Bere Admin June 17th, 2009
In an ideal world the police would be impartial upholders of all fair and just laws; of course with the proviso that the legal system, based on logic and reason, can challenge unjust or outdated laws.
However many people who have experienced a burglary, a theft, injury by dangerous driving or been a victim of countless other crimes will have concluded that the police were too busy or disinterested or even incapable of helping. The usual reason given is that the police were too busy to cope. That is effectively an admission that cases are prioritised according to an agenda. But who lays down that agenda? Is it senior police officers or is it left to the conscience of the individual police officer? If anyone who knows would tell me, I would be interested to hear from you. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin May 17th, 2009
How Justin Bere’s rooftop native wildflower meadow provides important support for the local house sparrow population as well as evidence of the role of native planting in the support of a healthy ecosystem.
May 16th 2009: The local house sparrows have suddenly found my rooftop wildflower meadow very interesting. After the adults have fed themselves on sunflower seeds that they collect from nearby bird feeders, they have taken to flying over to the native wild flower meadow roof where they collect beak-fulls of insects and fly off, presumably carrying them to their fledgling chicks. I have noticed that the sparrows are most interested in the Common Vetch native wild flower which is abundant on the roof thanks to ecologist and green roof expert, Dusty Gedge’s planting advice. Close inspection shows that the Common Vetch is host to an abundant supply of huge juicy aphids; one of the favourite foods for baby sparrows, and essential for the survival of the first of the season’s brood of chicks. Further research (below) indicates that Common Vetch is known to be unusually attractive for aphids and that by supporting healthy aphid populations, the Common Vetch in turn supports the declining house sparrow population. I believe that this may indicate a strong link between native Common Vetch and a healthy sparrow population. It also suggests more broadly that green roofs planted with native wildflowers may provide a particularly high level of support for native ecosystems that may not be immediately obvious to many green roof specifiers. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin April 29th, 2009
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/05/green-roofs/klinkenborg-text/1
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/05/green-roofs/cook-photography
We lifted 20 tonnes of soil on to the green roofs of the Muse with our own hands and the result, photographed last June, only four months after planting, has contributed to National Geographic’s feature promoting the use of green roofs on buildings for environmental and ecological reasons.
Again I give thanks to Dusty Gedge for advising me on soil design and procurement, as well as native wildflower meadow planting and arranging monitoring to measure the growth in biodiversity.
Bere Admin April 27th, 2009
The native Solomon’s Seal grows in shady conditions beneath trees and its flowers are loved by bumblebees that don’t mind hanging upside down to get at the nectar. Hazel trees overhead form a coppice which shades the native underplanting of wild flowers, working well for a broad range of wildlife from insects to birds. The Dog’s Mercury groundcover, a signifier of ancient woodland, has spread underground after an unpromising start last year and this spring has popped up all over the ground beneath the hazel coppice. I am appreciating Kim Wilkie’s brilliant landscape planting design more and more for its delightful concentration on shades of green and foliage texture on the larger scale and delicate detail and support for biodiversity at the smaller scale.
Solomon’s Seal with flower buds Continue Reading »
Bere Admin April 24th, 2009
“…this ship, relaunched in 2007, has taken a hike in class and has taste oozing from its portholes. The design is sleek and sexy and the food is great…Views are peerless, so don Audrey Hepburn shades or brush up your Cary Grant drawl, and get aboard.”
Bere Admin April 23rd, 2009
Bere Admin April 22nd, 2009
Our DLR cycle shelter design has received another award at the London Transport Awards 2009.
London Cycling Campaign (November 2008) – Best Cycling Facility
London Transport Awards (March 2009) – Cycling Improvements Award
Bere Admin April 20th, 2009
bere:architects equal opportunities policy includes giving a child genius the opportunity to work on one of the UK’s first Passivhaus designs.
Bere Admin April 18th, 2009
Since taking up cycling for all trips, sometimes in combination with the train, the car has been sitting in a friend’s garage without even seeing it for 6 years and then for 2 years since I had it back, I used it just a couple of times. Also my motorcycle has just been sitting in the garage unused apart from taking it for an annual MOT. Although I knew I didn’t need either vehicle, it’s been very, very hard to let them go for sentimental reasons.
