We asked our readers how they may be approaching the walling element of their homes and buildings in light of proposed changes to the Building Regulations. In this feature many professionals and selfbuilders share some of their research and practical ideas with the rest of us.

So the government is expecting all new homes to be zero carbon by 2016? Sounds too good to be true and it probably is! I wonder how many politicians have tried to generate electricity from their own homes or even radically reduce their family’s consumption of water or heating fuel? For those that have, they will know that it is far from being a simple task.

The Stern report, the Queen’s speech and other issues, all combine to concentrate our thoughts a little more, and hopefully we may well see a move from lip service to real practical action. However, let’s not get out the bunting and start celebrating too soon. I suspect a corporate takeover is underway. Those of you that enjoy organic and fairtrade produce may have already noticed how the small eco-entrepreneur businesses are starting to be swallowed up by the multinationals. This sort of takeover strategy is likely to become commonplace in the construction industry as large - national and international - product dealers swoop in to buy up the viable new technology and ecological startups.

This issue features an in-depth report from the new Genesis Environmental Education Centre in Somerset. The design contract for the Genesis project for the Somerset College of Art and Technology was won in competition; the brief was a building to ‘express, explore and evaluate cutting edge thinking in sustainable construction and introduce the use of sustainable materials into the mainstream construction industry’. The architects, Architype, explain ...

This issue features an in-depth report on the eco-renovation of an abandoned and dilapidated former water mill, located in a deep wooded valley, one and a half miles from the nearest road, near Hebden Bridge. This landmark project creates the National Trust’s first self-sustaining and autonomous (non mains connected) Grade II listed building. Andrew Yeats, Eric Parks and others who worked on the project report ...