Productivity, wellbeing and climatic resilience are the drivers behind the Green Infrastructure Design Challenge that was launched at Ecobuild yesterday (7th March).
Now in its second year, the competition aims to explore the use of green infrastructure as a building service.
Organised by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP), the competition invites teams to demonstrate creative designs that utilise both indoor and outdoor green infrastructure, such as living walls and indoor planting, to deliver operational solutions that enhance the office environment.
The Challenge is designed to change the way that built environment professionals think about green infrastructure, and to demonstrate its potential as a way to tackle problems such as poor indoor air quality, low resilience to climate change and flagging staff productivity.
Head of sustainability development at CIBSE, Sara Kassam, said: “We want to challenge the idea that green infrastructure lives outdoors and that it can’t contribute to building services such as ventilation or internal comfort. We need imaginative solutions to integrate green infrastructure into existing and new buildings, and this competition will show us what’s out there.”
She continued: “As our climate changes, what constitutes ‘good’ building performance changes with it, and it’s imperative we come up with new solutions. Entries need to contain both an overarching green infrastructure vision for the office building, and detailed design provided for a selected floor of the office, to truly demonstrate the effectiveness of its application.”
This competition is open to any individuals or teams, including students through to qualified practitioners and researchers, and submission is through presentation of 2 x A0 posters. Applicants’ submissions can focus on a building they are already or have previously worked on, or apply their ideas to The Clarence Centre for Enterprise and Innovation at London South Bank University.
CIBSE is Ecobuild’s Building Performance Strategic Partner for 2017 and will be showcasing energy and building performance content in its Performance Lab next door to the CIBSE stand (C191), which this year takes the guise of an office in keeping with Ecobuild’s street theme.
Highlights in the Performance Lab include:
Day one - Light, circadian rhythms and wellbeing chaired by Jeff Shaw President of SLL
Day two – Modelling for real life performance: practical tools for excellent design of homes, chaired by Ashley Bateson Chair of the CIBSE Homes for the Future Group
Day three – Performance not promises chaired by John Field CIBSE President (includes a presentation from our 2017 Building Performance Awards Champions) to encourage debate, knowledge sharing and cross discipline collaboration - the cornerstones of CIBSE, and continued improvement in Building Performance.
The Performance Lab will include the latest on how to guarantee that buildings are efficient and good places to live and work in, how to make the most of what you’re building and what you’ve already got, whether domestic or commercial Good building performance relies on good design, implementation and operation, and how to make the most of renewables and smart building technology.
Further details of the GI challenge including registration for the technical webinar can be found at www.arcc-network.org.uk/gi-challenge or contact Dr Anastasia Mylona amylona@cibse.org.