Partners
Living with Environmental Change (LWEC)
LWEC is a collaborative partnership involving the UK research councils, business and policy-making organisations, and was launched on 18 July 2008. LWEC will provide the impetus for finding ways in which society and individuals can prepare to adapt to the environmental changes that we face now and in the future, as a result of a changing climate. As a contribution to the LWEC programme, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), initiated the Adaptation and Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARCC) research programme. ARCC provides £6M of funding to provide support for engineering research tackling implications of climate change for buildings, infrastructure and utilities. One page summaries of the successful research projects that are part of ARCC can be found in the left menu.
EPSRC
EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) are the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences, investing more than £800 million a year in a broad range of subjects – from mathematics to materials science, and from information technology to structural engineering. EPSRC has funded and is continuing to fund research directed at improving understanding of the impacts of, and adaptation to, a changing climate focusing on the built environment and infrastructure.
ESRC
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funds research and training in social and economic issues. It is an independent organisation, established by Royal Charter, but receives most of its funding through the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Its budget of £181 million (2007/2008) funds over 2,500 researchers in academic institutions and policy research institutes throughout the UK. It also support more than 2,000 postgraduate students.
Research Councils UK (RCUK) Energy Programme
The Research Councils UK Energy Programme aims to position the UK to meet its energy and environmental targets and policy goals through world-class research and training. The Energy Programme is investing more than £530 million in research and skills to pioneer a low carbon future. This builds on an investment of £360 million over the past 5 years. Led by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Energy Programme brings together the work of EPSRC and that of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The RCUK Energy Programme mission is to position the UK to meet its energy and environmental targets and policy goals through high quality research and postgraduate training. Working with more than 500 public and private sector organisations, one major partnership includes working with the Living with Environmental Change Programme (LWEC) to ensure a whole systems response to climate change.
Technology Strategy Board
The TSB Design for Future Climate 2 competition went well with 60 applications received and 24 projects funded to develop adaptation strategies on live building projects. There is sign of recovery in the industry with 9 new housing projects funded plus several public buildings including a swimming pool, museum, rail station and a commercial retail shed. The TSB are now moving forward with plans to disseminate the outputs of 50 projects in the programme through publications with CIBSE and RIBA.
The penultimate Building Performance Evaluation competition closes on 14th September with one more round in early 2012 for non-domestic buildings and two more opportunities to submit proposals for domestic studies.
This £8m competition has already supported companies in their evaluation of the performance of 50 case study buildings they design, build, own and/or operate. The competition is open to new build domestic and non-domestic buildings and to major refurbishments of non-domestic buildings where a core objective has been to improve the energy and overall sustainability performance of the building.
Ian Meikle, the leader of the Innovation Platform is currently developing the TSB forward plan for the Low Impact Buildings funding programme so there will be more details of future activities in early 2012.
The annual TSB conference Innovate11 was held at the Business Design Centre, Islington on 11th October. The event included exhibitions, seminars and keynote talks relating to the buildings industry.
UKCIP
The UKCIP works at the boundary between research and society on the impacts of climate change and on adapting to those impacts, helping organisations to adapt to inevitable climate change. Since 1997 UKCIP has been working with the public, private and voluntary sectors to assess how a changing climate will affect a range of businesses and organisations.
Since 2001 UKCIP and EPSRC began working together to simulate multi-disciplinary research on impacts and adaptation related to infrastructure, the built environment and utilities. This led to BKCC for which UKCIP led on establishing and maintaining an integrating framework and a stakeholder forum, both which were essential to the success of the resulting research. UKCIP also worked with the SKCC project team with the aim of sustaining the BKCC community and engaging researchers and stakeholders in exploring research gaps and defining a prioritised research strategy that was used to inform the ARCC call for proposals.
