1. Autumn 2011 Introduction to Environmental Sustainability
Graphic used for Industrial Illustration (as it was so good), as
provided with MacBook “Pages” Syllabus (Template).
“What (& Watts) IS Environmental SustainABILITY”
The ENVIRONMENT is changing - Economically - AND Ecologically.
The construction industry simply cannot now be sustained as it has - throwing tonnes of valuable
resources into landfill sites (or under car parks like Swaffham) - and over-consuming fossil (or
nuclear) power, for unsustainable resources. (Especially for ‘personal’/community STATURE!)
(Cement emits equal tonnage of Carbon Dioxide emissions in manufacture, & other industrial
construction materials fair little better environmentally in manufacture).
If construction is in an area of seismic activity, it may be argued that reinforced concrete may be
the best materials for Structural Engineers to Specify,
(BUT - to mine or quarry for aggregates, and to develop any more green fields with the aggregates
quarried from another green field - and to transport via fossil fueled vehicles, both to a cement
factory, and back to the second green field to be used for a housing estate, is a wasteful use of
valuable resources - which is the first simple example, of what is environmentally UNsustainable.)
’Bills of Quantity” could now include specification for building costs not only in financial costs,
but also in environmental costs (& damage/s).
Effectively, if a construction was known to cause environmental damage - then the local (& rural)
community, could be compensated financially - IF, the “Bill of Quantity” were produced to show
the financial costs of repairing that (or any other) environment.
Once (A) Scientific & Environmental evidence has been accepted as of KNOWN - then in order
to sustain the current environmental levels, there can be no increase in the use of resources which
are KNOWN to be UNsustainable environmentally. (AND (B), Once Scientific & Environmental
evidence IS proven to show that Earth’s climate is changing - as it does on a regular & fluid
timescale - then architecturally, designs on the table need to reflect that. (OR, designers could be
sued for negligence.)
Decision-Makers - at local parish, community, Planning, Development Control, Conservation &
English Heritage (AND at Government Levels) - could all be sued for negligence, IF they were not
environmentally aware of the consequences of approving a cement construction, {especially one
clad in valuable minerals & resources - as basically, that would be theft from the children’s futures
& inheritance).
THE MINUTE sustainability targets were a part of the Planning conditions - Designers SHOULD
have started specifying 100% Ecological construction materials.
KEY: 100% Ecological Construction Materials can be guaranteed 100% - if they replicate or dupli-
cate construction designs from BEFORE the Industrial Revolution, because before then, (apart
from Roman {type statuesque} architecture), people invariably sourced local materials, found local
to that/any site.
Local Authorities (E.G. North Norfolk District Council), often show “Green Build Exhibitions” -
showing what the sort of sustainable construction they want to see - to meet Planning Guidelines
& sustainability targets.
Given the Planning Guidelines for Sustainability targets in construction - it could therefore be
argued, that buildings which are constructed UNSUSTAINABLY (& for public stature or statute) -
could be the cause of legal cases which find against Agents/Clients for unsustainable construction.
(For rural situation, see Chapter7/TLIO i.e. www.tlio.org.uk/chapter7/defining.html )
Introduction to “The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental Sustainability”
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2. The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental
Autumn 2011 (“Ignorance is no excuse in a Court of Law.”)
Sustainability
A Subsidiary Course
Quote by Tony Smith MA, Architect & Lecturer in Sustainable Construction
& Environmental Sustainability@The College of West Anglia.
(In Planning, in Law + Tort)
- Especially written for ALL Decision Makers.
UNIT MODULES:
The Principals of Sustainable Development
Sustainable Communities
Science for the Environment
Principals of Physical & Biological Processes
Investigative Project in the Sustainability Sector
Sustainable Construction
The Principals of Sustainable Development
The United Nations (from which Authoritative body Agenda 21 was issued & accepted by most countries
to use for Planning Guidelines), stated in Spring 2011, that consumption levels had reached 1.4
world’s. (Agenda 21, The Earth Charter & UK Planning Guidelines will all be considered in depth
on this course in order to determine what is {& is not} now considered ‘ethical development’.)
The basic principles of any sustainable development, are that it is unsustainable to use resources -
which creates any deficit. (Increasing a known deficit - is compounding the problem.)
Once facts & figures are proven & accepted, it is down to the responsibility of the designer - AND
the decision maker, to ensure that they are aware of the evidence of facts upon which to base their
proposed design.
If anything is more depleted environmentally by the outcome of any proposal - it is environmen-
tally unsustainable. Ergo, by default, a sustainable development should not deplete natural re-
sources - or it would be environmentally unsustainable - unless it could be naturally replenished
as quickly as it was consumed.
