We have all stayed at rubbish hotels but this one is a little different, it’s a hotel made entirely out of rubbish.

The hotel is made up of approximately twelve tonnes of rubbish collected from Europe’s beaches. It has been built as an artistic method of raising awareness about the throwaway culture that we live in and to highlight the coastline’s worrying levels of pollution.

The hotel is located in the world famous tourist city of Rome and has been created by German artist HA Schult. The distinguished guest list of the hotel includes eco-warrior and Danish fashion model Helena Christensen.

Whilst this may be seen as a bit of fun by some, there is a very serious underlying message that we are ignorant about rubbish and resources. We currently consume far beyond the earths capacity of resources and at some point something must give.

To some extent the increased awareness of recycling has largely determined that our throw away lifestyles can be maintained safe in the knowledge that rubbish will be recycled. This fails to address the true underlying problems and the need to reduce our rubbish, where this is not possible then reuse should be preferential to recycling.

This is a value that BuilderScrap can assist with in relation to construction materials, we are always seeking to maximise the life cycle of products and resources by providing a platform to do so.

It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that we do everything we can to reduce the amount of consumption that we are currently inflicting on our planet, after all the earths resources are finite.

The docklands of the Wirral Peninsula faces a massive regeneration scheme over the next three decades after the £4.5 billion planning application was given the green light.

The Wirral Waters scheme will transform more than 500 acres of disused brownfield sites over the next 30 years in the Birkenhead region. The project aims to breathe fresh life into the area, creating environmental as well as economic benefits to Birkenhead, Wallasey as well as the Merseyside region as a whole.

The development is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs during the construction phase and has been hailed a massive boost to the economy of the area as well as the residents that the project will impact directly upon.

The cabinet member for regeneration and planning strategy, Andrew Hodson commented: “This is a great day for Wirral. We have been working closely with Peel for almost four years to bring jobs and regeneration to the borough”.

“The approval of this planning application will lead to the total transformation of what is currently derelict brownfield land within East Float at Birkenhead Docks and when finished will create over 27,000 jobs.

“This has taken place against a backdrop of the worst recession in living memory and it is a credit to both Peel and Wirral Council that we have kept the plans moving.”

He added: “Subject to getting the okay from the government, we hope work will start on site within the next two years and officers of the council will continue to work with Peel as we move into the development phase.”

At BuilderScrap we are delighted to hear the news of this local development, as a Wirral based company this announcement marks exciting times for the area and we look forward to seeing the project progress.

Source: EDIE (net) 23 August 2010

Laing O’ Rourke became the first winner of the North West Construction Hub (NWCH) framework tendering process securing the £90m Manchester Central Library and Town Hall redevelopment.

The project which has been designed by architect Vincent Harris includes the restoration of Manchester’s Grade II- listed Central Library and Town Hall as well as redevelopment of St Peters Square. The project is due to be delivered by 2013.

Andrew Jackson, leader of Laing O’Rourke’s Construction North division, said: “Securing this exciting and unique project will enable Laing O’Rourke to build on our solid reputation for delivering landmark projects. It is a complex and challenging project, and one of huge value architecturally, culturally and civically. We look forward to partnering once again with Manchester council.”

This is the first of a number of tenders which will be done through the North West Construction Hub which divides work into three separate frameworks dependent upon project value. The High Value Framework tenders for jobs over £10m and is competed between a total of five organisations, the others being Bovis Lend Lease, Kier, Morgan Sindall and Wates.

The Framework has been developed as a method to ensure that local council can work in partnership with public sector construction in order to ensure that the delivery is efficient and on time. It also shares knowledge and experience as well as creating an emphasis on improved quality and sustainability.

(Source: Building.co.uk)

Councils in England are to be offered extra money for every newly-built home, as part of a government programme aimed at easing housing shortages.

Under the New Homes Bonus scheme the government will match the council tax raised on each new house for six years.

For every new home built the government will match the council tax raised on each new house for a period of six years – for a band D home that would be around £1400.

With 4.5m people now on council house waiting lists the new drive has been designed to help lower these lists and provide modern, efficient housing for their new residents.

Brendon Kenny of materials reuse platform BuilderScrap commented that, ‘this bold new initiative could help millions of people off waiting lists and into affordable housing. What the government needs to ensure is that construction site waste is minimised and that any reusable materials are put back into the community by posting them onto BuilderScrap. Statistics show that 14% (equivalent to approx 16.8m tonnes per annum)of all new construction materials are wasted and simply thrown away. Given the size of this new initiative, many other community building projects could benefit hugely if a properly managed, materials reuse policy using BuilderScrap is deployed by the construction companies’

This month seen the scrapping of the Building Schools for the future scheme, the Education Secretary Michael grove said 719 school revamps which have already been signed up will now be terminated, with a further 123 to be viewed by a case-by-case basis.

