Research Projects
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Current research projects
Barking Riverside Green Roofs
In partnership with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Barking Riverside Ltd and Natural England, the SRI constructed 41 test platforms at Barking Riverside to test the performance of flora and fauna as well as substrates and aggregates. The aim was to investigate ways of creating commercially viable green roofs using the principles of ecomimicry able to support locally typical, and nationally important biodiversity. The results from these trials are being fed into design and planning processes at Barking Riverside.
The urban green infrastructure design guidance document developed by the SRI focuses on how ecomimicry of the brownfield site can be incorporated into the design of roof level and ground-level green infrastructure across the development. It is now being used to inform developers, architects and landscape architects on greenspace design.
Funders: Barking Riverside Ltd
SRI Theme: Urban Green Infrastructure
SRI Role: Site constructing, testing and monitoring;
Beckton Sustainable Living
The Beckton Sustainable Living Project, based in Winsor Park Estate, is situated behind UEL's Docklands campus. Discussions with the Winsor Park Estate community team had highlighted that the absence of a cohesive residents association and high levels of unemployment and ill-health. Racial and cultural divisions and social isolation, particularly for older people, is a feature of living on the estate.
As part of its wider strategy to address these social divisions, East Thames Housing and Newham Council is forming a residents growing group in partnership with the SRI at UEL. UEL has secured £15K from Higher Education Innovation Fund to develop the project. The aim is to show how local food production can enable more sustainable lifestyles and help reduce food miles and carbon emissions relating to imports from the wider area.
With a focus on growing herbs used in different cuisines, the project will enable the diverse community at Winsor Park Estate to interact and engage with each other. The SRI has secured a further £5000 donation from the Sanctuary Group, a leading social housing provider in the area, which will enable young people supported by the New Choice for Youth Trust to learn about food production, and landscape gardening and maintenance. The project is kicking off with site construction, using existing resources and donated materials.
Funded by: HEIF
SRI Theme: Sustainable Living - community asset management
SRI Role: Lead on community engagement and participation programmes
Biurbs
Biurbs is co-led by a multi-disciplinary team of leading researchers from across the country and innovative architecture and green infrastructure practitioners exploring the economic value of biodiversity in urban developments.
The research engages with decision makers and stakeholders, to help inform practical, well-grounded tools and guidance.
The research assesses the economic value of these benefits to different land-uses. It considers different biodiversity conservation practices as part of an integrated suite of eco-system services, and where these practices may be best implemented through new development/regeneration.
The research examines micro (site) and meso (local neighbourhoods) spatial scales and examine land-uses within these areas, namely: residential, industry & commerce, community & public buildings, transport & infrastructure, outdoor recreation.
Twenty exemplary real world urban sites will be examined, and lessons learned. Two sites are to be examined in-depth to assess how the state-of-the-art approach to biodiversity improvement can be integrated into planning and how this impacts the economics of urban land-uses.
This project has recently won a successful funding bid.
Buglife
The SRI has worked with Buglife on a range of invertebrate conservation initiatives. This has included supporting the installation and monitoring of a series of green roofs as part of the Living Roofs for Bugs programme and carrying out GIS spatial analysis of conservation priority invertebrates as part of the Stepping Stones for Wildlife programme. SRI has also partnered Buglife in the delivery of the Thames Terrace Invertebrates component of the Greater Thames Marshes Nature Improvement Area programme and has provided guidance for the national Urban Buzz and London B-Lines projects. We have also collaborated on a series of CASE PhD studentships, the latest being a CASE PhD studentship investigating how to build resilient wooded landscapes for saproxylic invertebrates.
Funded by: Buglife, Natural England
SRI Theme: Invertebrate conservation
SRI Role: Research expertise, advice and monitoring
Building Asset Management Platform
BARM focuses on the development of a platform that will utilise electrical power quality data from electrical meters in commercial buildings to drive predictive maintenance insights - leading to reduced lifetime maintenance costs and enhanced asset lifetimes.
Undertaken in partnership with lead partners Argand Solutions Ltd, the project's key deliverable is a real-time software interface and API that will enable commercial/industrial building clients to determine which electrical assets they must direct maintenance resource at in order to mitigate the value at risk from not engaging in proactive maintenance. The initial software system developed will be trialled at UEL's Sports Dock building.
Funded by Innovate UK and the EPSRC's "Building Whole Life Performance" competition, BARM is an 18 month project completed in June 2017.
Funded by: Innovate UK
SRI Theme: Energy Efficiency
SRI Role: Research on renewable energy building assets. Lead on dissemination and exploitation
Find out more information about BARM.
Bumblebee Conservation
The SRI has been leading a programme of research into the habitat and habitat management requirements of the two UK Biodiversity Action Plan bumblebee species the shrill carder bee (Bombus sylvarum) and brown-banded carder bee in South Essex. This programme has included forage preference surveys, timed indices counts, molecular studies of population size, spatial movements, and green haying habitat creation trials.
