A small social housing development in London has been shortlisted for a second RIBA award. 1 - 5 Bateman Mews, by Anne Thorne Architects has already won a 2010 RIBA Award for its overall design, and now the project has been shortlisted for the Stephen Lawrence prize, which is specially for schemes with a budget under £1m. RIBA Awards generally are given for buildings that have high architectural standards and make a substantial contribution to the local environment. read more...

New York's iconic Empire State Building is set to have a green refurb - currently the ageing building is draughty and expensive to heat, with a huge carbon footprint. But the city’s tallest building could soon be one of its greenest. The owners of the 102-storey tower are hoping to cut its carbon emissions by 38% and shave £2.8m off its £6.7m annual energy bill. There are several areas involved in the upgrade, each of which contributes between 2% and 8% of the overall saving. The windows are one of the biggest challenges, and are due to be finished soon. read more...

According to Joey Gardiner, writing in 'Building' magazine, the government is planning to extend its proposed domestic green retrofitting scheme to cover up to 3 million business premises, in a move which could provide a huge boost for the £10bn commercial refit market. Plans for a “pay as you save” scheme to persuade householders to install energy-saving measures in their homes were announced by the previous government in March this year and endorsed by the coalition under the “green deal” banner. read more...

This is the story of David and Jean Casey, who living near the Oxford Ecohome, and hearing about the 'new' feed-in tariff system introduced by the government in April, decided to 'go solar...to continue in their own words....“We chose a 4Kw system because the electricity bills in our five bedroom house with two teenage children just kept going up. The first place we looked was on the Internet where there are many related websites, only some of which we found useful. read more...

An article in the Guardian has flagged up the sad fact that one of the UK's most radical environmental policies – requiring all new homes from 2016 to be "zero carbon" – is set to be scaled back amid pressure from the housebuilding industry. Builders claim the proposals would be too expensive and impossible to implement for many flats, and would result in a slump in the rate of homes built. Now, says Tim Webb, The Guardian has learned that the government is ready to water down the target, a move environmentalists have said would be a "travesty". read more...

The 1st of September is rapidly approaching - and from that day all new-build houses in Wales will need to conform to stricter building regulations designed to cut carbon emissions and save energy. The legislation, which was announced by the Welsh Assembly last year, and will make the principality's regulations greener than those of England - has been implemented in stages, with developments of five or more homes needing to meet the new tighter legislation from 1 September last year. read more...