Wujin Demonstration building and the International Energy Agency

The Wujin Demonstration building was used as a case study for the International Energy Agency Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme.

High Priority Research Themes:

Integrated planning and building design

1. Building energy systems

2. Building envelope

3. Community scale methods

4. Real building energy use

Project Objectives:

The two main objectives for the project are:

1. To provide a scientific basis for the design and operational strategies of buildings that have minimal energy consumption, and at the same time maintain very high standards regarding indoor environmental quality based on the control of sources, sinks and flows of heat, air, moisture, and pollutants under in-use conditions.

2. To collect and provide data about properties for transport, retention and emission of chemical substances in new and recycled materials under the influence of heat and moisture transfer.High Priority Research Themes

The International Energy Agency is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organisation, established in 1974, that provides policy recommendations, analysis and data on the global energy sector.

Michael Pelken at the 2023 TechFest

Michael Pelken recently served as an expert panelist for the discussion: “Unleashing Innovation - Automation in Construction and Design” at the 2023 TechFest.

P+ At the 2023 TechFest

Michael Pelken was recently selected to be a judge at TechFest 2023, powered by Construction News and New Civil Engineer to judge Product Innovation of the Year.

CE editor Claire Smith said: “Each year TechFest celebrates the further integration between the digital and physical worlds in the construction sector. We take this opportunity to highlight the truly groundbreaking and game-changing technological developments from all corners of the industry, not only celebrating their work but inspiring projects the world over to push themselves to try new innovations.

“The interface between technology and construction is growing exponentially and this year’s new and revamped categories mean that we will be able to show appreciation for even more deserving projects, firms and individuals.”

Michael was selected from major contractors, consultants and industry figures.

Design for Manufacture Conference Keynote UCL

Michael Pelken delivers keynote at UCL’s Design for Manufacture conference

From the conference below:

How can manufacturing knowledge be utilised to create value within the realm of design?

"Manufacturing", a term largely dependent on our understanding of the industrial revolution, is laden with knowledge and experience that is rarely applied to the design of our built environment. How can knowledge of manufacturing and digital design tools challenge building culture in order to enable sustainable, informed, and materially intelligent design solutions? Grappling with these questions, Design for Manufacture MArch students at The Bartlett School of Architecture will present the outcome of their research projects.

Michael Pelken Re-Appointed to UCL's CNIE Industry Advisory Board

Michael Pelken was recently re-appointed to UCL’s Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering’s Advisory Board.

From the CNIE:

The Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering draws lessons from nature to engineer innovative solutions to our grand challenges in energy, water, materials, health and living space.

Using theory and simulation-assisted rational design, complemented by experiments, synthesis and testing, the Centre unites a highly interdisciplinary team of researchers, from the physical sciences to chemical and materials engineering, computer science, architecture, and medicine. Collaborations with a wide range of industrial partners allow us to accelerate the translation of research findings into practice.

Construction 2050: The Future Material Requirements of the Construction Sector

Michael Pelken has been invited to serve as an expert panellist by BRE and Innovate UK at the Construction 2050 Conference

From the conference:

The foundation industries operate on long term investment cycles. This means that many companies are now planning the facilities that will be in operation in 2050.  But the need to reduce carbon emissions and improve resource efficiency are impacting not just the foundation industries, but also their customers.  What types of materials and products will their customers be wanting to purchase this far into the future?

This online workshop will bring together the foundation industries and the construction industry to understand the drivers and future requirements of the sector. There will be an opportunity to hear from Innovate UK, gain insight into the initial findings from the research project, delve deeper into specific challenge areas and hear from key construction sector representatives on their innovation requirements.

Webinar recording now available!

P+ invited to participate at the UN Climate Change Conference COP26

We have been invited to exhibit at the UN Climate Change Conference 2021 as part of the COP26 Satellite Event at the Active Building Centre.

We are looking forward to sharing our research and work in the area of Wind Energy Integration in the Built Environment. We will also participate in expert panels that address industry change, net-zero development and new collaborative models between academia and industry. Please join us during this important conference as we discuss strategies to mitigate climate change and lower our energy footprint.

P+ wins twice at RISE Sustainability Awards 2021

P+ was recently recogised in several categories as part of the 2021 RISE Awards held at the International Conference for Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS) at Leeds Beckett University, with key partners including UWE Bristol, the Leeds Sustainability Institute , University of Suffolk, and TU Dublin.

