Pete Walker and Katharine Beadle, from the University’s BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials within the Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering, will be working with Bristol-based company Modcell to monitor the house for a year.

Some of the panels used in the house were re-used from the house built by Kevin McCloud at the Grand Designs Live Exhibition last year.

Kevin was shown around the BaleHaus before officially opening it in front of around 100 guests from the architectural and building sectors, industrial sponsors and the main funding body, the Technology Strategy Board.

Researchers Professor Pete Walker (left) and Dr Katharine Beadle talk to Kevin McCloud

The event was covered by BBC Radio 4, BBC Points West and several local radio stations, and has sparked interest amongst staff, students and members of the local community.

Kevin McCloud said: “The great problem across sustainable construction at the moment is the lack of data.

“There’s a whole raft of new technologies which have emerged in the past 10 years and nobody really knows how well they perform.

“There is an enormous paucity of good data, so any project which is as thorough in measuring the humidity, the environmental performance, the thermal conductivity, the temperatures - as this project is - is absolutely welcome.

“I think it’s essential.”

Watch the full interview with Kevin and his speech at the opening.

Staff and students are invited to have a look around the BaleHaus on Wednesday 25 November between 12 and 2pm. It is situated next to the 25m swimming pool, opposite Marlborough Court.

Kevin McCloud talks to BBC Points West

Professor Guigné, a former graduate from Bath in 1986, has designed a new way to create small pencil-thin beams of sound, which can be used to probe the very shallow surface of the seabed and get information about the sea life just below or at the surface.

Fish, burrowing worms, deep-sea flora all leave traces in the seabed, which can now be interpreted with this instrument, called DRUMS. Professor Guigné is now mainly living in Canada, where he has created several companies using innovative science to map the sea and the land using acoustics and seismics.

He has since developed the DRUMS technology to use fine beams of sound to levitate and position objects. By levitating objects, it is possible to make them react without influence from their container and without leaving dirty residues. Combined with microgravity, this powerful new tool has now been adopted by NASA, which has recently installed Space-DRUMS on the International Space Station to create new materials and investigate their complex properties.

Professor Guigné’s seminar described these different applications of the same basic concept, weaving them around the theme of connecting ideas and showing the importance of scientific versatility and lateral thinking. He also spoke about his collaborations with Professor Nick Pace and Dr Philippe Blondel (Department of Physics), with whom he has been looking at ways of probing the interior of the Earth, and at the mapping of cold-water coral reefs, strongly affected by climate change.

Researchers at the University of Bath tested a pre-fabricated panel, as used in the construction of Balehaus@Bath, for fire safety by exposing it to temperatures over 1000°C. To reach the required standard the panel had to withstand the heat for more than 30 minutes. Over two hours later - four times as long as required - the panel had still not failed.

BaleHaus@Bath is part of a major new research project into how these renewable building materials can be used for homes of the future.

The research work on BaleHaus has been funded by Carbon Connections and the Technology Strategy Board. Researchers Dr Katharine Beadle and Christopher Gross, from the University’s BRE Centre in Innovative Construction Materials, will be monitoring the house for a year for its insulating properties, humidity levels, air tightness and sound insulation qualities to assess the performance of straw and hemp as building materials.

The ModCell BaleHaus system consists of prefabricated panels made of a structural timber frame infilled with straw bales or hemp and rendered with a breathable lime-based system. It is the creation of White Design in Bristol and Integral Structural Design in Bath, and was used last year by Kevin McCloud to build an eco-friendly house in six days for the Grand Designs Live exhibition.

ModCell is carbon negative in manufacture. Due to the high insulating properties of the panels, the BaleHaus minimises additional heating requirements reducing heating bills in housing by up to 85 per cent, and CO2 emissions by 60 per cent.

Kevin McCloud will be officially opening the BaleHaus@Bath on 19 November. A film of the opening ceremony will be available on the website.

Professor Pete Walker, Director of the University’s BRE Centre in Innovative Construction Materials said: “Straw is an ideal environmentally-friendly building material because it is renewable and is a by-product of existing farming production.

