Stops Flashcards
STOPS
- Introduction TCR then over road to : orange sculpture ops Angel pub
- Central St Giles - Intro to SA > New Compton St > St Giles Passage then :
- Phoenix Garden - Urb G’ning & bioD > Mercer St > 7 Dials > Shorts Gardens then :
- Neal’s Yard/Neal’s Yard Remedies - CN&Plastics > Shorts Gardens . r. onto Neal st > l. onto Shelton St then:
- Rokit Vintage FF1 > l. onto Neal St > r. onto Long Acre then :
- Allbirds - FF2 > Long Acre > l onto Rose St > r onto Floral St > l. onto Garrick St >l. onto King St then ;
- Petersham Nursery Slow Food /Waste Red > up King St to Covent Garden then :
- London Transport Museum - Retrofitting/ Edu/Pub Trans > Tavistock St L r. onto Wellington St down to :
- Somerset House – Retrofitting 2/ Hubbub > onto Waterloo Bridge then :
- The Thames – Infra/str
- Bicycle Superhighway
- London Skyline – Strata Tower/B/ Bridge/Walkie + City, CW, W’Minster - > back to & down steps > Embankment > Savoy Place then :
- Savoy Hotel
- The Iron Lily
- PwC
- Embankment – Regeneration & Air Poll
- Conclusion – Future solutions
AIMS
● Balanced perspective on London as a sustainable city
● Examples of successes, failures and grey areas
● Public and private sector initiatives
● INTRODUCTION
* London - frequently rated among the most sustainable cities in the world. Dense and growing population (11 million by 2050) as well as 2K history- faces unique challenges Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index 2018 - London ranked #1 3 P's – People Sustainability (London 2nd to Edinburgh), Planetary Sustainability(11th) and Profit Sustainability (2nd). London's high ranking - ease of doing business, world-class education system & abundance of green space. Long term thinking in urban planning inc London - first modern sewage system in the world. (1866) Many problems related to climate crisis and its booming population (esp post-Brexit) - improving transport infrastructure and addressing affordable housing crisis.
CENTRAL ST GILES
● Mixed use dev - resi and comm (Google occupy part of office building on the East side of the square).
● First UK project by Renzo Piano, - Shard
● Often public opinion against building skyscrapers, but tall buildings needed to minimise urban sprawl. Coloured tiles and irregular shapes break up the block- less like a towering monster.
● “Excellent” BREEAM rating (highest is outstanding -v few buildings have).
● There are ten categories for the BREEAM (management, materials, waste, pollution, energy, water, materials, land use & ecology, heath & well-being and innovation).
● Built on brownfields site
Affordable housing - key workers
● Green roof collects rainwater
● 80% of heating from a biomass heater
● Rainwater collected to irrigate landscape
● 10 car parking spaces available @ £100,000 each.
● 1-bed apt - £900,000.
● Google currently rents 40% - in talks to buy whole section from Mitsubishi estate and Legal & General. Worth £750M.
Stop 3: Phoenix Community Garden
Rarely open at tour times. Good view from gate though.
● Car park after WWII bomb damage - garden created 1984
● Covent Garden Open Spaces Association
£15.00 pa m’ship
● Last of 5community gardens -all built at the same time
● Run by volunteers & funded solely by donations
● Tranquil oasis for local community & encourage urban wildlife – birds, bees and frogs
● Under threat of closure in 2016 but raised £19,000 in crowdfunding donations
● Important to the local community - part of argument for refusing planning permission nearby. Proposed expansion to convert Odeon (on Shaftsbury Avenue) into a hotel was refused - overshadow gardens & harmful to bee colony.
● Britain has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows since WWII (from the Independent May 2019). This &pesticides particularly concerning for Britain’s bee population.
● UK- already lost around 13 species &35 at risk.
● 2021 Sadiq Khan - urban greening initiative for London to become world’s first “National Park City” > 50% of city has to be green and blue.
● £9M to support the goal - community and volunteer initiatives.
● London -3,000+ parks.
● But still loses between 10 and 15 hectares of green space (0.05 square miles) every year mainly to industrial premises, housing, schools and transport infrastructure
● London -8 million trees. Tree canopy coverage covers approximately 20% of London.
● Partial solution to our air crisis - more later
Stop 4: Neal’s Yard
The Yard
● Earmarked for demolition when Covent Garden fruit and veg market moved south of river. Warehouses used for packing produce.
