INTA has been invited by CEIM, to co-organise a seminar on‘Energy Efficient Urban Development’, offering INTA members and urban professionals the possibility to exchange information on energy-efficient urban development and on the range of renewable energy options now available. Improving efficiency in the way we use and develop urban land, in the transportation sector as well as in the design of commercial and residential neighbourhoods can help moderate global climate change while contributing to a more sustainable energy future. Urban leaders, planners and developers have to explore more effective development options to maximize the use of all energy resources. The European Union Directive on energy saving in buildings provides a precise framework for limiting energy consumption in this sector, representing 40% of the energy consumed in the European Union.

High-rise development is on the agenda of major European cities sometimes creating a fierce debate on the opportunity and acceptability of high-rise buildings in the city centre. Architectural currents and fashion influenced this trend, but the need to curb urban sprawl, the growing price of urban land -in the city centre in particular- and policy trends that favour density add to the fact that taller buildings have become more profitable to construct. At the same time the general public enters into the debate with more emotional than rational arguments as there are as many in favour as against. Poland has been following the worldwide trend of erecting quality high-rise buildings, in particular in Warsaw. This trend is not limited to the capital city, where the trend has intensified with 27 planned skyscrapers, and spreads to many other large Polish cities. The City of Gdanks has invited INTA to organise a panel cum seminar on these issues.

NTA has contributed to the report "Metropolis of the future", proposing 19 measures to reform the large metropolises. In February, Mr Dominique Perben, former Minister, Deputy in the National Assembly and Mayor of Chalon-sur-Saône, presented this report to the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, including detailed proposals on the creation of "eco-friendly neighbourhoods". In France this report concerns the large cities of Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Strasbourg, Lille and Nice. M. Perben proposals include incentive measures to develop eco-friendly neighbourhoods, in terms of energy-use, waste treatment and the integration of green spaces into the city. Another bold proposal is to allocate to energy savings measures the taxe on labour, which are expected to decrease in the years ahead and could impact further economic growth.

INTA's Secretary General spoke at a seminar in Yokohama, Japan on “Connecting Urban Core to the Global Agenda” jointly organised by CITYNET and the URBAN AGE INSTITUTE, USA. This event underlined the role of Asian local authorities in environmental management inviting them to align their local agenda to global goals. Citynet cities discussed development strategies reducing polluting emissions and energy consumption and making these initiatives financially viable, and even profitable. Michel Sudarskis said that citizens, policy makers, planners and developers can encourage efficient energy use and diversification of energy supply through their influence over the built and natural environments, including both where and how we build neighborhoods and cities. Increasingly planners and developers, in partnership with the industrial sector, will be called upon to help communities reduce fuel bills and lessen the use of traditional energy sources. The use of renewable energy in cities requires continuous re-examination and consideration of new experiences to ensure the effectiveness of the changes that are taking place. The INTA-CEIM Conference on Energy Efficient Oriented Development in May in Madrid was announced to the Asian delegates at the Citynet seminar. Read more...

National regeneration agency English Partnerships has launched a new division to lead the construction of new homes on publicly owned land. The strategic land division has been set up in response to a target in the government's Housing Green Paper last year to build 200,000 new homes on surplus public sector land by 2016. It will lead EP's various public land programmes, including the redevelopment of a portfolio of redundant hospital sites, and a pilot of local housing companies, a new approach to matching local authority land with private sector funding and expertise. Former EP Thames Gateway regional director Duncan Innes will lead the new division. Read more..

La RATP lance l’éco-challenge pour réduire la consommation énergétique et les gaz à effet de serre des autobus. Jusqu’à juin 2008, la RATP organise un concours interne qui permettra à l’ensemble des équipes des centres bus (conducteurs de bus et agents de maintenance) de se mobiliser sur la maîtrise de la ressource énergétique. Baptisée « éco-challenge », cette opération a pour objectif de récompenser les lignes de bus qui auront réalisé les meilleurs résul tats en matière d’économie de carburant. Par cette action, la RATP entend également sensibiliser les machinistes et les mainteneurs à la nécessité des économies d’énergie et à la protection de l’environnement et les inciter à mettre en pratique les mesure s adaptées en créant une émulation entre centres bus. Read more...

 

French construction group Eiffage has been named preferred bidder by the Urban Community of Lille Metropole (LMCU) to build and operate a new 50,000-seat stadium for the northern French town. The project, financed by a public-private partnership, will cost the LMCU an estimated 14.2 mln eur per year over a period of 31 years or over 440 mln eur. The other bidders for the project were Norpac-Bouygues and Vinci.

BDP designs 7 new universities in Libya. Building on a decade of experience in university and college masteplanning in the UK and Ireland, BDP has won the commission to design seven new universities as part of a major programme of educational development by the ODAC (Organisation for the Development of Administrative Centres) an agency of the Libyan Government. Two of the universities are located within coastal towns to the west of Tripoli and one in the mountainous area which lies 50 km to the south. The other four complexes are located within the Sahara Desert 1,000 km south of Tripoli. These will serve neighbouring communities in Libya as well as the wider regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The design ideas are shaped around the differing climatic factors of the localities, determining strong environmental and social groupings to the buildings and public spaces. BDP has been commissioned on an interdisciplinary basis including masterplanning, architecture, space planning, structural and environmental engineering, sustainability, acoustics, lighting and landscape design. Read more...

 

Veolia Water wins contract to upgrade wastewater treatment plant in Nantes (France) to an exemplary environmental level. The contract has been awarded to a consortium comprising OTV France Ouest (consortium leader), Eiffage and Demathieu & Bard for civil engineering, and Le Priol, a firm of architects in Rennes. Its estimated total value is €29 million Euros, of which €13.7 million Euros is for Veolia Water. The new plant will have the capacity to treat wastewater for a population of around 180,000 inhabitants, with a peak flow of 3,700m3/hour. It will come into service at the beginning of 2011.