Climate Week to Showcase Eco Solutions for the Home

Ideal Home Show Joins Climate Week to Showcase Practical Eco Solutions for the Home

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The Ideal Home Show has teamed up with the organisers of the inaugural Climate Week to help home-owners go green. This year's Ideal Home Show, which runs from 11-27 March, will help address the challenges that consumers face with their homes' domestic energy consumption through a week of dedicated events.

Taking place from 21-27 March, Climate Week is the new national occasion backed by the Prime Minister and Sir Paul McCartney to inspire millions to help combat climate change. Thousands of events, highlighting real practical steps, will be run by organisations, businesses, schools and community groups throughout the week.

Climate Week's Headline Partner is Tesco and its Supporting Partners are Aviva, EDF Energy, Kelloggs and RBS, though I must say that the choice of partners is rather a dubious one seeing that one is a power generating company that mainly produces nuclear power, the other being a bank heavily involved in backing the destructive tar sand extractions in Canada and the main sponsor a supermarket that is often accused of putting undue pressure on farmers and other small suppliers.

This unique collaboration of the Ideal Home Show 2011 will highlight the importance of Climate Week to a mass consumer audience of an estimated 250,000 visitors, raising public awareness whilst demonstrating to consumers what they can do to reduce energy consumption and minimise their carbon footprints in the home, whilst keeping our costs down and maintaining our home comforts.

Group Marketing Director Rob Nathan Commented; "Our homes account for over 27% of the UK's carbon emissions and the government is looking for a dramatic reduction in our individual domestic footprints by 2050. But unless the mechanisms and advice are in place to help consumers, then there is no incentive for consumers to take action and make those changes.

"The Ideal Home Show is a national institution, loved and trusted by millions who have been visiting the show for decades. It is our aim to simplify the small steps that our visitors can take to reduce their homes' carbon footprint, as well as save them money on their energy bills in a fun and informative way.

"We are delighted to be working with Climate Week to support our activities this year, and raise further awareness of the need for change. Through our shared commitment to engage with our visitors Climate Week will offer another opportunity for us to reinforce our messages and those of Climate Week' events'.

Kevin Steele CEO of Climate Week added: "With 26 million homes accounting for more than a quarter of Britain's carbon footprint, the reward for helping home-owners reduce their emissions is huge. But as with many aspects of trying to lead a greener lifestyle, the biggest barrier is knowing what to do. That's why we're delighted to be teaming up with the Ideal Home Show as the nation's premier home owner exhibition.'

Visitors will have the chance to get involved with Climate Week at the Ideal Home Show, through a series of onsite activities in the final week of the show between the 21st -27th March, which will include Eco Trails, special Celebrity features, a dedicated Swap Shop, and special recycled fashion features across the Ideal Woman catwalk.

This includes a second home built and supported by the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment which will offer a new concept in sustainable building and community living, featuring a range of green products and natural materials for the future, as well as a range of exhibitors including Siemens, Twyfords, Dulux, EDF Energy and Nissan all offering a wide variety of Green product launches for consumers to see at this year's event.

Climate Change officials and representatives will also be attending the event to deliver seminars, talks and discussions on the subject of domestic energy consumption, as well as offer advice on home improvements.

To participate in the Climate Week activities at this Year's Ideal Home Show running between the 21st - 27th March 2011, book tickets now the Ticket Hotline on 0844 415 4144, or for further information about the show visit the website www.idealhomeshow.co.uk. 50p per ticket sold goes to the Ideal Homes For Heroes appeal supporting ABF The Soldiers' Charity - see www.idealhomeshow.co.uk/ideal-homes-for-heroes/ for details.

