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10.15 Registration and Coffee
10.40 Welcome
Dr Stuart Parkinson, Executive Director, Scientists for Global Responsibility
10.45 Keynote Speaker 1
SOCIAL HOUSING: FROM PATERNALISM TO CO-OPERATIVES
Kate
Macintosh MBE Dip Arch
Vice
Chair, Scientists for Global Responsibility
11.45 POSTER SESSION
12.30 Lunch
13.30 Keynote Speaker 2
KEY PRINCIPLES OF MAKING SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS AND PLACES
Professor Sandy Halliday
Principal,
Gaia Research, Edinburgh
14.30 Tea Break
14.45 SGR ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Chair: Dr Philip Webber, Scientists for Global Responsibility
15.45 Closing Comments
16.00 Close
This presentation will be predominantly about what is now called "social housing" because it is in this area that architects, planners and engineers have had some power to act as social determinists, for good or ill.
I will illustrate most of the typologies, ranging from those inspired by Christian-Socialist evangelicals, through those of a distinctly Marxist approach, to the dominance of the productionmethod over any humanist philosophy, to a re-engagement with the context of the city and the end-user.
Much of the legislation underpinned the "comprehensive redevelopment" powers (later much reviled) which emanated from the Department of Health. Slums were a real health risk, and techniques for dealing with infestation, both animal and fungal, were life-threatening until after World War II.
The right to buy has had a number of unintended consequences. It has stoked the housing market (with financial inducements from the Exchequer) by shrinking the social rented sector to the least desirable properties. This has panicked many who would have been content to remain tenants into reducing their disposable income to get on the housing ladder. Nationally 2.3 million homes, built at the tax-payers' expense, have been sold off since 1980. There were officially 149,900 homeless families in the UK in 2007.
Kate Macintosh studied
architecture in Edinburgh. Most of her early career was spent in local government,
designing housing in South London. From 1995 until retirement in 2008, she was
in private practice with Finch Macintosh Architects, and focused on sustainable
building construction.
Kate has served on the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Council and was a Vice President for Public Affairs in 1996. She was the first Chair of the Women's Architect Group. As Chair of Architects for Peace (A4P) from its launch in 1981, she used her links with the RIBA to get nuclear and civil defence issues debated in the Institute, which eventually led to a RIBA report on the effects of nuclear war on the built environment.
In 1984 Kate co-authored the booklet Sussex after the Bomb. In 1991 Kate became Vice Chair and later Chair of Architects and Engineers for Social Responsibility (AESR), formed out of the merger between A4P and Engineers for Social Responsibility. During this time she contributed to several briefing papers on subjects including sustainability, energy, and housing. In 2005, following AESR's merger with Scientists for Global Responsibility, she became Vice Chair.
Kate received her MBE for services to architecture in 1987, having been nominated by RIBA.
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‘Sustainable development’ has suffered from an image problem. It requires us to act in a sensitive manner towards natural systems, and has for many years been seen by many as a restraint on ‘development’ per se.
Only now, and slowly, is it emerging that sustainability is a totally justified restraint on inappropriate development and a major driver of reversing unsustainable trends and hence improving quality of life for all.
Human skills and ingenuity have transformed the environment. The quality and quantity of life in recent decades has vastly extended, for many. However, across the globe there is a realisation that pursuit of progress also has unintended consequences for some that need to be recognised and avoided. Resolving the dilemmas that result from human progress, and taking frequent reality checks, is the most progressive, positive agenda, and perhaps the most awesome challenge we face.
How good would it be if future development of land, buildings and the economy were non-toxic, equitable, supportive of community and bio-diversity and resource-efficient? This is sustainable development. We need to talk about the ‘D’ word. Sustainability is about how humanity develops and sustainable design is that which delivers real benefits.
Sandy Halliday is a chartered engineer working in research
and design of sustainable buildings and places. Her degree in Engineering Design
and Appropriate Technology focused on socially and environmentally responsible
engineering, when such things were very unfashionable. She is the Royal Academy
of Engineering Visiting Professor in Engineering Design for Sustainable Development
at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.
Sandy initially worked on design of socially useful products. She moved into the building sector as a research manager to develop and disseminate information on passive design, resource efficient and clean technologies, healthy buildings, and benign processes, products and materials. She established Gaia Research in 1996 to develop sustainable solutions for the built environment. She works collaboratively with architectural, engineering, urban design and landscape practices in responding to the challenge of making sustainable buildings and places. Sandy’s work now extends to policy guidance for government and private sector clients, and training to assist design teams to deliver more sustainable buildings.
Her experiences are summarised in The Green Guide to the Architect’s Job Book (2007) and Sustainable Construction (2008) – these are a process guide and a resource guide for the delivery of a more sustainable built environment.
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