Timber Development UK on how crisis in the middle east will affect the price of wood; UK timber is more exposed to trade disruption from the East than in the past as Russian timber – in particular Birch – was abandoned in favour of Asian alternatives following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine (1/2)

Over the weekend I was in Hampshire in a village where all the houses have oil heating, and of course people with low tanks are just turning the heating off. If we'd done the national retrofit thing, and rolled out heat pumps, this would be a non issue...

All welcome, but the Future Homes Standard was actually launched by a conservative government, years ago. And most industry experts agree that it's already out of date, the day it came into force, under Labour.

Today in "no shit Sherlock" news

"Achieving the UK’s net zero target by 2050 will cost less than a single oil shock and bring health and economic benefits while insulating the country against future costs, the government’s climate advisers have forecast." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Lol:

Last year I moved to #Lewisham and my god, the waste management is bad. These photos are 1 week apart, outside my front door. Every single week the bins overflow, foxes get at the contents. Flytipping is a twice weekly occurence. Old mattresses, smashed up sofas, dirty nappies.

The US Israel war on Iran is raising gas prices and you will feel this in your pocket. Our dependency on global fossil fuels, and their cost, hurts us, again.

Green surge was inevitable now the “wasted vote” argument no longer holds. Labour will need to offer positive reasons to think again rather than simply saying Greens couldn’t win an election.

And it will be even more funny if the first Government led by a party other than labour or the conservatives, is the Greens 💚 and not Reform

YouGov has the Greens in second place for the first time

81 homes in Nantes, designed by Atelier Ramdam. Built in timber with external walls from hemp straw (hemp shivs) & lime. This material is usually sprayed or poured on-site. In this case the hemp panels were prefabricated in the carpenter's workshop and lifted in place. Completed 2025.

81 homes in Nantes, designed by Atelier Ramdam. Built in timber with external walls from hemp straw (hemp shivs) & lime. This material is usually sprayed or poured on-site. In this case the hemp panels were prefabricated in the carpenter's workshop and lifted in place. Completed 2025.

Hannah Spencer's victory speech this morning is worth watching in full. Fantastic, straight talking, highly effective political communication Congratulations Hannah @greenpartyhan.bsky.social

I've missed this. That sweet feeling of hope

Meanwhile in South London, another defection from Labour to Green, this time in Southwark. Added to Lewisham (where I live), Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Barking and Dagenham. These councillors all know what's coming in May: Green surge, Labour wipeout. www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

46% of middle class people in the UK think that they are working class

Life on the island

Let's not downplay how dangerous & regressive this is from Reform UK: "Tice, a longtime sceptic of net zero policy, pledged to end what he called the “madness” of clean and renewable energy, to focus instead on offshore oil and gas and fracking." www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Let's not downplay how dangerous & regressive this is from Reform UK: "Tice, a longtime sceptic of net zero policy, pledged to end what he called the “madness” of clean and renewable energy, to focus instead on offshore oil and gas and fracking." www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

a gorgeous 8-story single stair social housing development in paris w/ flats and maisonettes from 1-3 bedrooms. great stuff. stunning interiors. divisare.com/projects/551...

This is a good piece but @jburnmurdoch.ft.com is incorrect when he says the UK has: "enhanced environmental regulations more stringent than those in other European countries" In fact the opposite is true. UK's env. regulations for new builds are v. weak www.ft.com/content/05fa...

The biggest threat to our national security is the US. China's emissions have peaked, their renewables rollout is charging ahead. Meanwhile the USA backslides, it's emissions will continue to grow. As a result, we are all less safe. The US is the threat.

Last week Metabolic published a report which has reinvigorated the debate on how much harvested wood is eventually wasted by being burnt for energy or used in short term products (think packaging) This material flow diagram highlights the scale of the problem

All of this was wilfully ignored by the Labour Party - by the Prime Minister himself - when Mandelson was brought into Government in 2024

TL/DR: Philanthropic funding won’t support organizing, confrontational tactics, front-line decision making—what builds real power over time. Funders want immediate deliverables (ie “reports” and “strategies”) that perform non-partisan academic competence. 😭 drlennecefer.substack.com/p/i-said-env...