Economically, any development simply HAS to be viable and guarantee that all deficit/s (loans,
debts, mortgages etc.), CAN be repaid. (Even in a global economic recession, a flood risk zone, or
a drought.)
Sustainable Communities
Following the latest rounds & changes of Planning Guidelines, we will be looking at sustainable
communities around the UK & across the world, which have already set planning precident, and
are proven to be viable & sustainable by the evidence of their continuing prosperity through the
latest Global Recession. At a time when all unsustainable community members are failing to sur-
vive without increasing debts to pay rising bills - with reduced incomes. The course will consider
examples of Green Design Award Winners, and sustainable communities, such as: EarthShip
Communities in Brighton & Fife; The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT in Wales); The
Eden Project in Wessex; The Findhorn Eco-Village; The Hockerton Housing Project Eco-Village;
The Lammas Project Eco-Village; Ivy Farm (In Transition), We will also be showing how The Per-
maculture Organisation is behind many of the approved examples of Eco-Villages in the UK Net-
work; + looking at The Tree Study Centre in The New Forest, Burnham Deepdale Back-Packers,
Grove Farm Dairy (@ Hollesley Bay’s Open Prison Site), plus Swaffham’s Eco-Tech Centre.
Science for the Environment
Units will focus on Earth Science, how our planet is constructed - from its central larva core, to
the tectonic plates which cover Earth’s surface, to oceanic activity, glaciers, the Arctic & Antarctic
Ice, the outer hemispheres, the sun & the moon, (Previously Proven Earth History, plus Predic-
tions & Environmental Pollution - including Oceanic Plastics, Dead Zones, & GreenHouse Gases.)
Introduction to “The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental Sustainability”
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3. The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental
Autumn 2011 (Colour-Coded for Speed Recognition))
Sustainability Looking at the meanings &traditional symbolism of colours & how these can
simply show the level of environmental sustainability to any design proposal.
Principals of Physical & Biological Processes
Will look at issues ranging from Coastal Erosion & Flood Risk Zones, to the impact of deforesta-
tion, the impact of methane + rising/depleting populations of ‘A’ specific species in any given
Eco-System. Units will focus on what is proven and shown to be sustainable, (E.G. Permaculture
YouTube film “Greening The Desert” filmed in Jordan, and looking at how Permaculture regener-
ated farmland in Australia where the soil had become sterile through salts rising to the surface.)
Students will be shown PDFs from the Environmental Investigations Agency, the Earth Restora-
tion Service, and Wiser Earth Organisation, Ocean Plastics, Plastiki, Rowing Against Slavery, The
WWF, English Nature, National Trust, RSPB & many more non-profit organisations’ Open Source
Educational Material, Including the colour=coded flood risk maps of www.GlobalWarmingArt.com as
shown above.
The implications on designers to produce architecture which will withstand horizontal rain (E.G.
Discussing Professor Michael Kelly’s presentation: “Can WE Adapt The Built Environment in
Time?” - Reference presentation organised by Sir Brian Heap at the University of Cambridge.)
Examples of zero impact (& temporary) constructions which have been approved on Roll-Back
planning schemes - allowing buildings to be moved back in flood risk zones, & areas of coastal
erosion. (E.G. North Norfolk District Council’s ‘Roll-Back’ policy at Happisburgh.)
Investigative Project in the Sustainability Sector
Students will be given a choice of several different planning decisions to look at, research & pre-
sent their own findings, including: Considering why North Norfolk District Council decided to
approve a Tesco’s Store in Sheringham, over Clive Hay-Smith’s proposals for an Eco-Centre -
which had the majority vote of Sheringham’s own community.
Alternative project options include investigating the proposals for new Nuclear Power Stations at
Sizewell B & Elsewhere in the UK - and comparing these with proposals to convert livestock
farms & prisons into renewable power stations, via sewage, manure & organic waste + wind, wave,
current, & hydro power. (Plus Heat exchange, Geothermal energy & all other renewable forms of
energy, water harvesting & desalination.)
We’ll be looking at the benefits which a Bio-Gas Plant & anaerobic digester would provide the
King’s Lynn Community - over the (currently) approved proposals for an incinerator (which 93%
of King’s Lynn’s community voted against).
Sustainable Construction
Local Exemplars of Sustainable Design will be visited & studies, both as site visits, YouTube Vid-
eos & PDFs, (E.G. Market House, Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn - Designed by Linda Beam-
ish, Eco-Designs.co.uk & Eco-Designs.net) N.B. This project will also be used to teach practical
“Sustainable Construction” at the College of West Anglia/Anglia Ruskin University. (Pictures pg.4)
The basic principals of a removable timber frame infilled with straw bales, & clad with lime will
also be compared at other sites, including The Eco-Village Network UK (Proposed Eco-Village in
Stroud, UK.)
