Get a whole year of cutting-edge eco-building news for just £24.00 pa.
Built upon 30 years of experience, this fabulous new medium will feature inspiring and in-depth articles on eco-building projects from across the spectrum and from all over the UK, most of which are written by the very people that designed or built them. Perfect for architects, builders, developers, self builders and anyone interested in keeping right up-to-date with green building trends and friends.
For subscription options:
please go here
|
|
|
University's eco designs make an impact |
|
 
|
|
|
|
26 Sep 2011, 7:46 PM
|
Two of the eco-innovations due to be showcased at Grand Designs Live in Birmingham next month are from Nottingham Trent University. The products designed and built by a furniture and product design graduate and a decorative arts senior lecturer from the university have led to their creators being selected by Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud as two of his ten ‘green heroes’ to be showcased at the event.
|
Jennifer McDowell, who graduated in July, will be exhibiting her Biobox. Developed as part of her final year project, the product is a fully biodegradable compost caddy that encourages composting of organic waste in the home and the development of basic gardening skills.
Made from an organic composite grown using mushroom spores and agricultural waste, Biobox is 100 per cent natural and manufactured using minimal amounts of energy. Once full, the Biobox can be planted in the ground where it quickly biodegrades to form compost. The lids have been impregnated with carefully selected seed varieties, meaning that, once planted, the box will grow beautiful flowers or tasty vegetables.
McDowell will also be talking at a seminar at the show titled 'Eco kitchens are easy' on the Sunday.
Meanwhile senior lecturer Daniel O’Riordan, who has recently joined the School of Art & Design teaching staff at Nottingham Trent University and owns Orchard Studio, will be showcasing his innovative range of elastic band chairs.
Inspired by a collection of royal mail elastic bands collected on the walk to the studio and amazed by the amount collected in a week, Daniel – who had been working on a range of flat-packed furniture - decided to recycle the rubber bands for use on the furniture. The elastic band chairs, which are being released at the show, are 100 per cent recycled using OSB board and royal elastics with no glue or fixing required as the elastic holds it all together.
Kevin McCloud has handpicked ten eco-innovations to be exhibited as part of ‘Kevin’s Green Heroes’ at Grand Designs Live, taking place from 7 to 9 October at Birmingham’s NEC.
Other research at the university driven by the desire to conserve the world’s natural material and energy resources has led to the development of an innovative and award-winning, low-carbon structure for a local social enterprise.
Before joining NTU Professor John Chilton worked with Lincolnshire-based, environmental social enterprise, Hill Holt Wood, on a two-year project to construct a low-carbon eco-building using low-carbon construction materials such as rammed earth walls, reinforced limecrete foundations, a green roof, wood fibre insulation and wood shingles; some of which were built by the disaffected young people who train at the wood. Its innovative reciprocal frame roof structure was fabricated from locally sourced green timber.
The development of sustainable, unconventional structures is one of NTU's key research strands. Recently, those interests have combined in the development of small-scale sustainable timber structures and, since 2000, in the investigation of the environmental performance of enclosures covered with tensile membranes and even ethyl-tetra-fluoro-ethylene (ETFE) inflated cushions. ETFE, which is strong and light, is the same material that covers the Eden Project domes.
|
|
|
|