These highly regarded awards seek to recognise, celebrate and showcase exemplar case studies from the Built Environment sharing emerging best practice in Research, Innovation, Sustainability and Enterprise for new and innovative products, technologies, processes, projects and schemes. Our awards bringing together academic, industry, third sector and community groups in a unique celebration of all those who are helping to change the way we build and live in the future.

Awards Include:

Highly commended in the category of Design Innovation and Creativity with our Fangchen

Highly commended in the category of Sustainable Developments

Winner Chairs’ Award for Sustainable Development and Innovation

Winner Chair's’ Award for Collaborative Working: Technology Transfer

P+ appointed as strategy and design consultant to the Green Building Council Cameroon

We are currently working to establish prototypical development models with Green Building Council Cameroon (GBC CAM).

The Cameroon Green Building Council (GBC CAM) has been established in 2020 with the ambitious mission to become an active agent for change to better the performance of a truly sustainable and resilient built environment. With rapid progress being recognised on the highest level, GBC CAM has been chosen to host the World Green Building Council’s Africa Summit in October, 2021. GBC CAM will not only promote positive impact on ecological, economical, and social community levels, but take an active national and international leadership role in managing projects with impact that will drive technological and cultural change.

We recently hosted a series of workshops with the Green Building Council of Cameroon on their flagship programme. In collaboration with P+, GBC CAM has executed leadership workshops and structured conversations with the Ministries of Education, Housing, Tourism, Energy and Water, and Transport. These dynamic and engaging group sessions tackle some of the hardest questions that are facing our building industry today!

Invited Keynote at Construverde 2020 in Colombia

Michael was invited to give a keynote speech on Innovation strategies for a resilient future at the Green Building Council's annual conference held in an online forum with 300 participants from around the globe. The presentation included innovation management principles next to examples from P+ Consulting, research, and academic portfolio.

https://www.construverde.co/inicio.html

P+ Secures Seed Funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering for Development Programme

As co-PI P+ secured seed funding research on the following projects:

“Interplay Between Design, Density, and Wellbeing” with Cardiff University (PI); Loughborough University; University of Amman, Jordan; University of Cape Town, South Africa; and industry partner Utopia, Kathmandu. Areas of focus: Kathmandu, Nepal, Amman, Jordan, Cape Town, South Arica.

 “Strategic Planning of Urban Water Reuse Interventions for Community Resilience” with University of West London (PI), University of Cape Town, South Africa; Cardiff University; Loughborough University; Covenant University; Nigeria; Monash University, Malaysia; and industry partner Tekmann S.A. in Mexico. Areas of focus: Nigeria, South Africa, Mexico, Malaysia

We are excited to work with our partners as we embark on this meaningful and vital research to achieve sustainable urban development.

Vasilena Vassilev at ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING

Vasilena Vassilev at the Frontiers of Development Symposium hosted by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

From the event:

“Frontiers of Development will host a series of symposia bringing together the best early- to mid-career researchers and practitioners (5-20 years post-doc or industry equivalent) from industry, academia, government and NGOs in multidisciplinary workshops to address fundamental development challenges, each of them involving 60 attendees (approximately half from the UK, half from the Global South).

Events will usually be held in developing countries with a view to involving local governments and NGOs where possible to ensure a regional impact by grounding the symposium in the local, whilst maintaining a profoundly global essence by inviting a diverse range of participants from the developed and developing world.

The symposia will be formulated around a selection of broad topics grounded in development challenges, and structured to facilitate the building of networks across broad multi-disciplinary communities. Though the programme is run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, all four of the UK's national academies (The Royal Academy of Engineering, The Academy of Medical Sciences, The British Academy and The Royal Society) will contribute their expertise to devise themes for the events collaboratively.”

Michael Pelken at Futurebuild 2020

Presentation hosted by Innovate UK at Futurebuild 2020 in London

PMP gave a presentation on behalf of Keltbray Group and City, University of London to discuss recent Innovate UK funded developments that will lead to unprecented efficiencies in construction. Futurebuild brings together leading industry entities and "attracts thousands of industry influencers and shapers to drive real change" and innovation in the built environment with a focus on sustainable construction.

Michael Pelken Appointed Visiting Professor

Michael Pelken was recently awarded Honorary Visiting Professor at City, University of London at the School of Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering.