Other examples include site visits to see “Green Design Award” winners with Open Houses in
Norfolk, East Anglia (& beyond). Plus site visits to renewable power generators in the area, and
potentially at Green Build Exhibitions & Renewable Power Exhibitions.
Introduction to “The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental Sustainability”
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4. The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental
Autumn 2011
Sustainability
Eco-Designs Network & Potential Partnering Team
for Market House:
By Linda Beamish Eco-Designs
Richard Smith Architect (E.G. 3D graphics above) + Sandra Kass, Renewable Energy Consultant of Kass &
Beard Independent Building Inspectors, + John Jewell & Associates Structural Engineers, who’ll design an Founder: Eco-Designs
easily dismountable timber frame, + James Youngs/networks of renewable power generators, + Eco-Designs (& Social Entrepreneur) For Flood Zones
Students in practical Eco-Sustainable Construction (+ Permaculture), including David Atthowe, Andy & Linda.
Reference: Open Source Examples & Exemplars of Sustainable Design (To Green De-
sign STD BUILD CODE 6{+}) & (UK) Planning Guidelines.
Market House, As Shown Above. Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn, Norfolk Ark Directory
(See Presentation, + Design & Access Statement for Market House on Currently
Book-Marked @:
www.Eco-Designs.net (Other exemplars to see, as shown below.) www.TheTreeArkProject.org
www.Eco-Designs.net
Ivy Farm “In Transition” - PDF as shown on: www.thetreearkproject.org/exemplars.html
The Lammas Project (& ALL the UK Eco-Village Network!:) +Including Eugene’s UK + Global
Open Source Ecology Organisation + YouTube + PDFs www.Lammas.org.uk
Recommended Reference Points: As above, plus as per researched scientific findings, and investi-
gation into poverty & inclusion, as shown on the
above book-marked reference points. (See alternative
construction materials, straw bales, lime, mud, stones,
waste materials, old bottles, tin cans, tyres etc.) See
also “Green Design” by Avril Fox & Robin Murrell.
Sustainable Construction Guidelines (& Target CO2 Emissions): Diploma Course will show
ZERO carbon dioxide & ZERO methane GREEN
Blue-Prints. Students/ALL will have access to re-
source material, which is available free, through
open source Ecology (& especially, ‘online’ informa-
tion. )
Teaching “How to Build a Sustainable Community” - by looking at The UK Eco-Village Net-
work & The Permaculture Organisation. Teaching
“How To” Design to provide for environmental sus-
tainability. PLUS: A Regular, &/Reliable Supply of
affordable, local, community (& Rural) housing ++
Employment). Plus Rural amenities, ‘Community
Hubs’, Showing how Ecological Co-Ops work best
for sustainable community exemplars.
Regeneration of the Countryside - Aim, Green Design Exemplar (Aim Zero Carbon + Build
Code 6).
Alternative Travel Plans
Clearing up Waste
Recycling Waste
Building With Waste
Creating Green Energy: E.G. FROM all renewable sources, including:
Sewage + Manure + Organic Waste + Corpses ± Producing free com-
munity: heating, water, electricity, methane, hydrogen,
(Open EDucation potential), showing ‘bought in’ re-
newable technologies + offering the local college/
students & community, the opportunity of tendering
their interest, to teach students how to install their kit
Introduction to “The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental Sustainability”
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5. The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental
Autumn 2011
Sustainability
PDFs + Live broadcast/YouTube: Market House - opportunity for students to work on
site & learn by kinesthetics. Potential for students to
stay at Ivy Farm (in exchange for help “In Transition”
- see aforementioned PDF.) Paying Students in
House, Participatory have the opportunity of helping
to build Eco-Renovation & new build project. (Help
Rohun & Judy in the process!:D) Choice of tempo-
rary accommodation while in transition, temporary
site office/s + tipis, yurts, tents & caravans (as shown
via Civil Engineers, working on speed build Eco-
Project).
Eco-Co-Operative Partnering Proposals:
The College of West-Anglia (Green Door/Green Channel) - offering open source PDFs, YouTube,
etc, of Market House deconstruction, Eco-Re-Build &
Extension. Planning Drawings, Working Drawings &
Specifications, Structural Engineering drawings for a
timber frame which can easily be dismantled & re-
used. (Via John Jewell & Associates Structural Engi-
neers, Norwich). + Renewable Energy Assessment via
Sandra Kass of Kass & Beard, (Independent Building
Inspectors). Energy Calc’s for Earth/Straw-bale etc.
will also be available via open source education).
The Market House Project will be filmed - via a CCTV on a self-sufficient, movable, stand-alone/
unit. (Supplied by Richard Dix, of Positive
Computing/Rural Broadband, in Heacham).All work
on site will be filmed - streamed into the classroom at
The College of West Anglia/Anglia Ruskin University,
& broadcast online. Potential to network this via
Eugene & Open Source Ecology Organisation.