● 90% of housing in the area at the time was empty
● 1976 Nick Saunders bought 2 Neal’s Yard for £7,000 though was refused planning permission to live here.
● Decided to start wholefood shop selling beans, pulses and lentils
● Co-operative - after 9 months profit divided among staff.
● Encouraged like-minded businesses to set up shop in yard.
● Quite utopian sounding – different business owners getting married, and all 55 workers in yard going on holiday together.
Neal’s Yard Remedies – Carbon Neutrality & Plastics
● Alongside Monmouth Coffee Company (also started by Nick Saunders), NYR probably most successful business from yard.
● Started by Romy Fraser in 1981 - retailers in 19 different countries
● First UK high street retailer certified as carbon neutral 2008.
● EG - NYR deodorant – traditional pump spray & bottle made from 100% recycled material.
● UK Plastics Pact, by 2025 100% of NYR packaging will be recyclable, compostable or reusable. Most major supermarkets and many high street brands have also signed up to this (Aldi, Lidl, Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco, M&S, Boots etc.).
● First UK brand with “Look for the Zero” logo, > use zero plastic ingredients in products.
● 2017 first national retailer one Refill scheme. Can go in and ask them to fill up your water bottle. Refill app - maps out places signed up to this.
Lots of other stuff about plastic packaging etc etc online
Stop 5: Rokit Vintage - started in Camden Market in 80’s - now 4 shops
The problem
● Fast-fashion now very well-known concept.
● High street brands like Zara and H&M bring out new product lines on a weekly basis.
● Supply - Reliance on GM cotton - 80% of the Texan cotton plains now GM & Texas has biggest cotton plains in the world.
● Manufacture - “Race to the bottom”. Symptoms include the Dhaka garment factory collapse in 2013 & enormous amounts of pollution and environmental degradation from textile factories in dev world - + low wages.
● Consumer- cheap / bad quality goods discarded quickly. US -11-million tons of garment waste p.a. - synthetic fibres that do not break down and emit harmful gases. UK - 300,000 tonnes.
● Average life of garment in the UK is 2.2 years.
● Waste of resources inproduction – energy & water. Average pair of jeans 5,000 -12,000 litres
● 13m items of clothing - in landfill every week in UK
● 50% Boohoo.com and prettylittlething made of new plastics.
● Synthetic materials release microplastics when washed > waterways
Solutions
● Solutions: rise of slow-fashion brands (next stop), promotion of second-hand clothing +use of natural materials
● Rokit Vintage - one of London’s oldest vintage shops - 1980s selling used cowboy denim. Also re-make garments in modern cuts using recycled fabrics.
● Part of wider picture – rising popularity of charity shops, particularly millennials - 30% rise in turnover at Traid shops in 2018 compared with 2017
Stop 6: Allbirds
● Tagline - “light on your feet, easy on the planet”
● Launched 2016 -Joey Zwillinger SF - one type of shoe: The Wool Runner (made of fine merino wool - first trainers in the world made from this materiel &hailed as “The world’s most comfortable shoe” in Time magazine - now “tread lighter”
● In two years company valued at over £1B -became a favourite with Leonardo Dicaprio and Barack Obama
● “The assumption is that innovation is about adding stuff, but sometimes it can be about taking something away” – Allbirds co-founder. Wanted to make more simple and stripped back product and also env friendly materials.
● 3 guiding principles: comfort, sustainability and simplicity
● Business boomed for more than a year with just one type of shoe -now 3 diff lines from diff sustainable materials
● Second is made from FSC-certified (Forest Stewardship Council) tree fibre – wood pulp of eucalyptus trees. Production uses 95% less water than traditional materials (like cotton)
● The third – SweetFoam – parts of sugarcane normally discarded. Material was developed by Allbirds who then made it open source.
● First London store (it opened in 2018)
● Reduced packaging for online orders. Shoebox, shopping bag, mailer all in one - 90% PCR (Post-consumer recycled material).
● Laces -recycled plastic bottles, insoles -castor bean oil
● V. pared-down product line &never have sales - prices are the minimum they can be to maintain their ethics.
● Now second London shop in Marylebone
Stop 7: Petersham Nursery
● First opened in Richmond (2004) - this second site 2017.
● “London nursery that reinvented garden centres” and says “Petersham made garden centres cool” by adding elements of a chic lifestyle brand.
