Can ‘building in health’ save the NHS?

Can we save the NHS by building healthier places? This was the provocation at last night’s Developing Healthy Neighbourhoods event as part of Bristol’s Healthy City Week. Organised by Bristol Health Partners and IBI Group, and supported by Bristol’s mayor, this event asked the audience to consider two potential solutions to ‘business as usual’ development which often risks creating unhealthy places. I presented the ‘development economics for health’ solution which suggested that developers should create healthier places in all developments – not only high value schemes.

New development near Packington Estate, Islington, London.
New development near Packington Estate, Islington, London.

Continue reading “Can ‘building in health’ save the NHS?”

District heating can work in rural areas too

I had been under the impression that district heating is only suitable for urban areas. Today I learned that district heating can also be economically feasible in rural areas, particularly those areas off the main gas network.  This new knowledge is thanks to a Centre for Sustainable Energy event that I attended today. I went to understand more about how councillors and local planning authorities can support community-led energy projects.  Among other things, I ended up learning how to assess whether a particular village has enough local woodland to support a biomass district heating scheme. Continue reading “District heating can work in rural areas too”