“Whilst we’ve previously done tests on individual ModCell panels, this is the first time data have been collected from a complete house. We’re hoping this will lead to these renewable materials being used more widely in the building industry for housing in the UK.

“The crop used for the straw can be grown locally, and because it absorbs carbon dioxide as it grows, buildings made from it have a very low carbon footprint.”

Craig White, Director of ModCell, said: “It is unacceptable that 27 per cent of CO2 emissions currently come from the energy we use in our homes, it is just as unacceptable to continue to emit CO2 through the energy we use to make them.

“If we are completely serious about being “carbon free” we need to rethink the design of our buildings on a large scale. The ModCell BaleHaus system is designed to deliver just such a sustainable method of construction. These tests will offer proof that sustainable building materials are a realistic option for building on a large scale.”

Kevin McCloud said: “I welcome the ongoing testing on the Balehaus. I expect the results will show people that we can minimise the use of highly processed materials in building and genuinely make use of such sustainable building materials. It’s vital that we encourage people to recycle, insulate and minimise the use of fossil fuels to keep our buildings warm.”

The project is already being followed by people across the world on the web, where visitors watched the building of the house via “Strawcam”.

The researchers at Bath have already started collecting data from the house, and have been posting online blogs on the progress of the project.

You can watch videos about the research project and the construction of the straw bale panels on the University’s website.

Other industrial partners on the research project are Agrifibre Technologies, Lime Technology, Eurban, the Centre for Window & Cladding Technology, and Willmott Dixon.

Please note the official opening today is by invitation only, however the BaleHaus will be open for staff and students to visit on Wednesday 25th November between 12 and 2 PM.

The regional event is organised by the University of Bath and schools competing from Bath include: Newbridge, Widcombe, Culverhay, Hayesfield Technology College, Oldfield and Beechen Cliff. 

The pupils, aged nine to 16, have designed and built their robots from Lego and will compete on the day to make their machines carry out missions on special ‘challenge mats’ that will require the robots to pick up and move objects, flick switches and other mechanical processes.

The teams must accumulate as many points as they can on the mats, and will continue tweaking their designs on the day to try and get the winning edge in special ‘pit’ areas, aiming for the prestigious prize of Champion’s Award.

They must also give a creative and entertaining presentation providing a solution to a problem they have identified under the theme of the event: ‘Smart Move’, looking at transporting people and data.

Fifty schools are entering the South West round over the two days, and a further 16 will compete in Dorset on 3 December. Five winning teams will go forward to national finals early next year, and from there to European finals in Turkey.

Jim Cumpson, Extended Services Coordinator at Newbridge Primary who is taking the Year 6 team to Bristol, said: “What’s great about this competition is that the children are working together in a team. They’ve come up with some good ideas about transport issues in Bath and they really have something to say on the subject. It’s giving them the chance to develop their problem-solving skills and to think independently. They’ve been putting in extra hours after school to prepare for the competition and they’re really excited about it.”

Schools have worked on the projects for the past ten weeks and the young people have interviewed local authorities, school govenors, parents and other children in preparing research for their presentation.

Event organiser John Trickett of Wessex SETPOINT, in the University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, said: “This event celebrates the achievement of those young people who will become the scientists and engineers of the future. The teams have worked very hard to design, build and program a robot and to prepare a dynamic presentation on the issue of transportation. The day itself is great fun and the pupils come away with a real sense of achievement.”

The event is hosted at the HP laboratories in Filton, and sponsored by the South West Regional Development Agency. Judges at the event are drawn from local companies and higher education, including Rollys Royce and SS Great Britain.

This year there will be one A5 card.

The design for this year's Christmas card

The inside of all cards will say Seasons Greetings.

Each card costs £0.45p and envelopes are 8p each.

Departments: To order, please raise an Agresso order stating the number of cards and whether you require envelopes. Please use IDPSPRINT as the product code.

Individuals: Cards will also be on sale from Imaging, Design & Print Services, 8 West Room 1.35 week commencing 30 November.

