Kings Cross Skips

An area in Kings Cross is sealed of, and is home to a series of skips, which within them are blooming wildlife. They are known as "Kings Cross Skip Garden". This practical use of skips is amazing and somehow simple.
As the area was sealed off, I assume there will be a grand opening of the skip garden. As such I was unable to identify the types of species being grown in the skips

Kings Cross Regeneration

Kings cross is currently undergoing a total regeneration. There are design guidelines and masterplans all being put in place to enable the future of this important area of London. Kings Cross is home of St Pancras St, which has the direct route via the Channel tunnel to France.
An important factor to many regeneration schemes is the biodiversity action plan of the borough. The Camley Street Nature reserve is in Kings Cross, and this plays a vital role in the areas biodiversity.
The two top images are models of the area, and display various changes to the area. The Images below offer a more detailed view of how the changes work and how they came about.

wildlife photography exhibition natural history museum

Young Overall winner

Butterfly Exhibition

London’s Natural History Museum opened its Butterfly attraction.

The exhibtios has windows for viewers to see the transformation of the butterflies.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/butterfly-explorers/index.html

Green roofs

This amazing article outlines how to create a green roof on your shed. Quite amazing!
Its part of a wild London initiative, aiming to create nature reserves everywhere. Its obvious that gardens are becoming more and more vital to wildlife and people. They cool buildings, soak up water, and importantly absorb carbon. Its about time all this fuss happened.

TIME OF YEAR: MARCH-SEPTEMBER
WILDLIFE-FRIENDLY: Living roofs increase the planting area
in your garden and provide extra wildlife habitat.
CLIMATE-FRIENDLY: Living roofs absorb rainwater and can
help to stabilise the temperature of a building.
WHERE TO BUY MATERIALS: A good independent garden
centre (try to shop locally where possible).
Before you start
Is your roof strong enough? You may need to strengthen it
with timber braces. If in doubt, get professional advice. Also check
that your roof is waterproof.
Preparing your living roof
1. Make a wooden frame to fit over your shed roof. It needs to be
20-30cm deep to take liners, soil and plants. Ensure there is a
gap between the edge of the frame and the shed roof to allow
free drainage of water.
2. Line the frame with a water-proof sheet, such as a butyl pond liner.
3. On top of the sheet, add a moisture-blanket made from woolly
fleece, old towels or blankets.
4. Finish with a filter sheet (like sheets used under patios to keep
weeds out). This holds fine soils but allows water to pass
through.
5. For large or sloping roofs, add batons across the frame to hold
the liners in place.
6. Add a 4cm layer of expanded clay granules on top of the liners.
This is a lightweight substrate in which your plants will grow.
7. Finish with a 4cm layer of top soil (70%) and sand (30%).
Planting your living roof
Leave it to nature You can let plants colonise your roof from
seeds blown by wind or dropped by wildlife.
Sedums and stonecrops These plants are very drought resistant
and their flowers often attract bees, butterflies and other insects.
Grasses and wildflowers Plants of a species-rich grassland
provide nectar for insects, seeds for birds and stalks for insects to
shelter in winter. You’ll need a well-draining low-fertility soil. Sow
seeds or plant small plugs and water until established.
Extra features Consider adding shingle, crushed shell, sand and
/ or gravel areas to benefit insects, such as solitary bees and wasps.

Here's the link http://www.wildlondon.org.uk/Addagreenrooftoyourshed/tabid/419/language/en-US/Default.aspx

London Green Grid

http://legacy.london.gov.uk/mayor/auu/docs/elgg-primer.pdf

The green grid has been introduced by the Mayor of London to provide residents and workers functional outdoor space. Which in turn is anticipated to boost quality of life.

The grand scheme will see a network of linked spaces, which are multifunctional and high quality, which in turn will link with public transport nodes, and other major residential and employment areas. This plan will include renovating existing public spaces but also creating new ones.

This work has been running for some time, but has seen change as the project has moved to the whole of London, instead of east London.

la competitions

http://lacompetitionsawards.blogspot.com/search/label/students

Urban

This article looked at a study analyzing the effects on birds, around raillines, motorways, rivers and bridges. This is quite a significant study as it will determine some facts in the movements of birds around these areas. Camley Street nature reserve has a strong link with birds and is surrouded by some of these features, including rail, river and road.
Some of the findings were quite significant.

• "In areas with vegetation gaps of 45 meters, birds were half as likely to cross as they were in uninterrupted forest cover. It may be that songbirds fear predation by raptors, and so they avoid gaps in vegetation.


• Traffic volume was a negative factor for bird crossing, though less important than vegetation gap. This is consistent with other studies, which have found that traffic volume has a greater effect on the crossing of large mammals while vegetation gap is more important for smaller species such as birds.


• Railways and light transit lines were the most permeable features to bird crossing. The researchers suspect that this is likely due to their relatively narrow width and low traffic volume.


• Surprisingly, rivers were the least permeable to bird crossing. The researchers speculate that rivers may serve as natural territorial boundaries that birds are reluctant to cross.
  Not so surprising, birds were much more likely to cross over bridges than under them even when it was less direct". http://www.conservationmaven.com/frontpage/2009/11/10/the-permeability-of-the-urban-landscape-to-wildlife-movement.html

http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/mba0796l.jpg

Concrete Forming Systems

http://www.landscapeonline.com/research/article/6557

The Future of Solar

http://www.landscapeonline.com/research/article/13172