Funded by: Veolia Pitsea and Canvey Marshes Trust and Essex County Council
SRI Theme: Invertebrate conservation
SRI Role: Research lead
Climate Proofing Housing Landscapes
In a project supported by LIFE+, Groundwork London is partnering with Hammersmith & Fulham Council to work with local residents to design and implement climate change adaptation measures on three housing estates, making them fit for the future.
Climate scientists predict that climate change is likely to mean more winter flooding and summer heatwaves in the UK and this project aims to demonstrate that urban housing estates can play an important part in adapting our cities to cope better with climate change, primarily by implementing water sensitive urban design measures on the estates.
The SRI is helping to monitor the effects of these green infrastructure components through biodiversity surveys, thermal imaging, water attenuation monitoring and, photographic cataloguing.
Funded by: Via Life+
SRI Theme: Urban Green Infrastructure
SRI Role: Lead overall environmental monitoring programme
Connecting Nature
Coordinated by Trinity College Dublin, Connecting Nature is a collaborative partnership of 31 organisations including local authorities, communities, industry partners, NGOs and academics. Our partnership is working across 16 European countries, Brazil, China, Korea & The Caucasus (Georgia and Armenia) who are investing in multi-million euro large-scale implementation of nature-based projects in urban settings. We are measuring the impact of these initiatives on climate change adaptation, health and well-being, social cohesion and sustainable economic development in these cities. Innovative actions to foster the start-up and growth of commercial and social enterprises active in producing nature-based solutions and products is an integral part of our work.
The European Commission defines nature-based solutions as solutions that are "inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously providing environmental, social and economic benefits and helping to build resilience." Nature-based solutions protect, sustainability manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems, which address challenges facing humanity (e.g. climate change, food and water security or natural disasters). At the same time, nature-based solutions bestow wider benefits to human well-being and biodiversity.
Nature-based solutions remain a relatively new concept in urban planning and the phrase is still not widely used. Part of the project involves driving change in the understanding, use and implementation of this concept as societies seek to effectively tackle environmental issues through innovation.
SRI is the leader for WORK PACKAGE 3 in Connecting Nature - SCALING UP AND FINANCING WITHIN FRONT RUNNER CITIES.
The role in the project of SRI researchers Dr Stuart Connop, Dr Caroline Nash, and Sam Jelliman is to work directly with the local authority partners of three cities that already have established expertise in relation to different aspects of delivering nature-based solutions. These cities are Genk in Belgium, Glasgow in Scotland, and Poznań in Poland.
Connecting Nature.
Cradle to Cradle
SRI has partnered with the Institute for Sustainability, Imperial College London and Trefoil Technology Ltd to build a pilot plant in the London Sustainable Industries Park (LSIP) to produce commercially viable lightweight aggregates. Using by-products previously treated as waste from a group of adjacent businesses, the pilot plant demonstrates how C2C principles can be applied in a practical, real-world setting.
At the heart of the pilot plant is a testing and mixing facility and a highly efficient rotary kiln which enables a variety of waste bi-products to be converted into manufactured inert aggregates that can, for example, be used as a substrate for green rooftops or as local building materials.
Funded by: Via Interreg NW IV project C2C Bizz
SRI Theme: Waste and circular economy
SRI Role: Development and operation of C2C pilot plant at LSIP
Project details.
London Strategic SuDS Pilot Scheme
LSSPS is a collaborative programme to mainstream small-scale urban Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) across London.
The SRI are working with Thames 21 on a research programme to explore the barriers to mainstreaming SuDS and to develop evidence and processes to support others in addressing these barriers.
This includes exploring stakeholder experience, and designing and implementing monitoring programmes for SuDS schemes implement in inner and outer London boroughs through the LSSPS scheme.
Plantlife International's Munsary Peatlands Reserve
Following an initial extensive baseline review undertaken in 2002, the SRI carried out the first repeat cycle of a long-term monitoring programme at Plantlife International's Munsary Peatlands Reserve in Caithness, northern Scotland in 2009. Representing one of the most detailed monitoring programmes for a peatland site in the UK, and now in its 14th year, it is designed to pick up responses to restoration management and climate change.
SRI Theme: Peatland conservation
SRI Role: Lead on-site monitoring
Renfrew Gardens
The SRI is leading a monitoring programme in partnership with the Environment Agency, Newham Council, Thames Water, Bob Bray Associates and Groundwork London, to assess the hydrological performance of three rain gardens. The rain gardens are situated in Renfrew Close, in the London Borough of Newham. The project is running over two years and aims to capture the rainwater attenuation efficacy of channelling roof runoff through a rain garden system. The project aims to highlight both the ecological and hydrological benefits of such a system.
