Questions and answers
What is Building Futures?
Building Futures was originally conceived by the County Council and the ten District Councils of Hertfordshire as a practical guide on how to make new development in the County more sustainable and of a higher quality in design terms. The guide therefore seeks to deliver up to date “how to” guidance that is relevant to the Hertfordshire context.
Who is its target audience?
The guide has been produced for everyone involved in the preparation of development proposals, for local authorities and other agencies in assessing those proposals and for individuals with an interest in development in the County.
Are there plans to produce more topic modules?
The Climate Change Adaptation module was produced in 2010, and the Landscape and Biodiversity and Design modules have been reworked and will be available in 2011. A Movement module has also been discussed but no decision to produce it has yet been made.
How often will the guide be updated?
The guide will be reviewed and updated at least twice a year to ensure the technical guidance is up to date and relevant and informative to its target audience. Six of the modules were updated in early 2011 - Air, Energy, Materials, Noise, Waste and Water.
What is the status of the guide?
There is currently a high degree of support for Building Futures to provide a framework that supports decision making on sustianable construction and design in Hertfordshire. The eleven authorities have recently agreed to develop an 'Interactive Checklist' to achieve this which will be developed through 2011/12. It will also serve as a new front-end to the Building Futures guide and website.
Why has the website been remodelled?
The guide was placed on the web in 2007. At that time the project partners recognised that further work was needed to make the guide a more interactive, informative and geographically specific toolkit. This led to the redesign of the website to allow greater ease of use. Facilities have been added to allow users to suggest new case study material and post questions, request advice, using the new discussion forum. We are now seeking to develop an 'Interactive Checklist' to serve as a new front-end to the website.