To many of us, motor vehicles seem more and more vulgar with every year that goes by. This particularly applies to those grossly oversized vehicles that people convince themselves they ‘need’. What would their great-grandparents have thought if they could see the excesses and waste of their descendants in the early 21st century? It becomes more and more obvious that the environmental, health and social problems caused by motor transport make our unthinking reliance on these crazy metal boxes just plain daft and unacceptable. Furthermore for people to see beauty in the shape of these ugly and dangerous metal carts becomes increasingly passé and quite sad. I believe that our grandchildren will look back and ask us why we were so stupid.
So car and motorcycle are up for sale, hopefully stopping someone buying a new one.
Bere Admin April 11th, 2009
I am attending the excellent annual beekeeping course at Roots and Shoots, following in my father’s footsteps as a beekeeper. However unlike most of my fellow students, I’m NOT becoming a beekeeper because of an interest in maximizing a supply of honey for family and friends. My father and other beekeeping relatives made me aware years ago of the difficulties caused by the spread of the Varroa which has wiped out 30% - 50% of UK honey bees since 1992. What I have discovered through careful questioning of the more scientific lecturers is that it is beekeepers who are responsible for the spread of the Varroa mite. This little mite lived in a reasonably symbiotic relationship with Asian bees. These tropical bees have a much easier life than European bees because there is much more nectar available for them. The Asian bee therefore doesn’t need to work so hard as a European bee and is genetically more docile and less energetic. The Varroa mite was therefore less of a problem to the Asian bee. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin April 11th, 2009
Thursday and Friday 11 & 12 of June at Oxford Brookes University
Wolfgang Feist, founder of the Passivhaus Institute, will present a series of workshops at this year’s conference. You won’t get him personally presenting workshops even at the German Passivhaus conference, so this truly a unique opportunity.
Bere Admin April 11th, 2009
Wednesday July 1st 10:00 - 14:00 – Early booking essential
We have aimed this CPD at those people who want a detailed and practical introduction to Passivhaus design, but who are not ready to do a full PHPP course (see AECB website for info about a full course). We aim to give attendees a good understanding of what it is like to design using the German Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP).
We understand that the event may sell out early but we have offered to do another at a later date if RIBA London keeps a waiting list.
Tel. RIBA London on 020 7307 3681.
RIBA London Touring CPD Program 2009.pdf
Bere Admin April 11th, 2009
Containing 39 projects from around the world, I found this is a rewarding book because all the projects are compact, fascinating, jewel-like and the photographs are complimented by good layout drawings and contextual diagrams. We are pleased that Focus House was one of four UK houses selected for the book.
Bere Admin February 10th, 2009
Bere Admin February 4th, 2009
Bere Admin February 3rd, 2009
Planning permission was granted on January 15th for our Camden Passivhaus. The structure is being pre-fabricated in Austria and the Austrians will fit the windows, the electrics, the plumbing and all the finishes to achieve the highest quality of workmanship in the shortest time possible.
Knowledge Transfer and Training for Passivhais Skills
Cllr Alexis Rowell of Camden Council (www.ecocouncillor.org.uk) will organize a team of councillors, planning and sustainability officers to monitor progress of the construction and learn from the techniques brought over from Austria in order to help Camden achieve his vision of incorporating Passivhaus requirements into the Camden’s Local Development Framework. A number of learning workshops are planned during the process of the build, in order to help UK partners and policy makers to understand how to attain the standards that we need in the UK to achieve the most energy efficient house design concept in the world today. Continue Reading »
Bere Admin February 3rd, 2009
London Transport at a standstill, everyone stays at home, Doublegood Windows maintain their delivery schedule!
Astrid Zala nearly flipped over backwards (twice) when, in spite of the heaviest snowfall in 18 years which knocked out the entire London Transport system, and stopped postal and courier deliveries across the capital all day on Monday, two cheerful men turned up on Monday morning with a delivery of her Doublegood windows!
Astrid commented that when Dan Gibbons told her that Doublegood Windows would not be beaten by any weather condition, she had not realized at the time that this is what he meant!
