IHDC Finalists announced!

The finalists of the Integrated Habitats Design Competition (IHDC) have just been announced.
Biodiversity, the basis of all life, is the focus of the competition, bringing it to the core of designs for the built environment, with reference to local, regional national strategies for biodiversity. 

The IHDC aims to raise the bar of design for biodiversity, species and natural habitats in the built environment – with all the additional benefits it can brings for human habitation, including improved air quality, thermal performance, storm water control and green space for public enjoyment and amenity.

A very high standard of entries was received and will be exhibited over 5 weeks at the Building Centre, London, from 13th September – 16th October. 

Inspired by a competition run by the City of Portland, Oregon, in 2007, this is the first time the competition has been run in the UK. Endorsed and sponsored by Natural England, this new project was designed and organised by RESET, Gary Grant the independent ecologist and masterplanner, and the urban ecologist Dusty Gedge, the UK’s foremost green roof campaigner (livingroofs.org), in partnership with CIRIA and the participation of the Environment Agency, Institution of Civil Engineers, Forum for the Future, the AECB, The Bat Conservation Trust and is. We are also grateful to Kier London who are green leaf sponsors of the competition.

Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in London on 15th September, as part of CIRIA’s and livingroofs.org's 2-day World Green Roof Congress. Keep an eye on this space for more news on the winners and their designs.

RESET 2010

Dear RESETers!

This won't be a long first entry, but just to say welcome to my blog! I am a director and trustee of RESET, the sustainable buildings training charity. RESET was set up in 2007 by students and staff of the Graduate School of the Environment, at the Centre for Alternative Technology, Machynlleth, where I teach part time on their environmental Architecture Msc (check it out - www.cat.org.uk).

This year, RESET starts its training in earnest with biodiversity, water, energy and materials use at the heart of our programme. We also launched a new nationwide competition at Ecobuild - the Integrated Habitats Design Competition, www.ihdc.org.uk, which Dusty Gedge (livingroofs.org), the ecologist Gary Grant and I dreamt up over the last year, based on a competition run by the City of Portland in 2007 (www.integratinghabitats.org). It is open to all and emphasises the need to design our built environment with nature and biodiversity to the fore.

We ran our first Ecosystems Services training in March and are looking forward to developing training links with other partner institutions and organisations. We also support ecological community-led design groups and are enjoying working with Friends of Devonshire Road Nature Reserve for a new visitor centre, and Bootstrap Company for Dalston Roof Park.

I'll write more soon about what RESET is up to but in the meatime, we are based in Dalston in Hackney, north London, so drop in and see us! or let us know what you are up to - blanche.cameron@reset-development.org

Blanche