UK Green Building Council Second Nature LIVE

Following consulting with the UK Green Building Council from its programme inception in 2017, P. M. Pelken was appointed sustainability subject matter expert and panel chair again at the UKGBC’s 2019 ‘Second Nature LIVE’ flagship programme in collaboration with Clarion Housing Group. Participants included professionals from across the value chain, including Mitsubishi Electric, WSP, DB Group, Sweco, Hilson Moran, FCB Studios, Box Architects, BAM construction, and Clarion.

https://www.ukgbc.org/courses/second-nature-live-2/

 “For the 2019 programme, UKGBC is partnering with Clarion Housing Group to offer participants the chance to apply sustainability thinking on a range of brownfield development sites, including small plots of land, disused commercial assets and disused garages. The project represents a real opportunity to input into the overall strategy for the sites and develop design and delivery ideas for sustainable and innovative buildings.

Second Nature LIVE is UKGBC’s practical learning programme for built environment professionals from all disciplines. Its objective is to enhance sustainability knowledge and skills, making it second nature for participants. Previous experience in sustainability is not required. It incorporates cutting edge, highly engaging learning techniques and participants will be able to bring insights back to their business on delivering sustainable building projects.”

P+ re-appointed to UCL’s CNIE Advisory Board

An active Advisory Board members since 2016, P. M. Pelken has been re-appointed at UCL’s Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering CNIE. Amongst others, the centre is working on adaptive material and built environment solutions – with associated extraordinary performance, such as scalability, robustness, material and energy efficiency.

 “Evolution over the eons has made nature a treasure trove of clever solutions to sustainability, resilience, and ways to efficiently utilise scarce resources. The Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering at  UCL draws lessons from nature to engineer innovative solutions to our grand challenges in energy, water, materials, health, and living space. Rather than imitating nature out of context or succumbing to superficial analogies, research at the Centre is taking a decidedly scientific approach to uncover fundamental mechanisms underlying desirable traits, and apply these mechanisms to design and synthesise artificial systems that hereby borrow the traits of the natural model.”

P+ Announces new research initiative with the University of Cambridge

P+ Recently started a research project with the University of Cambridge on the novel interdisciplinary design methodologies between architecture and aerospace engineering. The project aims to join our VDS Approach with Value Assessment (VA) methodology supported by Visual Analytics in aerospace engineering design cycles in an effort to test out new technologies and construction methodologies in buildings. Our initial work will be presented at the upcoming SBE19 Conference on Resilient Built Environment for Sustainable Mediterranean Countries in Milan.

P+ to join scientific conference committee for the SBE19 Conference in Milan

P+ was recently invited to join SBE19 Scientific Conference Committee for the 2019 Conference for Resilient Built Environment for Sustainable Mediterranean Countries at the Politecnico di Milano in September.

The conference will serve as a platform for sharing research and innovation between researchers and practitioners of the construction sector. The focus relies on Resilient Built Environment for Sustainable Mediterranean Countries.

The international conference, belonging to the Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) series of conferences, is organized by Politecnico di Milano with four international organizations:

 1) International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB, cibworld.nl)

2) International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE, iisbe.org)

3) United Nations Environment Programme (UNEnvironment, unenvironment.org)

4) International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC, fidic.org)

P+ Studio at the University of Cambridge

P+ Studio led a week-long studio at the University of Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership as part of the Masters Course in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE).

Student groups comprised of various mid-career built environment professionals were challenged to design an innovative masterplan for urban living on the water which focused on the integration of sustainable infrastructure and transport systems. The studio focused on addressing the challenges set out by the United Nationals Development Goals in five key C40 Cities: New York, Lagos, Tokyo, London, and Istanbul. Studio took place in March 2019.

Michael Pelken at Building Sense Now

Michael Pelken recently spoke at the Building Sense Now Round Table for the launch of the new organisation. When kicking-off Building Sense Now in London in October 2018 insights by experts were given:
“The global perspective and challenges” by Prashant Kapoor, IFC Climate Business Group, World Bank Group.

“Lost in Transformation” by Thomas Auer, Chair of Building Technology and Climate Responsive Design, TU Munich

“Climate sensitive design – are we asking the right questions?” by Michael Pelken, P+Studio+Consulting, London

Building Sense Now is a collective of like-minded collective of professionals and academics interested in working across disciplines towards designing for climate and cultural – sensible – buildings around the world. They aim to carry this message to all who have a role in shaping our cities and buildings, from governments, to manufacturers, from clients to young designers of the future.

Represented by eight international initiators, Building Sense Now focuses on current issues of our globalized world and wants to support the positive impact through buildings in its city and social context.