Follow the Ideal Home Show on Twitter http://twitter.com/ideal_home_show

For more information on Climate Week see: www.climateweek.com

© 2011

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The Prince’s Foundation unveiled the ‘Prince’s House’ at the Ideal Home Show, 2011

The Prince’s Foundation unveiled the ‘Prince’s House’ at the Ideal Home Show, 2011 on the Opening Day



by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

For the first time since 1935 a ‘royal' house has been built at the Ideal Home Show, which runs from the 11th - 27th March at London's Earl's Court.

Visitors to ‘The Prince's House' will be able to see HRH The Prince of Wales's answer to environmentally friendly living; a traditionally built low carbon home made from natural materials.

The Prince's House does not rely on gadgets or hi-tech materials to make it green and environmentally friendly but rather its carbon savings are built into its design with things like a highly insulated roof, walls and floor making a shell that is highly efficient.

The walls of the house are simple, solid clay block structures trapping pockets of air that keep warm in winter and cool in summer and dramatically reduce heating bills while the roof and floor are insulated with lime-hemp and sheep's wool.

The house at Earl's Court is a re-creation of a ground-breaking new home design currently being pioneered by the Foundation at the Building Research Establishment in Watford.

The Natural House will be a live demonstration model at the Ideal Home Show to represent a viable blueprint to help to support sustainable volume housing developments for the future, offering an achievable alternative to typical contemporary accommodation.

The Prince's Foundation believes building can be done in a way which is both sustainable and eye-catching at the same time. Rather than building more housing estates, it promotes the building of safe, pleasant and convenient neighborhoods with nearby shops, schools and play areas.

Chief Executive of The Prince's Foundation, Hank Dittmar says: "The Foundation is very proud of The Natural House and its eco design principles and we hope that people who take a look at our design at the Ideal Home show will see the beauty and the benefits of natural and traditional homes. This house design can be rolled out economically in large numbers all over the country. Our way of doing this would be to work with local communities to modify the house to fit in with the local character of the area - the one at Earl's Court is a suburban design."

The House has been manufactured off site and was delivered in modules to Earls Court prior to the show opening on March 11th, and fitted to a high specification with only the best British Materials, outlined by the Prince's Foundation's building requirements.

Once built, the demonstration house will be taken to the Scottish Ideal Home Show in Glasgow, later in the Year between the 27-30th May 2011, where it will be see for the second time by a further 45,000 visitors.

The partnership between The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment and the Ideal Home Show launched last year, begins its five year collaboration to help promote and build better neighborhoods and communities with the development of its first-ever traditional Georgian style family home, which will be the highlight of this year's show.

Lee Newton, Managing Director of Media 10 Ltd, commented: "It is important for us to understand what our visitors want from their homes and communities and how we can help them improve their homes and understand new developments and sustainability, for the future. We want to encourage people to have more of a say about where they live, the type of house they live in and their community, rather than accept something they do not like.

"This year's Ideal Home Show 2011, will see the first time we have created a royal house since 1935 where the King's House was presented to HM King George V, and this year's Prince's House will be a full scale model of a sustainable home that our visitors will be able to see for themselves, offering an attractive traditionally designed property that is genuinely better to live in."

The partnership between the Prince's Foundation and the Ideal Home Show will create a public forum, through the introduction of a public survey at this year's Ideal Home Show by asking visitors what their Ideal Neighbourhood would be, and what their opinions are on this unique ‘Prince's House' property, as well as opinions on development in general and the increasing environmental concerns surrounding domestic energy use.

The ‘Prince's House' was launched on The Opening Day of this year's Ideal Home Show, on Friday 11th March, at London Earls Court. The construction and build of this show house has been generously sponsored by Siemens, EDF Energy, and Tingdene and supported by Twfords, Little Green, Clearview Stoves, and Hansgrohe, as well as a wide range of suppliers.

The Ideal Home Show, London is going to be pone still until 27th March 2011, at London's Earls Court, so there is still time to go and see this and other eco solutions. Tickets can be either booked online or by calling the Ticket Hotline on 0844 415 4144, or for further information about the show visit the website www.idealhomeshow.co.uk. 50p per ticket sold goes to the Ideal Homes For Heroes appeal supporting ABF The Soldiers' Charity - see www.idealhomeshow.co.uk/ideal-homes-for-heroes/ for details.