Removable Renewable Power Generators proposed, as the King’s Lynn site is in a flood risk zone.
Green Design Competition:
Award Winners to be chosen, and all design patterns will be made available via Open Source to
enable the manufacture at communities around the
world, starting with King’s Lynn. Run by:“TAPOI”
(The Ark Portal of Innovations),
Award Winning Designs will be included in Market House - providing free advertising of those
designs for winning designers for years to come. (+
There will also be a prize!!)
AIM = Zero Cement, & no waste when the building is forced off the site by rising sea levels. Sav-
ing clients original investment monies - and valuable
environmental resources, which will be removable.
(E.G. Ron Peach, will Eco-Design quick release sys-
tems for doors, windows & renewable technologies),
AIM = NO Waste, Removable Form & Structure, leaving straw bales & lime to go back into the
ground allowing the Structure to be moved to Spain.
Introduction to “The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental Sustainability”
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6. Autumn 2011
The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental
Sustainability
(Colour-Coded for Speed Recognition))
Looking at the meanings &traditional symbolism of colours & how these can
simply show the level of environmental sustainability to any design proposal.
(Colour-Coded Presentation Material, by Eco-Designs Founder: Linda Beamish)
As Taught by Tony Smith MA, Architect & Lecturer in Sustainable Construction &
Environmental Sustainability at The College of West Anglia. King’s Lynn/Anglia
Ruskin University, Cambridge.
(Colour-Coded Presentation Material, by Eco-Kinesthetics & Permaculture student Linda Beamish)
Introduction to “The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental Sustainability”
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7. Photographed at
Introduction to Linda Beamish & Global Ark Projects Horsey Gap
Autumn 2011 (Flood Risk Zone)
Photographed in meeting with
Neil Godfrey of ‘Voluntary Nor-
folk’, Summer 2011.)
“ARKS in the pARKS”
Seed-Fund Raising Eco-Festivals
‘AnEarthMother’ @Twitter @Facebook @WiserEarth.org - Linda Beamish, Eco-Designs Founder/
Consultant/Social Entrepreneur (With over 20 years experience in the field of Architecture/& Construction.)
I’m a freelance Eco-Design consultant, an environmentalist, & Social Entrepreneur, as the foun-
der of a landless showcase Eco-Village: “The Tree Ark Project” www.thetreearkproject.org - Eco-
Designed to provide people with affordable housing.
I’m also founder of Eco-Designs (co.uk & .net), as well as the founder of Global Ark Projects.
With over 20 years in the field of architectural design & construction & a lifetime’s passion in en-
vironmental pollution, I extended my research to get ahead of the recession & the changes in the
construction industry which were predicted by Tony smith MA, Architect & Lecturer in Sustain-
able Construction, Construction Law & Environmental Sustainability. (In 2003, The College of
West Anglia King’s Lynn/Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge).
(It really does pay to attend a course & learn what’s happening in the construction industry - to-
morrow!!)
Basically, the amount of research needed as the founder of a showcase Eco-Village (& as an Eco-
Design Consultant), was enough to fill the folders of my ex-lecturer’s library to use as the re-
sources he needed to teach Environmental Sustainability.
As an architectural designer & an Eco-Design Consultant - people depend on me to find the best
and most “GREEN” design solutions on the market today. As such, I’m networked with suppliers
of renewable technologies, (free & upwards), and with architectural & Permaculture designers,
Renewable Energy Consultants, Structural Engineers etc.
If I don’t know what the climate predictions are, then I can’t design the right sort of buildings.
(As I know what is about to befall our environment - and our economy - I am focused on provid-
ing clients/all with designs which can be moved later. It is now becoming difficult to imagine any
site as being ‘permanent’.)
Mobile Open Education Unit (Education Trust): Global Ark Projects: The Tree Ark Project Eco-
Village.
The presentation material for The Subsidiary Diploma in Environmental Sustainability, will all be
shown via both vehicles below. (As prepared to show & tell on our walls - the truck provides the
walls, as we move around the countryside.) N.B. Available for bookings, exhibitions & Eco-
Festivals, to show how people can reduce living costs to £0 & live 100% sustainably, without im-
pact.)
Mobile Eco-Education Unit Truck (Pandora’s Box) offers an ARK IT Cafe, (potentially running an
Eco-Navigator system to show all the best Eco Design solutions & spool the graphics of Tony
Smith’s lessons & UK Eco-Village Network’ Tony Gosling’s radio broadcasts/podcasts, to local
people wanting to learn more about Environmental Sustainability.
Smaller broadcasts also available via “The Land-Rover Defender” - (as below), to help farmers.
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