Promoting sustainable building design and construction is a vital part of the Bristol Green Capital project, and the city is rising to the challenge. Good design and building can not only reduce fuel bills and carbon emissions but also promote improved health and wellbeing.
Four new secondary schools have recently been built in Bristol under the government's Schools for the Future programme, making use of a new kind of private public partnership and setting impressive standards in sustainability and design.
The city council meanwhile works with developers to make designs more sustainable, sets high standards for its own building projects and provides advice and information to professionals and the general public. Recent years have seen brownfield sites used for almost all new offices and light industrial premises (99.5%) and most new homes (93.5%). At the same time the average density of new housing has risen from below 40dph (dwellings per hectare) in the 1990s to 94dph in 2007/8.
The reuse of existing structures has given Bristol some of its iconic buildings, from the Tobacco Factory - formerly part of the Wills empire and now a popular theatre, café-bar and office space - to Bordeaux Quay, a former waterfront warehouse that has become the UK's top eco-restaurant.
Planning policies in the city are shifting away from zoning towards mixed-use developments where people can live, work and shop without recourse to a car. A number of home zones have been built across the city, while residents in other neighbourhoods experiment with more cost-effective approaches to street design. Researchers at UWE have carried out the first UK studies into the effects of traffic on local communities, and last year the university hosted a one-day conference on car-free living.
A number of progressive architects, builders and developers live and work in the city. The JT Group has been working on mixed-use and urban renewal projects in Bristol since 1961; owner John Pontin has an active role in Chew Magna Go Zero. White Design has won numerous awards for pioneering sustainable designs, among them a Green Apple award for its Grange Office Park in Hewish, outside Bristol - believed to be the first office park built using large straw bales.
Sustainability also needs to address the use, reuse and improvement of existing buildings. Such buildings are reported as responsible for up to 40% of Europe's CO2 emissions. Small improvements can both produce savings in the current economic climate and reduce the environmental impact regarding climate change. Green Pledger and ISO14001 holder Rider Levett Bucknall recently won the BAE Systems Chairman's Award for Innovation and Implementation, having saved £5 million and reduced CO2 emissions on behalf of one client. Careful selection of the correct professional advisors can provide technical, design and cost advice to owners and occupiers of existing buildings, championing sustainability, good design and financial benefits.
Builders and architects have access to support and information, both from the council and from organisations like the Green Register, which runs training events around the country and encourages networking. Footprint Building is a pioneering building company which includes a sustainable joinery workshop, a building services firm and an eco-product showroom and shop"
The people of Bristol can learn about new and exciting developments in design and construction at the Architecture Centre, which hosts a wide range of exhibitions, talks and events relating to the subject.