated using its wonderful natural assets.
The town population was 40,000 in 1921 – currently it’s 32,000. It’s probably unique in the south of England for its decline, with one of the lowest house price increases in the UK over the last fifty years.
Now with the recession in full swing the Homes and Community Agency has become more hands on than ever. The challenge is to make sure the Government sticks to what it’s committed to.
It’s about working from the grass roots, so that there is community benefit.
Where does the green agenda go from here?
In the UK, there needs to be a very serious rethink and a genuine commitment to a sustainable built environment – we’re yet to see that step change. We have zero carbon construction written in law in the UK starting as early as 2011 in Wales, right up to 2016 for the mainstream.
In the UK we will be challenged with energy security issues on a very large scale in the next two to three years, with the deregulation of the energy industry and the decommissioning of nuclear power stations.
There’s very little left in the Government’s coffers to cover any spikes in energy prices, so the prospect of hyperinflation in energy terms looks quite great. So having self-reliance in energy terms becomes interesting and prudent.
What more can the Government do to facilitate a switch to sustainable practice?
I’m always rather struck that the German Government is willing to invest about £2bn in the environmental clean tech area, whereas the UK spends a few million only.
Most importantly there needs to be a proper provision and understanding within the planning authorities to really understand what sustainable construction means. For example, a small development went up only three years ago in the local conservation area and the planners insisted that it was single glazed.
There’s been a sea change compared to a few years ago with the awareness of the fact that applying environmental approaches to buildings can actually provide a new opportunity for employment. The solutions are there, the economic argument is clear, but the training just isn’t there yet.
Another example is how there are some peculiar and very old-fashioned things that happen in training terms in the UK construction sector.
I know of a building contractor who was so fed up trying to build sustainably and then having to comply with regulations he had to get his team to do completely inappropriate training, so he set up his own course. The scheme is now being applied by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).
Last but not least, we need to better educate future generations. To prepare them for a sustenance economy rather than a consumer economy, to educate and think about how the natural world is there to support them.
Further information
www.carbonfreegroup.com
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