UCL Bartlett building meme cements its success

The latest internet buzzword is 'meme'; a fast-spreading and near-organically evolving idea. Clicking onto www.lowcarbonbuildingsdirectory.org, an initiative by UCL Bartlett Complex Building Environment Systems Group (CBES) gives you an idea of how powerful this concept can be.

Like its name suggests, this directory is an educational tool for sharing and improving upon ideas via webcast lectures on the design and structure of low-carbon buildings. It's backed by a growing network construction and engineering professionals and aimed at postgraduate students in architecture.

Dr Dejan Mumovic, was the primary investigator of the UCL group that developed lowcarbonbuildingsdirectory.org. But, he says he hopes the directory will now become an internationally co-operative effort: "This site has been initiated and run by UCL, but it would not survive without help from other partners from industry and other UK academic institutions.

"Currently, all the video lectures are peer reviewed by academics from various UK universities at this moment. Therefore, it is not aimed to belong to the UCL only.

"Lowcarbonbuildingsdirectory.org has to attract the best academics from the UK and eventually all over the world, so it cannot be seen as solely UCL's, although it is clear that we are playing the pivotal role."

The site already has the backing of prestigious bodies like the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA-England) and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) just a few weeks after launch.

The first set of lectures based on the Low Carbon Buildings Symposium held at UCL was funded by UrbanBuzz Building Sustainable Communities Programme, with VIPs like Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesman Lord Teverson, Ted King (Department of Communities and the Local Government), Hywel Davies (CIBSE) and Chris Twinn, from project consultants Arup.

To find out more about lowcarbonbuildingsdirectory.org, CBES and UCL Bartlett please click on the links above.

Image shows Professor Bob Lowe, CBES, UCL Bartlett, delivering a lecture via lowcarbonbuildings.org.