● Part of the Slow Food Movement (whose HQ is now in Neal’s Yard) for 15 years - promoting local food, traditional cooking & seasonal produce. Michelin star (2011-2013)
● Meat from free-range farm in Devon owned by owner’s son / cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy.
● Winner of many different sustainability awards – even chefs’ jackets made from recycled plastic bottles.
Pretty much zero waste
● Leftover food donated to community centres
● Use biofilm instead of cling film, similar alternative for grease proof paper
● Entirely plant based - packing made entirely from renewable resources, breaking down within 12 weeks & by six months will have completely biodegraded
● Work with company called Bio Bean - coffee waste into second-generation biofuel, > coffee logs.
● They are trying an AFD (aerobic food digester) which turns food waste into water
Stop 8: London Transport Museum
● Building originally constructed as covered flower hall for Covent Garden Market in the 1760s - now grade II listed heritage building. This means you cannot alter the structure or outward appearance of the building
● £22 million refurbishment - 6years.
● Museum open since 1980
● Photovoltaic panels on roof generate 16% of building’s energy needs during summer months. 56 units - at time of installation (2011) made it the largest PV array on any public building in London
● Enhanced roof insulation > reduce heat loss
● Changed layout – open plan so less air conditioning units to control temperature.
● Exhibition - ‘London 2030’ - collaboration with UAL students
May wish to say below just before hitting the Strand so people can look out for green leaf
TFL generally:
● London - first city to introduce hybrid bus fleet(first bus in 2007) &congestion charge (2003)
● Green leaf on side of bus means it is in some way energy saving.
● 4 main types of eco-buses in operation presently in London.
● Hybrid bus: - capture lost energy during braking. 2012 Routemaster edition which is one of quieter and lighter models though windows don’t open properly-very unpopular in summer
● Selected number of biofuel buses since late 2017 – used coffee beans - Bio-Bean. Along with Petersham Nurseries, other donors to Bio-Bean - National Rail & Costa Coffee
● Some electric buses.
● 2020 London - world’s first double decker hydrogen buses.
● Energy Garden team has transformed 40 London Overground platforms and stations into “Energy gardens” (
● Community food-growing gardens- food is given to locals & food banks. (Brondesbury Park) even produces “Energy Garden Ale”
● Banks of solar panels -water pumps for garden, heating and lighting for station itself
● Said to be the first city-wide project of its kind
Stop 9: Somerset House & Hubbub
Was Public Records Office (Kew) but now home to range of artistic & creative enterprises.
Retrofitting
- “We are therefore committed to aligning our activities to the Paris Agreement - limiting global warming to no more than 2°C”
- Extensive use of smart LEDs. LED bulbs last longer & more efficient – they do not waste same amount of heat. Waterproof and you can mould them to fit shape of buildings which make them popular for installation on historic landmarks. “Smart”-use timers and sensors
- CCHP plant (trigeneration – combined cooling and heating plant), better roof insulation and dual-flush toilets
Home to Hubbub
- Environmental marketing campaign charity
- Specialise in making fun campaigns relevant to everyday life
- Produce step-by-step guides to create community initiatives like swap shops
- Made boats out of plastic fished out of the river Thames & host plastic fishing trips around the Thames, and now in different parts of the country too – fishing out plastic
- Launched the first reusable cup scheme in an airport (June 2019) - Starbucks at Gatwick. where you pick up re-usable cup.
Stop 10 – The Thames
- London outgrowing its drains and sewers – Joseph Bazalgette’s (civil engineer) system (1866) built for far smaller city with more open green spaces. He lived in a London of 2 million people but had foresight to build sewage system suitable for 4 million people.
- Main problem - too much rainwater reaching sewers > overflow & straight into the Thames.
- Ammonia in sewage harms many Thames’s inhabitants, while bacteria that feed on sewage deplete river of oxygen, suffocating many fish
- Solution: Thames Tideway Tunnel which captures overflow
- 25km long tunnel (25-65 metres below the ground) under Thames - completion 2024 - 24 sites across London working on its construction.
- Nicknamed the “Super Sewer” – 4 TBMs (Tunnel Boring Machines)
- Structures which support tunnel at sides of river will be integrated into landscape – roofed over to become public parks
- Runs from Acton to Beckton
- Cost £5 billion
- Looking for a location for new Thames Barrier as well.
Due to climate change, disappearing gardens (paved over and more concrete) and population growth, tunnel is not enough.
