UK Schools need Low Carbon Buildings

• I talk to Robin Nicholson, who is an architect at Cullinan Studios, an architecture co-operative which has been designing innovative low carbon buildings for 65 years, some of which are now listed, using design strategies such as passive solar as early as 1970. He was a key force in the creation of the Edge Debate, a round table that encourages the Professional Institutions to work together to greater effect on public policy, setting standards like the Cross-Institutional Climate Action Plan for the construction industry and the Collaboration for Change report. We talk about:
• zero carbon schools and retrofitting
• are there enough tradesmen and engineers who can do the job? Er... no.
• whole life carbon calculations
• some of the techniques, technologies and materials for low carbon or low energy buildings
• how to smash energy efficiency targets in schools by putting an electricity display meter in the entrance and paying the kids to keep it down
• the UK government's success or lack of it with low carbon building policy
• regulations are good - so the industry can break them 😬
• the biggest challenge - making buildings that can be taken apart again and re-used
• Masdar, Teach The Future, user interaction design for machinery...