Funded by: Environment Agency
SRI Theme: Urban Green Infrastructure
SRI Role: Lead on ecosystem service monitoring
Find out more information about Renfrew Gardens.
Sugarcrete Ecocities
The ‘Sugarcrete Slab’ project brings together experts from the University of East London and sector leading organisations Grimshaw and Tate & Lyle Sugars to co-create ideas and offer viable construction solutions for real world applications, using bio-waste as the core resource. The aim of the project is to develop ultra-low carbon building components using sugarcane bio-waste (bagasse), allowing the storage of biogenic carbon from fast-growing plants in construction materials as an effective strategy to delay carbon emissions.
Find out more information about Sugarcrete Ecocities.
Transitioning Towards Urban Resilience And Sustainability
TURAS is a five year project developing visions, feasible strategies, spatial scenarios and guidance tools to help cities address the urgent challenges of:
- climate change adaptation and mitigation
- natural resources shortage;
- unsustainable urban growth.
TURAS is enabling adaptive governance, collaborative decision-making and behavioural change in order to facilitate local authorities and communities in the transition process. Bringing together a wide variety of partners and stakeholders the project aims to demonstrate and disseminate transition strategies and scenarios to enable European cities and their rural interfaces to build vitally-needed resilience.
Working in collaboration with local authorities, SMEs, statutory agencies, NGOs and local communities, SRI staff are leading TURAS research in the areas of Urban Green Infrastructure, Community Interest Companies and Adaptive Governance.
Funded by: EU Framework Programme 7
SRI Theme: Urban Green Infrastructure and Adaptive Governance
SRI Role: Work package lead on urban green infrastructure and research lead on adaptive governance
View Dr Stuart Connop's presentation from TURAS' final conference in Dublin.
Find out more information about TURAS.
UEL Green Roofs
A project which is trailing a range of treatments to enhance plant species richness and abundance on existing brown roofs sited on the UEL Docklands Campus halls of residences. The effectiveness of treatments deployed, including substrate mixes, top dressing and microbial treatments, are being monitored over a two year period.
Funder: UEL Facilities and Estates
SRI Theme: Urban Green Infrastructure
SRI Role: Project lead
Previous research projects
Beetle Bump
In 2012, Buglife and the University of East London worked together to showcase how urban landscaping can be designed to support rare invertebrates, without compromising on aesthetics. An unused 0.1 hectare patch at UEL's Docklands Campus was transformed into a brownfield wildlife haven, rich in wildflowers and habitat features associated with Thames Corridor brownfield sites.
The Beetle Bump aimed to produce suitable new habitat for the Streaked bombardier beetle (Brachinus sclopeta), whose UK distribution was restricted to a single brownfield site in the London Docklands area which had received planning approval for development.
Funder: Buglife via London Pleasure Gardens
SRI Theme: Invertebrate conservation
SRI Role: Site development and sponsor
Bio-Based Natural Insulation
This three year research project focused on developing a sustainable, thin and highly efficient natural
fibre insulation solution, suitable for new build and retrofit projects.
Funded by: TSB and EPSRC
SRI Theme: Materials engineering
SRI Role: Project partner
Bright Sparks
Bright Sparks was a unique funding scheme that supported research into the physical and social aspects of public open space in rural and urban areas. Experts from SRI mentored people and groups to develop ideas and initiatives to use and deploy challenging open space and present their work to partner organisations.
Funded by: ERDF
SRI Theme: Sustainable living - community assets
SRI Role: Project partner
Eureka Project
Eureka was designed and led by the SRI to help SMEs implement sustainable practices and processes, develop innovative clean technologies and access new markets. The aim of the business supported provided was to increase the competitiveness of your business and enable you to meet environmental requirements in public sector tenders. SRI teams worked with over 100 small businesses across London on areas such as implementation of an environmental policy and management systems, green.
SRI Theme: Energy efficiency
SRI Role: Project lead
FLASH
As part of the FLASH programme lead by the Institute for Sustainability, the SRI provided free one to one business support advice and coaching workshops to London-based SMEs to enable them to implement sustainable practices and meet environmental requirements in public sector tenders.
Funded by: ERDF
SRI Theme: Energy efficiency
SRI Role: Project partner
Green Roof Aggregates
SRI worked with national agencies and local SMEs to support a KTP on green roof aggregates. The focus was to build the business case and established a centre of excellence in the field of green roof aggregates design and testing including a focus on recycled aggregates as green roof substrates. The ongoing development of testing facilities appropriate for novel green roof aggregates is now part of SRI's portfolio of testing facilities at Knowledge Dock.
Funded by: Challenge Funds
SRI Theme: Urban Green Infrastructure
SRI Role: Project sponsor and lead