The 706 schools in the existing BSF programme which have reached financial close will go ahead, but officials will see what money can be saved within each project.

Mr Gove said: “The Building Schools for the Future scheme has been responsible for about one third of all this department’s capital spending.

“But throughout its life it has been characterised by massive overspends tragic delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy.”

He called the scheme “dysfunctional” and “unnecessarily bureaucratic”, with nine “meta stages”.

He added: “It is perhaps no surprise that it can take almost three years to negotiate the bureaucratic process of BSF before a single builder is engaged or brick is laid.”

180 schools have been rebuilt or revamped since the programme and one school in particular has truly benefited from the scheme achieving 78.18% score from BREEAM making it the most sustainable school in the UK. Let’s hope the 231 schools about to begin work can live up to this potential and that the government’s cost cutting will not affect the children’s learning environment.

1,100 school who signed up for the scheme, investing their time, money and energy into drawing up plans for redevelopment have seen their hopes dashed by this move.

The plan was for all of England’s 3,500 schools were to be revamped by 2023, it was supposed to replace out dated buildings which have no place in modern education.

Ed Balls Shadow Education Secretary said “Today is a black day for our country’s schools”

He added that he and his Labour colleagues would fight to “save our new schools”.

Christine Blower, the General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, was very unhappy with the decision and said, “Poor learning environments have a negative impact on the education of children and young people.”

“School buildings were woefully run down prior to Labour coming to power in 1997 and while much has been done to improve them there is still a lot more to do.”

I know everyone with in the industry will have an opinion on this, whether you’re a supplier of building construction materials or a UK builder. I for one am opposed to the scrapping of the scheme, it sends a very direct message that saving money is more important than using environmentally friendly materials and that construction materials which may be hazardous to the environment are not a concern for this government. I may be a little bias, but I think eco building and reusing and recycling building materials to lower our carbon footprint is of the utmost importance.

10:10 campaigners believes that if we set our clocks to 1 hour ahead of GMT in the winter and 2 hours ahead of GMT in the summer can save almost 500,000 tonnes of carbon.

It would only require a slight change in clock as currently, the United Kingdom sets clocks to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in winter and adds an hour in the summer.

A spokesman said: “We would still put our clocks forward in spring and back in autumn, but the sun would rise and set one hour later throughout the year, which would mean that more people are up and around when there is daylight.”

“This timekeeping regime is known as Single Double Summer Time or SDST and yes, we find that name confusing too.”

If successful the campaigners believe it could save ‘at least’ 447,000 tonnes of C02 pollution – equivalent to more than 50,000 cars driving all the way around the world – each year.

We would also benefit from the lowering of electricity bill by maximising daylight hours and reducing peak power demand.

There has been a 25 year global ban on commercial whaling, which may be about to come to an end. In Agadir, Morocco a meeting that finishes today which will judge whether or not to they will allow Norway, Iceland and Japan to legally hunt whales around Antarctica and elsewhere for 10 years in exchange for a slow decline of the numbers killed.

88 countries who are members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will have the final say on whether the proposal will be approved or not.

The EU, led by Britain, is united with their opposition to rule against the ban being lifted, the US on the other hand strongly backs the proposal if certain guidelines are followed.

Australia and the Latin American countries appear to be setting a higher bar for approving the deal than other anti-whaling nations such as the US and New Zealand.

South Korea, meanwhile, may vote against anything that doesn’t give it similar whaling rights to Japan, while the positions of nations such as China and Russia are hard to gauge.

Greenpeace, WWF and Pew Environment Group, which are three of the world’s largest international non-government groups, raised a few eye brows over their stance; they say they are prepared to see the commercial whaling ban lifted if 6 conditions were met, they are;

• An end to hunting in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary
• No international trading of whale meat
• IWC science must be used to set limits
• No hunting of endangered species
• An end to use of the scientific whaling regulation
• If there is a majority, all governments must agree not to lodge an objection

Well to be honest I’m well out of my comfort zone with this topic, I’m by no way a vegetarian, so for me to pass judgement on another who wants to eat a different animal would make me hypocritical. With that said Japan Iceland and Norway bon appetit.

The government has approved £1.4bn worth of health and transport projects despite cutbacks and delays to construction schemes announced this week.

The largest health project to emerge unharmed from the review was the £400m Royal Liverpool University Hospital, while the £250m Tyne and Wear Metro was also given the go ahead.

The total for health and transport projects which have been cancelled amounts to £1.4bn of work.