Because of height and building constraints at Earl's Court, the Prince's House has been re-created using steel-framed modules, and is smaller than the prototype at BRE Watford. The Prince's Foundation is grateful to Tingdene for enabling us to create this model.

The Prince's House is capable of being built to the same cost, as other like eco-housing.

BRE Project Watford: The BRE Victorian House of the Future project demonstrates how we can upgrade existing housing stock rather than using more energy to make new buildings, whilst avoiding the waste associated with demolition and preserving the mix of architecture.

The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment: The PFFBI is an educational charity founded by The Prince of Wales and operating to a model of practice-based learning. The Princes Foundation engages in live projects at the scale of the region, the city, the neighbourhood, the town, in order to develop new ways of regenerating and building more lively and more environmentally sustainable communities.

As part of an ongoing brand partnership, the Ideal Home Show has also heavily invested in sourcing significant amounts of funding to assist the Prince's Foundation in the completion of their BRE Watford project. A programme designed to transform existing housing stock and Victorian buildings into energy efficient homes for the future launched by the Princes Foundation in 2006.

Since the Ideal Home Show 2010, organisers Media 10 have raised over £203,000 worth of crucial funding to complete the Natural house at the BRE in Watford.

I found my visit to the Prince's House extremely interesting and very much liked the use of the materials there as well as use of the wood-burning stove and reclaimed furniture in many areas.

This house clearly shows what can be done, with local and natural materials, without gadgets and hi-tech solutions, and that retrofitting of existing housing stock can create eco-homes.

It is the retrofitting of existing housing stock that should be the priority anyway rather than the silly notion of creating those concocted eco-towns that were planned by the previous Labor administration in the UK.

If we are talking eco-towns and -villages than they must be those that are, and some of those already exist, albeit in some way illegal or quasi-illegal, built by those that want to live there and not by Barrats and other homebuilders to make profits.

Self-build, while extremely popular in many other countries of Europe and in the USA seems to be, nay is being, frowned upon and even blocked at almost every turn by the powers-that-be inn Britain, aside from His Royal Highness who seems to be more than for it.

I think that in Britain we can count ourselves lucky to have such a highly placed person as HRH The Prince of Wales, our future Monarch, who so well understands the environment and its needs.

© 2011

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Ideal Home Show gives ‘Coronation Street’ House an Ideal Refit

ECOoronation Street House has gotten green make-over at the Ideal Home Show 2011

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

ONE of the most famous terraced home addresses in Britain, No 1 Coronation Street, sponsored by Harveys, has been given a facelift for the first time ever at this year's Ideal Home Show 2011, which runs from the 11th-27th March at Earls Court, London.

The traditional terraced house in Weatherfield – home to Ken and Deirdre Barlow for 50 years – and similar to over 5 million properties in the UK, has been built as an exact replica at this year's Ideal Home show, alongside a second property, that that has been completely modernised and upgraded and given the ultimate transformation by TV personality and architect George Clarke.

The two properties will together form a full scale before and after model, to demonstrate how easily homeowners can invest in home improvements which will not only add value to their property, but also make their home more energy efficient, helping save up to £250* per year on domestic energy bills.

George Clarke's remodelled home showcases a wide and creative range of simple and practical ideas that will not only transform the way their home looks but also demonstrate to consumers how to utilise their existing space more effectively.

The build structure and fascia of the house will be exactly the same as the original pre-war home, retaining the core of the home and the traditional bay window at the front that defines the typical terraced house.

The internal layout has been modified and brought up to date to reflect the demands of 21st Century living, opening up the living space with the addition of an ecological glass extension to the back of the house to create a larger open plan kitchen and dining room with much more efficient space, modifications which completely transform the way the house is used as well as making the most of natural daylight.

