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Over the past 13 years the University of Bath has been leading research into low-impact bio-based construction materials, including the construction and testing of two full-scale prototype buildings: BaleHaus (2009) and HemPod (2010) built on campus. The research has directly promoted: the development and wider market acceptance of award winning low carbon construction products (ModCell® and Hemcrete®); successful delivery of award winning buildings; and the wider sector uptake of these technologies, including in a new school building in Bath. The work has directly benefited industry partners working to meet UK Government policy requirements to deliver low carbon infrastructure and benefited society through the delivery of affordable sustainable buildings.
The practice-based research outputs contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge in the area of low-energy affordable housing which was evidenced through design outputs, case studies government publications.
The work has been undertaken in response to governmental concerns regarding the future provision at a national level of an energy efficient, affordable, good quality housing stock. Accordingly, the underpinning approach has been widely disseminated to government departments, public and private housing organisations. The design concepts and principles have been adopted by housing providers, and have become a point of reference for those working within the field of low-energy sustainable housing design.
The research has improved the living conditions of urban residents, adding value whilst `doing no harm'. It has had a world leading impact on the understanding of the role of architecture and the design process in the context of the informal city. It theorises practice and development from a more worldly perspective to debate the meaning of professional practice and interpret urban change. Its unusual orientation as a long term project shows how practice in challenging circumstances can be strategic, combining ethical practice and research to generate tools and skills whilst training emerging researchers to co-produce outputs with outstanding reach and significance.
The Welsh School of Architecture (WSA) is recognised internationally for its research in developing advanced computational numerical models for simulating the energy and environmental performance of the built environment. These models have been used by leading design practices in the design of major buildings and urban developments. This impact case study presents three models from this research activity that have been widely taken up by industry worldwide, namely, the `building energy' model HTB2, the urban scale `energy and environment prediction' framework EEP and the `building environment' model ECOTECT.
Application of the models, often linked (e.g. HTB2 is the numerical engine for EEP and is accessible within the ECOTECT framework), has resulted in extensive environmental benefits, through reductions in global CO2 emissions. Additionally, there has been a marked impact on practitioners and professional practices, through new guidelines for major international developments (e.g. Pearl Island Qatar and the Chongqing Ba'nan Low Carbon Development).
Design has research programmes on designing for sustainability in transport, housing, energy systems and waste management. The resulting research has changed government policies, and benefited the practices of public and private sector organisations in engaging domestic and business user groups with sustainability issues. These organisations include several agencies concerned with energy, built environment, transport and waste, businesses, councils, trade associations, schools and universities.
Researchers at the University of Brighton (UoB) have developed innovative low-cost solutions to pressing global disease problems. In Haiti, rapid deployment of new wastewater technology averted further human crisis when the 2010 earthquake exposed water resources to hospital wastewaters contaminated by the cholera pathogen. In Malawi, the re-design and improved management of rural wells have provided low-income communities with safer drinking water. In Europe, new methods have identified human faecal contamination of rivers and established viral removal rates in a wastewater reuse system, enabling two water companies and two national environmental agencies to meet international standards and protect public health.
Key insights from LSE Cities' interdisciplinary research on the `compact and well-connected' city have been incorporated by central government in national planning policy and by the Mayor of London in the London Plan. This has led to urban land being developed more intensively, ensuring more sustainable and efficient use of space in English towns and cities. Research on green city policies has been adopted by the United Nations Environment Programme (2011) and is determining policy formulation in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Portland. Urban Age conferences and research have created an international network of urban policy-makers and scholars, and LSE Cities staff have had impact on the design of the Olympic Park in London and development plans for cities outside the UK.
Research on urban planning has influenced planning decisions and assisted the Scottish Government and Local Authorities to maximise economic, physical and social factors in city visioning, planning and design. The private sector has received advisory and design training in master-planning though advanced spatial modelling principles and user engagement techniques; local authority planners have also been trained. The research has contributed to a paradigm shift in city planning towards place-making and community design, not just in Scotland but internationally. This agenda is now established as mainstream in city planning, and Scotland is regarded as a reference to best practice as witnessed by the wide adoption of planning documents such as Designing Places, Designing Streets, and in recent large scale developments such as Tornagrain (around 4,000 new homes), Knockroon (around 750 new homes) and Chapelton (around 8,000 new homes), which have used Strathclyde's master-planning techniques.
Two decades of research in the Global Urban Research Unit at Newcastle University has significantly shaped public awareness and political understanding of the links between technology, infrastructure and security within highly urbanised societies. Research into the role of cities as key sites of security and war and the spread of `the surveillance society' are two interlocking foci that have generated impacts with global reach. Of particular significance are: a) research and scholarship to develop key concepts and a language that captures and communicates how urban landscapes are being infiltrated by military technologies. We specifically highlight the publication of Cities Under Siege as the culmination of this work and its impact on national and international public debate, and; b) specific studies into surveillance technologies in Britain that impact directly on public debate and the formation of specific national policy.
A sustained joint research partnership with Biocompatibles UK Ltd has stimulated innovation underpinning the company's product development pipeline. Products include a family of soft contact lenses, enhanced medical device coatings, and novel treatments for liver cancer. Innovative enhancements, such as the unique non-biofouling nature of the company's ocular and cardiovascular devices and the practical utility of its drug eluting therapies for targeting liver malignancies, have delivered improved clinical performance and differentiated these products from those of competitors in the same markets. The company's continuing success in developing innovative medical technology products was recognised by the sale of Biocompatibles UK for £177m in 2011.