Since I joined Nottingham’s planning committee nearly three years ago, I have made sustainability a big part of all the comments I make. It’s much more cost effective to include sustainable measures in buildings during construction than to retrofit them to a building after it is completed.Since I started asking the question “how green is this building?” details of sustainability now normally get a specific paragraph in every report. And during my time on the committee, the Council took advantage of new Government powers to include a “Merton rule” in our planning policy that says that new buildings over a certain size or covering a certain amount of land now have to find 10% of their energy requirements from sustainable sources.

My next battle is about getting a wider recognition that 10% is a minimum, not a target. The helpful tool “Building for Life” has as one of its 20 questions, “Does the building out-perform statutory minima?”

This week’s planning committee on Wednesday was one of the shortest I have ever been at, with only three planning applications. The first of these was for a new FE college on Carlton Road, and had an excellent sustainability statement that covered many of the things I talk about every month. You can read the full report on the Council’s Committee Online page (opens a Word Doc) but here is the sustainability section:

Sustainable design has been key to the design of the building and it has been confirmed that a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) ‘Excellent’ rating will be achieved. In order to achieve energy efficiency the building will incorporate a wood-fuel boiler plant; heat recovery; exposed thermal mass; positioning of building to maximise daylight; natural ventilation; minimisation of heat loss; rainwater collection and the efficiency of plant and systems will be maximised through the use of a digital Building Energy Management System. It has also been clarified that an intranet connection will be available to allow teachers and students to view the energy that the building is utilising as a teaching resource for energy efficiency.

In addition to that, we heard that the college are considering bat and bird boxes on the trees and open spaces on the site, which helps tick a few more biodiversity boxes.

We also had three “issues reports” where people who are going to be asking for planning permission in the near future and get the chance to test the waters at committee. This is usually only for very big applications, and this week we discussed a potential private hospital in the new University Boulevard Science Park (unlikely to pass – Science Parks are not good places for hospitals); new student housing on Alfreton Road (fairly good scheme, could be improved) and a stunning scheme for a new dual use church-cum-conference centre.

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