United States
£ GBP
This guide shows environmental design professionals and developers how to create less environmentally damaging housing. It focuses on new residential developments though most of the information and design guidance will be applicable to many different types of development - from schools and offices, to retail. The text will be fully referenced and will include examples of good practice.
The book contributes to the development of environmental assessment certification schemes, for example BREEAM and EcoHomes developed by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) and in the USA, LEED developed by the Green Building Council.
Guidance is based around checklists that enable the designer to carry out an assessment of the sustainability profile of a development. The checklist allows the designer evaluate their scheme design by rating it against different sustainability objectives: energy; transport; pollution; materials; water; land use and ecology; health and well-being. This assessment tool was developed, piloted and applied to a range of different 'sustainable' housing developments as part of a four year research project funded by the National House Building Council; both practitioners and academics contributed to its development. A series of case studies illustrate how the checklist can be applied and how a design can be further refined to achieve a higher rating.
