News

Italian architecture firm Stefano Boeri Architetti have designed two green buildings in Milan - literally. Their "Bosco Verticale", meaning vertical forest, consists of two residential towers of 110 and 76 metres in height and will be covered in trees!

The amount of trees to be incorporated in the buildings would equal around 10,000 square metres of forest if laid out on the ground!

The website of Stefano Boeri Architetti explains that Bosco Verticale "is a system that optimizes, recuperates and produces energy. The Bosco Verticale aids in the creation of a microclimate and in filtering the dust particles contained in the urban environment. The diversity of the plants and their characteristics produce humidity, absorb CO2 and dust particles, producing oxygen and protect from radiation and acoustic pollution, improving the quality of living spaces and saving energy."

"Aeolian and photovoltaic energy systems will contribute, together with the aforementioned microclimate to increase the degree of energetic self sufficiency of the two towers."

The design of these remarkable environmentally friendly residential buildings can be seen on Stefano Boeri Architetti's website, available at http://cedr.ec/nj.

Farmer Gerard Connon, of Crumlin, has been convicted under the Water (Northern Ireland) Order SI 1999/662 for making a polluting discharge to a waterway.

On 12 January 2012, a water quality inspector acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), inspected the Black Burn at Ballyquillan Road and observed fungal growth on the bed of the waterway, affecting approximately 650m of it. Further investigation determined that agricultural effluent was discharging from the farm premises of Mr Connon and subsequently entering the Black Burn.

A sample taken at the time of the incident confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious or polluting matter, which was potentially harmful to fishlife in the receiving waterway.

After Alex Attwood granted planning permission for the construction of a £100m golf resort and hotel near the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim in February 2012, the National Trust pursued a judicial review against the decision due to the proximity of the development to the Unesco world heritage site.

However, Mr Justice Weatherup has rejected all grounds of challenge to the planning decision. As a result, developers have said that work will start as soon as possible on what Dr. Alistair Hanna, who has been driving the proposals, said would be one of the "most spectacular golf developments ever seen in Ireland".

The development will be on a 365-acre site and will include an 18 hole golf course, a five star 120-bedroom hotel and 70 golf lodges. The National Trust had argued that because the Giant's Causeway is a world heritage site, Unesco should have been consulted before Mr Attwood took his decision. Mr Justice Weatherup, however, said that world heritage convention guidelines had no standing in UK law.

In a statement, the National Trust said "We still believe that if a development of this scale does go ahead in this location, the message is that nowhere in Northern Ireland, no matter how important or protected, is safe from development." They added, "The ruling today has served to highlight aspects of very serious concern for those partners involved in the care and protection of the world heritage site."

After several discussions, postponements and objections, the pilot badger culls planned in Gloucestershire and West Somerset are set to be given the go-ahead later this year after final licence conditions were met. A reserve pilot will also be prepared in Dorset.

The culls are planned in order to halt the spread of TB in cattle, and will involve shooting badgers in the open without trapping them in cages first.

The authorisation which is provided by Natural England states that the culling will last for six weeks and can begin from 1 June. It will allow farmers in Gloucestershire and West Somerset to shoot up to 5,094 badgers. This is a move that will be repeated for the next four years despite strong opposition.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said, "I am determined that there are no further delays this year." He added, "That is why we have taken the sensible step with the farming industry to elect a reserve area that can be called upon should anything happen to prevent culling in Somerset or Gloucester."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said that the pilot will be independently checked to make sure it is removing enough badgers in a humane way, even though those in opposition to it, including the RSPCA, claim the cull is inhumane.

Ian Johnston of the NFU, said, "Last year the conditions weren't right. We need to do this properly in a very particular way and that's why the NFU asked for it to be postponed. When you have 30,000 cattle going to their death prematurely and farm businesses being destroyed... then doing nothing is not an option. So you've got to do it."

For more information, see the:

• Protection of Badgers Act 1992.

A firm behind a hydro power scheme designed to produce electricity for 600 homes has been fined £4,000 for failing to prevent contractors from polluting the River Lyon and significantly damaging the habitat of a rare mussel.

In Perth Sheriff Court, Shawater Ltd admitted that between September 2009 and October 2010 they had permitted employees of A & C Construction Ltd and Chic Kippen & Son to construct a pipeline, a ford and access tracks without a licence under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) Regulations SS 2011/209.

An investigation by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) also found that Shawater Ltd had failed to ensure silt mitigation measures were in place to prevent the discharge of suspended solids into the Inverinain Burn and the River Lyon and thereby killing and injuring freshwater pearl mussels, which are species protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

The work to the River Lyon was so disastrous that the basic repair bill ran to almost £1 million.

Sheriff Michael Fletcher said: "The inadequate protection of the river was not a one-off or an isolated incident, but a series of deficiencies over a lengthy period. This was a project taking place on a river system where it was known very delicate wildlife could be affected."

Depute fiscal Tom Dysart told the court that silt would "normally" take "hundreds of years" to flow down towards a river and that due to the mussel deaths it was "unclear" how long it would take for the population to recover in the River Lyon — if they ever will.

Sentence was deferred on Alan Smith, 48, a director of A&C Construction, and Charles Kippen, 52, from Stanley, Perthshire, a director of Chic Kippen & Son, who had admitted similar charges.

For more information see:

• Directive 1992/43/EEC, on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora.

Two hundred places are on offer for farmers across Northern Ireland to attend a free farm safety workshop next month.

The workshop is organised by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) and supported by the Farm Safety Partnership. It will be held at Ballymena Livestock Market, on Monday 11 March 2013

Farmers are urged to attend and help combat the high death toll on local farms, which saw 2012 end with 12 farm fatalities in Northern Ireland. The workshop will feature practical demonstrations by qualified instructors from the farming industry on some of the most common accidents that can take place on farms. The focus will be on reminding farmers to "STOP and THINK SAFE" about the four main dangers - Slurry, Animals, Falls and Equipment (SAFE).

The workshop will run for two hours and will cover topics such as:

• PTO guarding;
• tractor maintenance;
• livestock handling;
• slurry safety;
• working safely at heights;
• child safety; and
• telescopic handlers and quads.

Speaking prior to the event, Head of the HSENI Farm Safety Team Malcolm Downey said, "This workshop offers local farmers a great opportunity to get free expert advice and instruction on how to safely carry out many tasks on their farms. We all know that farming is a dangerous profession, but accidents on farms are not inevitable - they are avoidable. It doesn't need to cost a lot to introduce an effective culture of safety on a farm - just a little bit more time and care to consider the potential dangers."

Booking is essential, so to reserve your place please contact Martina Kennedy at the HSENI on: 028 9024 3249 or email: martina.kennedy@hseni.gov.uk.