- Switch to thinking of rainwater as a waste product to thinking of it as a resource
- Main focus of action plan - retrofitting of sustainable drainage to existing buildings, land and infrastructure
- London largely focusing on green SuDs rather than grey ones – particularly promoting roofs
- Also retrofitting streets with permeable paving, adding tree pits and trees in general.
- Planning regulations have been tightened up for SuD plan for new buildings -> have to submit their SuD plan
Stop 11: Cycling
- Boris Bikes first introduced 2010 - 40,000 extra journeys a day. 3 times less likely to have an accident -bigger, more noticeable and heavy (23kg)
- Currently 839 docking stations and 13,600 bikes (June 2019)
- Sponsored by Santander £6.5 million/year
- Also rivalled by dockless bike schemes
- Building of bicycle superhighways & quietways to support cycling
- TFL - free safer cycling sessions - available in most London boroughs.
Stop 12: Skyline
Blackfriars Bridge
- Largest solar bridge in the world, having taken the title from a footbridge in Australia
- Roof made up of 4,400 solar panels
- Can cover over 50% station needs-511 less tons of CO2 released per year as a result.
Walkie Talkie
Nowadays in CoL if a building does not achieve excellent in the BREEAM they will most likely be sent back to the drawing board. Walkie Talkie only got a very good but is now rated as excellent.
”Fryscraper” for singeing shop windows, melting Jaguar, and allowing a journalist to cook underneath it
In 2015 when opened - awarded the Carbuncle Cup by an architectural design magazine, “the ugliest building in the UK completed in the last twelve months”
In sustainability terms, it has the “Sky Garden” –- criticised for the amount of energy to maintain greenery this high up.
Most impressive feature is the CCHP which is hydrogen powered – making it even more sustainable than the CCHP at Somerset House (Combined Cooling Heat & Power)
Financial Times claimed uses the same amount of electricity in a year as a small town, and that this generator provides only 7% of its total energy.
First hydrogen fuel cell in CoL. Rare because so expensive- £4m
Strata Tower
- 2010- tallest residential tower in central London.
- Opted for wind turbines to catch windspeeds of up to 35mph at this height.
- Supply 8% of the building’s energy needs and cost £1.3m each, in total just over 3% total £113m cost of building.
- First building in the world with wind turbines integrated into the fabric of building
- Five blades instead of three & dampeners fitted to stop noise and vibration, but it didn’t work so now switched off!
Stop 13: Savoy Hotel
- £100m, 3-year restoration – make hotel grand and extremely green
- Electricity needs reduced by 50%, gas usage by 14%. 1500 less cars equiv.
- Uses CHP (Combined Heat & Power) – waste heat from water heating turn turbines creating electricity. Provides 50% of electricity needs without needing extra energy.
- Unique system – waste kitchen freezer heat pre-heats hot water.
- Food scraps/waste taken to special power plant, turned to biofuel, burnt to drive turbines to create electricity. Produces enough energy to power 10% of guest rooms.
- Close monitoring of temperature &motion sensors to ensure energy not wasted
- Retrofitted green building – much greener than putting up new building (buildings require lots of energy in their construction as well as in their operation.
Stop 14 Gaslamp
Just to point out if you have time and the group needs a cheap laugh. - Part of sewage system built in 1860s
- Methane is drawn up and burnt off as “residual biogas”
- Carting Lane nicknamed “Farting Lane” by the tabloids.
- Named the Iron Lily – cool piece of Victorian (accidental?) eco-design?
Stop 15: PwC
- 2nd largest professional services network in the world and one of ‘Big Four’ auditors.
- Occupies One Embankment Place - commercial space built in 1990s.
- 2013 - awarded highest BREEAM rating of ‘Outstanding’ with 96.31% rating, huge accomplishment for refurbished/repurposed buildings.
- Environmental features include the following:
- Biofuel trigeneration CCHP & absorption chillers
- Biofuel is sourced from locally collected & refined waste vegetable oil
- Green walls & landscaped garden planting
- Waterless urinals & low flush toilets
- Comprehensive metering strategy & BMS (Building Management System)
- Interactive screen in reception confirming building energy usage
- Innovation credit was achieved for responsible sourcing of materials.
- 95% of materials used in construction responsibly sourced with an ISO 14001 certificate as a minimum.
- Staircase installed within atria to promote vertical movement without use of lifts.