The modified house also features a simple loft conversion within the roof, which shows how you can add space and value in an affordable way. This is one of the most cost-effective ways to add space – especially if you turn it into an extra bedroom and bathroom.

The new-look home will showcases a range of affordable eco-friendly technologies such as home insulation, double glazing, solar thermal panels for hot water, PV panels for the generation of electricity, energy efficient boiler systems and rainwater harvesting.

In addition the house features a wide variety of ecological finishes, surfaces, and tiles, as well as sanitary ware and carbon-reduction appliances that will help reduce energy bills throughout, making the Ideal Home Refit a blueprint for a low-energy efficiency which is achievable in every standard British home.

George Clarke, the Architect behind the modernised home in the Ideal Home Refit commented: "There are over 25 million existing homes across the UK. Many are of a poor environmental standard and wouldn't come anywhere near close to complying with the current building regulations.

"Yet despite these figures, so many of our existing homes aren't even doing the simplest things to reduce this footprint. There are still millions of existing properties with little or no insulation, still with single glazed windows and with very inefficient heating system and boilers.

"If every UK existing home was given an Ideal Eco Refit the UK property market would be transformed. Our national carbon footprint would be dramatically reduced along with individual homes' annual energy bills.

"So as fewer people look to move and we are building fewer NEW homes than ever, we need to be focusing our attention on the reuse and upgrading of our current housing stock, and we don't need to wait for government to find a solution for this problem. As individuals we can all help by adopting a more responsible lifestyle by making simple changes in our homes."

"The Ideal Home Refit is a home that shows a broad range of very simple and affordable changes and ideas to helps visitors to see what they can do in their own homes to make them more functional and efficient."

Energy used in homes is responsible for more than a quarter (27%) of all UK emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas causing climate change. Just installing the most effective measures such as loft insulation and modern heating controls the average UK household could save more than £250* a year on their fuel bills.

The Ideal Home Refit also forms a high profile part the inaugural Climate Week (21-27 March) by demonstrating what can be achieved in the home to tackle climate change.

Kevin Steele, CEO of Climate Week added: "By recreating Britain's best known street, Ideal Home's green re-fit will show millions that combating climate change really can begin at home."

Visitors will also be invited to make a pledge on the changes they plan to make in their own homes at the show, to encourage Britain to make changes in the own homes, to mark the UK's first Climate Week, (21-27 March).

Fans of Coronation Street and visitors to the show will also have the opportunity to see more of their favourite interior than ever before, with the upstairs of No 1 Coronation Street being replicated to the sets exact specifications, as seen in the brand new special Webisodes which launched earlier this week.

The ‘Ideal Home Refit' sponsored by B&Q, featuring No 1 Coronation Street sponsored Harveys, will be at this year's Ideal Home Show, Sponsored by Anglian Home Improvements, and open for visitors every day of the show, to see for 17 days from the 11th-27th March, at London's Earls Court.

The Ideal Home Show, London is going to be pone still until 27th March 2011, at London's Earls Court, so there is still time to go and see this and other eco solutions. Tickets can be either booked online or by calling the Ticket Hotline on 0844 415 4144, or for further information about the show visit the website www.idealhomeshow.co.uk. 50p per ticket sold goes to the Ideal Homes For Heroes appeal supporting ABF The Soldiers' Charity - see www.idealhomeshow.co.uk/ideal-homes-for-heroes/ for details.

Once again, this conversion by architect George Clarke shows what can be done to existing properties and should send a loud and clear message to government that first and foremost the country's existing housing stock must be “greened”. That already would bring down out CO2 emissions and other such problems down, and with the additional installation of rainwater harvesting systems, graywater flushing of toilets, etc., we can really make a difference. But it is the existing housing stock that must be tackled first before we even consider building eco-towns and -villages that just make profit for the building companies as the self-builder will not be getting a looking in.

© 2011

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