Public Finance Initiatives (PFI's)
Sustainable environments
Newcastle City Council has an extensive public building programme in place, which could further raise the profile of the place and provide a better and more sustainable environment for future generations. The Building Schools for the Future (BSF) aims to transform Newcastle schools and make them examples of educational excellence. The Central and the Heaton Library are also currently undergoing radical redevelopment.
PFI's are often blamed for focussing solely on financial goals, and possibly not delivering on softer objectives such as sustainability. It is a special research interest of the project team to develop models where both the Council and the developers achieve their respective aims and sustainability is not 'engineered out'.
Building schools
The BSF programme has the potential to provide local school children with schools built along the lines of the highest quality and sustainable design. Renewable energy in schools can serve multiple purposes. Besides supplying heat or electricity, they could be a showcase as part of the curriculum, and they could sow the seed of change in public perception. The project team worked on a proposal to apply for grants for biomass boilers for these schools, and they also work on other projects in synergy with the education projects.
Contact the EDC
For further details of the EDC's activities please get in touch with us through our contact page.
Commercial Research at Newcastle University
A full list of commercially available research facilities for Newcastle University can be found on the Services for Business web pages.
Highlight for April 2008
Integrated Modelling for Strategic Planning
Strategic planning for sustainability requires complex systems to be modelled.
Because of this complexity, it is unrealistic to develop new and comprehensive models for each of the numerous possible situations likely to be encountered. Many models already exist ...
Previous highlights
About the Events Diary
Upcoming seminars
The EDC often hosts, arranges or is associated with a wide variety of seminars related to its activities.
These seminars (often in association with an engineering institute) are always open to students and staff at the university and often to the public.
Upcoming events will be listed on this website in the future. Please check back from time to time for updates.
