New wind turbine

It's encouraging to see the arrival of the first wind turbine on the new City College site at Granville Road- I believe this is the first wind turbine in Manor Castle ward. It will power the ventilation for the new building, and will be followed by three much larger turbines on the college roof. You can also see the sedum roof on the new nursery, which changes colour with the seasons. It warmly insulates the building and provides a living habitat for birds and insects, and soaks up the rain preventing so much run off to the drains. Hopefully these wind turbines will help to dispel some of the many myths that are regularly used to argue against wind turbines- if you believe the anti wind campaigners the students will need to be issued with earplugs when they come for lectures!

New City College Building

I had a very interesting visit round the building site of the new City (formerly Castle) College on Friday. It really will be an impressive building when it's finished. The atrium will be cathedral like in its proportions, and reminds me of Sheffield's other excellent piece of modern architecture, the Winter Gardens. The new nursery is already in action- you may have noticed the new green roofed building near the tram stop, whose roof changes colour with the seasons.Other parts of the new college are due to open very soon. This will allow for some of the current buildings like the canteen, to be demolished, so the new build can progress nearer Granville Road. Green features such as the wind turbines and the sedum roof are going ahead as planned. The toilets will be flushed with rainwater, collected in tanks underneath the building. This system will be connected to a new lake, very near Granville Road. This will be one of the last features to be built, along with the new sports hall.

The new facilities for training in catering look magnificent and should make City College the leading institution in the country for aspiring chefs. What disappoints me is there is no sign yet of an expansion in the curriculum in the vital area of green technology. If this country is to lead the fight against climate change we should be training an army of plumbers,planners, builders etc with the skills the country needs to fit renewable energy like solar panels, ground source heat pumps and wind turbines. Retrofitting our current housing stock with insulation, so that it at least meets current building regulations (which are in themselves far too lax) is a vital job our current builders are not currently trained to do. If you want to find out how to make your house more energy efficient, visit the South Yorkshire Energy Centre at Heeley City Farm where you will find comprehensive information- but if you don't want to "do it yourself" you may have great difficulty in finding a builder who understands how to make a 1900's terrace house with no cavity walls energy efficient. So I hope the Learning and Skills Council will soon realise that we have a massive training gap and encourage the FE Colleges to start to fill it. And I hope the Government will start to splash some of the dosh it seems all too happy to bail out the banks with, in investing in a sustainable future for our country.

Area Panel

The Area Panel met on Feb 1st. Unfortunately I wasn't able to be there as it was during the day when I am at work. You can find out all about the area panel and read the minutes and download the newsletter here.
http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/area-action/manor-castle-and-woodthorpe-area-action
I think the panel should meet in the evening when people are available to attend.

Affordable housing is vital

Today's news that public sector workers such as teachers, nurses, police and firefighters cannot afford to buy homes in seven out of 10 UK towns, underlines the Green Party policy of increasing the amount of affordable homes in new developments. There is a desperate shortage of affordable homes, yet most new developments are fancy apartments out of the price bracket of key workers and young people looking for their first home. Meanwhile in our ward it has just been announced that the land to be vacated by Castle College (on the right hand side as you go down Granville Road) is to become housing. The plans are for 177 townhouses and apartments. These will be built when the new college is finished. The buildings will be up to 3 and a half stories, and they will be aimed at families as well as single people. Work on the new southside campus starts this summer. There is no housing partner as yet.

I think it's really important that a good proportion of these new homes are affordable, and also that they meet the highest eco-standards. Where insulation standards are high the need for energy is low. Germany has set a target for all its existing homes to be zero energy "passive hause" homes by 2020-we should be following suit.