Being a Norwich resident I was thrilled to read this article in the Guardian about a groundbreaking social housing developing just 20 minutes walk from my house! Over 100 Passivhaus social housing homes! In Norwich! An award-winning development AND also up for the Sterling Prize! Needless to say, it took me over a month to get over there to take a look. But I was impressed. … [Read more...] about Could this be the future of social housing?
Posts
Planting Trees to Fight Climate Change
One of the number one strategies for fighting climate change is to plant trees. Lots of trees. If you own properties with gardens you can help. But is it worth doing? In a recent article in the Guardian John Tucker, director of woodland outreach at the Woodland Trust said One individual tree might not make a difference but if 10m people put one tree in, that would, So … [Read more...] about Planting Trees to Fight Climate Change
Light as a service in rented properties
Last week I wrote about the circular economy, how it can help our planet and how landlords can help. One of the ideas put forward on the circular economy site is a different way to provide services. Rather than buy a thing. use it and throw it away - why not buy the service itself and allow the providers of the service to provide the 'things'? What do I mean by … [Read more...] about Light as a service in rented properties
Landlords and the Circular Economy
Do you remember Ellen MacArthur the 'round the world' yachtswoman? She retired from professional sailing in 2010 and launched the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. This is a charity which works to accelerate our transition to a circular economy. So what is a circular economy? It is what we need long term to survive. There are three principles: Design out waste and … [Read more...] about Landlords and the Circular Economy
Preventing heat loss up the chimney – the Chimney Sheep
In an earlier post, we looked at putting an umbrella up your chimney. But you could also put a sheep up there! Having an open chimney in a property is like leaving a window open all the time. The Buildings Research Establishment state that 80 cubic metres of air travels up a chimney per hour. We don’t necessarily notice the warm air escaping, but this warm air needs to be … [Read more...] about Preventing heat loss up the chimney – the Chimney Sheep