New handbook of construction details for mass timber residential buildings published in the Netherlands. 30 reference details - aiming to help design teams use the same principles and acheive the same quality in design. English version coming soon www.ucarchitects.com/onderzoeken/...

just saying...

Highest ever vote share for greens?

Say hello to Hannah Spencer—councillor, plumber, greyhound lover and your Green Party candidate for Gorton and Denton 💚

The merging of green conservatism and right-wing anti migration politics:

This is much bigger news than you might realise. Reform have hired Ben Goldsmith to advise them on nature policy. Why does this matter? Because they have realised they can divide nature and climate in two, and capture the green conservative vote www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Ed Miliband looking like a good bet for next prime minister.

“Uruguay did what most nations still call impossible: it built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. The physicist who led that transformation says the same playbook could work anywhere—if governments have the courage to change the rules.”

Can I suggest that most of those feeling Christmassy are not answering yougov polls

Renowned climate scientist James Hansen predicts a temperature rise of 1.7c within 2 years which will 'confirm climate change acceleration'

2 days : 2 massive announcements from Government which affect the 2 main gateways for any new building: Planning and Regulation Yesterday the draft NPPF was published: www.gov.uk/government/n... Today the prospectus for a new Single Construction Regulator: www.gov.uk/government/c... Hot takes?

Paris is Biobased! 🌾 🌲 🪨 Paris is at the forefront of biobased construction. Spurred on by progressive national regulation requiring new buildings to meet strict limits on embodied carbon & boosted by city leadership from the capital itself, a biobased revolution is underway parisbiobased.eu

It's giving Oswald Mosley

Why is the built environment not seen as one of the key sectors of the UK economy? It has a significant impact on so many of our priorities: cost of living, health, growth, employment, energy & climate - but does not receive significant amount of political attention

This is another ‘ozone layer’ moment. We must urgently target #methane now, says Mia Mottley, PM of Barbados - Oil and gas industry must be legally bound to cut methane emissions. With climate tipping points approaching, time is running out #climatecrisis www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Yes.

Within European real estate investment, sustainability requirements have proved to be remarkably resilient this year, in the face of US backsliding. One asset manager notes “there is a massive divide between Europe and the US”, but sees the issue well embedded into European asset management plans.

AI is having a massive effect on our built environment, already. This table from the Urban Land Institute's Emerging Trends in Real Estate report tells a very clear story: Real estate investors and developers both rank Data Centres & Energy Infrastructure as the two biggest prospects for 2026.

"Concrete! 8% of the carbon emitted worldwide comes from concrete. That's why we build wood hybrid structures" - well said Hubert Rhomberg! youtu.be/a0IP2pcU2Zg?...

Quite a position to argues that the wokes are destroying a civilisation built on Christian faith but gang bangs are fine actually.

Today marks 10 years since the Paris agreement was signed. How is it going? For 3 years already the global temperature rise has breached the safe limit of 1.5. This limit was agreed only a decade ago in Paris. If it dips back below 1.5 it will be the coolest years of the rest of our lives.

I'll be in Copenhagen in the spring, speaking at the Build in Wood conference on May 19th & 20th. There's an excellent line up of speakers and topics - and I'm excited to be back in the city where I studied my masters... it's been a while! See you there! buildinggreen.eu/buildinwood/...

The growth of the Green Party of England and Wales is phenomenal, and shows people are hungry for bolder, more compassionate, left politics. This will be one of the defining stories of the next election

The German meteorologists and physicists are saying recent observations suggest we could be on track for 3 degrees of warming by 2050... That's the IPCC worst case scenario. worldcrunch.com/focus/green-...