Teeing up a heat pump retrofit at The Oxfordshire Golf Hotel & Spa

The Oxfordshire golf resort is investing £700,000 in a major services retrofit, including a solar array, that will see heat pumps replace oil-fired boilers and potentially deliver sufficient energy and resource savings to boost annual profits by up to 30%. Alex Smith looks at how the challenges were addressed

Completing the picture – London Energy Map

The London Energy Map project tried to provide a clearer picture of building energy use in the capital by analysing the existing dataset. Dora Ma and Ed Cremin, of Etude, analyse the numbers

Interview: Piers Heath – integrated design at Foster + Partners

Global architect Foster+Partners now has fully integrated environmental engineering in its design studios to optimise building performance. Piers Heath tells Alex Smith how scientific first principles are embedded in designs and shares plans to incorporate soft landings in every project

Ant Wilson: ahead of his time

Ant Wilson FCIBSE has been at the forefront of building services innovation for 40 years, helping to change how engineers design buildings. After his retirement from Aecom, Alex Smith looks back at a prolific career

Opening the loop – CP3 guide

Open-loop groundwater source heat pumps are poorly understood and little used in the UK. A new code of practice, CP3, aims to raise standards, say Phil Jones and Bean Beanland

Force of nature – naturally ventilating Amsterdam’s Breeze Hotel

The 11-storey Breeze Hotel in Amsterdam has a unique natural ventilation system that uses solar chimneys and water droplets sprayed into a shaft to move air around the building. Andy Pearson speaks to the academic behind the concept, Dr Ben Bronsema, and looks  at how his ‘earth, wind and fire’ theory became reality