Future-proofed energy design for dwellings: Case studies from England and application to the Code for Sustainable Homes

This paper investigates 'future-proofing' as an unexplored yet all-important aspect in the design of low-energy dwellings. It refers particularly to adopting lifecycle thinking and accommodating risks and uncertainties in the selection of fabric energy efficiency measures and low or zero-carbon technologies. Based on a conceptual framework for future-proofed design, the paper first presents results from the analysis of two 'best practice' housing developments in England; i.e., North West Cambridge in Cambridge and West Carclaze and Baal in St. Austell, Cornwall. Second, it examines the 'Energy and CO2 Emissions' part of the Code for Sustainable Homes to reveal which design criteria and assessment methods can be practically integrated into this established building certification scheme so that it can become more dynamic and future-oriented.Practical application: Future-proofed construction is promoted implicitly within the increasingly stringent building regulations; however, there is no comprehensive method to readily incorporate futures thinking into the energy design of buildings. This study has a three-fold objective of relevance to the building industry:Illuminating the two key categories of long-term impacts in buildings, which are often erroneously treated interchangeably:- The environmental impact of buildings due to their long lifecycles.- The environment's impacts on buildings due to risks and uncertainties affecting the energy consumption by at least 2050. This refers to social, technological, economic, environmental and regulatory (predictable or unknown) trends and drivers of change, such as climate uncertainty, home-working, technology readiness etc.Encouraging future-proofing from an early planning stage to reduce the likelihood of a prematurely obsolete building design.Enhancing established building energy assessment methods (certification, modelling or audit tools) by integrating a set of future-oriented criteria into their methodologies. © 2012 The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.

Leadership of healthcare commissioning networks in England: a mixed-methods study on clinical commissioning groups.

To explore the relational challenges for general practitioner (GP) leaders setting up new network-centric commissioning organisations in the recent health policy reform in England, we use innovation network theory to identify key network leadership practices that facilitate healthcare innovation.

Trust-Level Risk Evaluation and Risk Control Guidance in the NHS East of England

In recent years, the healthcare sector has adopted the use of operational risk assessment tools to help understand the systems issues that lead to patient safety incidents. But although these problem-focused tools have improved the ability of healthcare organizations to identify hazards, they have not translated into measurable improvements in patient safety. One possible reason for this is a lack of support for the solution-focused process of risk control. This article describes a content analysis of the risk management strategies, policies, and procedures at all acute (i.e., hospital), mental health, and ambulance trusts (health service organizations) in the East of England area of the British National Health Service. The primary goal was to determine what organizational-level guidance exists to support risk control practice. A secondary goal was to examine the risk evaluation guidance provided by these trusts. With regard to risk control, we found an almost complete lack of useful guidance to promote good practice. With regard to risk evaluation, the trusts relied exclusively on risk matrices. A number of weaknesses were found in the use of this tool, especially related to the guidance for scoring an event's likelihood. We make a number of recommendations to address these concerns. The guidance assessed provides insufficient support for risk control and risk evaluation. This may present a significant barrier to the success of risk management approaches in improving patient safety. © 2013 Society for Risk Analysis.

Moon Palace I

Moon Palace I takes its title from the novel “Moon Palace” by Paul Auster and is loosely influenced by the following quotation from the novel: "I had jumped off the edge, and then, at the very last moment, something reached out and caught me in midair. That something is what I define as love. It is the one thing that can stop a man from falling, the one thing powerful enough to negate the laws of gravity." (Auster has authorised reproduction of the quotation) The opening pitches of moon palace I were composed while sitting at the piano exploring the sound of my tinnitus/inner ringing. From an initial rather delicate, graceful presentation of these pitches, the music intensifies rhythmically and dynamically, becoming more aggressive, emphasising the invasive quality inherent in tinnitus. A study at any one time of the pitches and rhythms present in my tinnitus can yield interesting results, the relationship between the sounds heard in each ear sometimes producing unison pitches or clashing dissonances. However, for all the fascination and intrigue, tinnitus can be relentless and disturbing, interrupting concentration and hindering sleep. Moon Palace I is an exploration of these two opposing elements. Laurina Sableviciute gave the first performance at St John's Church, Edinburgh, May 2006. It has also been performed by Tricia Dawn Williams at the Manoel Theatre, Valletta, Malta, November 2011.

Moon Palace II

Selected for performance at the New Music Weekend for Piano, Frederic Chopin Conservatoire, Paris. Premiered by Quentin Meurisse on 4th February 2012.

Evaluation of the KA24 (Knowledge Access 24) service for health and social care staff in London and the South-East of England. Part 1: Quantitative

Cumbers, B., Urquhart, C. & Durbin, J. (2006). Evaluation of the KA24 (Knowledge Access 24) service for health and social care staff in London and the South-East of England. Part 1: Quantitative. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 23(2), 133-139 Sponsorship: KA24 - NHS Trusts, London

The Felon and the Angel Copier: Criminal Identity and the Promise of Photography in Victorian England and Wales

Ireland Richard, 'The Felon and the Angel Copier: Criminal Identity and the Promise of Photography in Victorian England and Wales', In: Policing and War in Europe, Criminal Justice History, (Westport, CT, Greenwood Press), volume 16, pp.53-86, 2002 RAE2008

Imagining England in Richard Morison's Pamphlets against the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536)

Mottram, S. (2005). Imagining England in Richard Morison's Pamphlets against the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536). Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 36, pp.41-67. RAE2008

Credit and Debt in medieval England, c.1180-c.1350

Schofield, Phillipp, and N. J. Mayhew, eds., Credit and Debt in medieval England, c.1180-c.1350 (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2002), pp.x+164 RAE2008

Signs of community or marks of the exclusive? Parish and guild seals in later medieval England

New, Elizabeth, 'Signs of community or marks of the exclusive? Parish and guild seals in later medieval England', In: The Parish in Late Medieval England, (Lincs: Shaun Tyas) pp.112-128, 2006 RAE2008

'A Witty Book, but mostly feigned': William Richards' Wallography and perceptions of Wales in later seventeenth-century England

RAE2008

Peasant and Community in medieval England, 1200-1500

Schofield, Phillipp, Peasant and Community in medieval England, 1200-1500 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), pp.vii+279 RAE2008