St Helier Hospital in Surrey, estimated at £220m, was also approved and so was the £80m redevelopment of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Middlesex.

There is also £700m of transport work re-confirmed by the treasury which are:

- Luton-Dunstable Busway – £89m

- A130/A13 Sadlers Farm Junction (Essex) – £63m

- Tees Valley Bus Network Improvements (Tees Valley LAs) – £62.4m

- Metrolink Extension – Ashton – E Didsbury (Greater Manchester)

- Edge Lane / Eastern Approaches (Liverpool) – £20m

- Bidston Moss Viaduct (M53 J1) Maintenance (Merseyside) – £89m

- Poole Bridge (Poole) – £37m

- A41 Expressway (Sandwell) – £23m

- A65 QBC (Leeds) – £19m

- Silver Jubilee Bridge Maintenance (Halton)  – £19m

- Tyne and Wear Metro – £250m

- M1 J19 Catthorpe Viaduct Replacement – up to £25m

One of the largest offshore windfarms in the world will begin construction next year an energy firm has announced. The £2bn Gwynt y Mor windfarm will have 160 turbines about 10 miles away from the shore, near Colwyn Bay and Llandudno.

Work will begin the later part of next year, the windfarm is expected to begin generating power as early as 2013 but the RWE Innogy-led project is not expected to be completed until 2014. The project will also involve two other partners, Stadtwerke München and Siemens.

Some of the residents in Llandudno have tried to stop the project claiming it will destroy the resort’s view out to sea.

The government’s decision to grant planning permission was criticised by protesters who also said wind energy was unreliable.

There is a possibility that 1,000 jobs will be created regarding the construction and supply of materials.

Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said: “This is excellent news. Gwynt y Mor will be one of the single biggest private investment projects ever seen in Wales, creating up to 1,000 quality jobs and contributing many millions of pounds to the regional economy of north Wales.”

“It will also become one of the largest offshore windfarm projects in Europe, able to provide enough clean, green electricity to power the equivalent of around 400,000 homes.”

“In Wales we are ideally located to embrace the economic benefits of green technologies. Surrounded by wind, wave and tidal resources, we are in a prime position to be able to benefit from investment in the green economy whilst making a significant contribution to the [UK] government’s carbon reduction targets through safe, clean renewable means.”

Shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain said, “This £2bn investment in north Wales, which was previously opposed by David Cameron, is only happening thanks to the pioneering work undertaken by Ed Miliband when he was Labour’s Energy Secretary. Gwynt y Mor will be Wales’ largest wind farm, capable of powering around 400,000 homes, and preventing the release of 1.7m tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.”

After the announcement that the Government has given permission, contracts worth £2.2m have already been awarded to companies based in Wales. More contracts and jobs are expected to be awarded throughout the development and to provide maintance once complete.

UK Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said: “This is the first of what I hope will be many examples of how we can make the most of our island’s huge renewable energy potential.

“I want to make sure we grab all the opportunities the rapidly expanding renewables industry has to offer, and that wind power can come of age under this government.”

RWE has invested in other windfarms off the north Wales coast such as North Hoyle and Rhyl Flats.

Rhyl Flats, which was officially opened at the end of last year, is currently Wales’ largest wind farm.

We here BuilderScrap are truly excited by the action Wales has taken to become a more energy efficient country.

Another problem has occurred regarding the Olympics, as their plan to build a 130 metre-high wind turbine to provide 5% of the energy it needs to power the Olympic park have been cancelled, according to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).

The renewable energy was supposed to contribute to the commitment the ODA made. They said that they would deliver 20% of the park’s energy needs from renewable sources from 2014 onwards

Unfortunately David Higgins, Chief Executive of the ODA say it is “no longer feasible”.

Higgins said that construction of the turbine had become unfeasible due to new safety legislation, a “challenging” delivery timetable and the preferred turbine supplier pulling out all of this lead to the idea having to be scrapped.

The turbine was to be positioned in Eton Manor, the north of the Olympic park, it was intended to be the visible symbol of London 2012’s commitment to delivering a sustainable games.

Higgins, an Australian project management fixer, said: “We have a strong track record in sustainability and we remain committed to meeting the challenging renewable energy targets we have set ourselves,” he added.

“Our focus is now on researching a number of alternative renewable energy options across the Olympic park site to help contribute to these targets and complement the other state-of-the art new energy infrastructure we are building.”

On a more positive note the construction is due to be completed by the middle part of 2011, the ODA currently have 7,500 people working towards the goal.

Hackney council have also helped matter by proceeding with a plan to erect a second turbine on a nearby site at East Marsh. It is still early days any new construction will be the subject of a planning application.