If you require any further information, please ring extn 4927 or email print@bath.ac.uk

As usual the Web Services team will be providing an e-card facility through the University website. This will be available from early December and will be publicised on the internal homepage.

Professor Breakwell and Dr Faith Butt, Director of the Division for Lifelong Learning, sampled Krispy Kreme doughnuts, sold by SIFE Bath the University entrepreneurs running the shop for the day.

The Vice-Chancellor Prof Glynis Breakwell with Dr Faith Butt and the SIFE Krispy Kreme doughnut team.

Professor Breakwell said: “Our students are the academic elite and this week just proves they are the enterprising elite too.

“I greatly admire their capacity for innovation and implementation. Incidentally, the doughnuts were fantastic.”

Cat Stambouzou, a final year student in Medical Engineering, said: “SIFE Bath were really honoured to have the opportunity to welcome the Vice-Chancellor to our shop.

“It’s great to showcase our SIFE projects and our work in the community, linking them at such a high level with the University, and demonstrate how our SIFE enterprise projects are creating economic opportunity for others.”

Over the last week ten teams of students from the University of Bath have been taking ownership of the shop at 7a Lower Borough Walls for one day only, setting up their own retail business from scratch and hoping to persuade local shoppers to part with their cash.

Today (Tuesday 17 November) is the turn of the Bath Rubber Duck company, an art based gift shop based around the theme of urban Bath during the day, and then an early evening gallery with invited guests and members of the public.

On Wednesday (18 November) Aptus Suits take over the shop from lunchtime with their bespoke suit service. The collection will include designer cufflinks, wallets, ties, belts.

On Thursday (19 November) it’s the Bath Soup Company selling home-made soups and on Friday 20 November the University’s Sabbatical Officers will be selling University merchandise including hoodies, t-shirts and sweatshirts.

The Office’s educational representatives were responsible for sending more than 150 international students for 2009 entry.

This is an excellent opportunity to find out more about the student recruitment market for your programmes across 16 countries and learn about the educational system in our main source markets.

All staff with an interest are warmly invited to attend the Agent Fair on Wednesday 25 November 15:30 to 17:15 in the Claverton Rooms. The conference programme and delegate details are available on the International Office intranet.

Use the ‘Information for Staff’ on the left hand menu and your usual log in and password.

For further information, please contact Virginia Irwin.

The response to the electronic form has so far been very disappointing. If you wish to attend and be part of the procession please return your form by Friday 27 November at the very latest.

You can download another form from here or if you prefer please email s.d.willmott@bath.ac.uk

The University of Bath is offering an interactive workshop ‘How to build a successful online business’ next Thursday (26 November).

It is being run by entrepreneur Mel McGee and will cover key aspects of e-business, namely how to develop a successful website. 

Most business have some kind of website presence to a greater or lesser extent whether it’s simply for sharing information, capturing customer enquiries or selling online.

The course is open to businessmen and women looking at improving their online strategy. The morning session will cover how an online business model differs from a traditional business approach, how to create an online marketing niche and how to build simple IT systems in a website to automatically deal with enquiries. 

The afternoon session will look at creating different ways of generating money from a website and how to get more people to look at the site. 

Mel McGee said: “I’ve made plenty ofmistakes and wasted time and money doing it the ‘old’ way and want others to avoid the same pitfalls.  

“This workshop is ideal for people who are completely new to the internet as well as those who are more familiar.

“It’s going to be hands on as we’ll use a working example to demonstrate the key strategies.”

It will be held at Carpenter House in Bath city centre and costs £25, including lunch. 

Places are limited and can be booked online.

Dr Thomas was one of three main speakers at the conference in Trento, Italy, addressing how religion impacts the world and how it can be connected to the Government’s efforts to promote understanding and peace.

The results and conclusions of the discussions at the conference are now due to be sent to Italian embassies all over the world.

The conference was organised by the Italian Foreign Ministry, the Autonomous Province of Trento and the Italian Institute for International Politics (ISPI) as part of the Ministry’s attempt to examine how and why religion has been marginalised.

Dr Thomas said “The next step is to firm up the ways in which the Foreign Ministry can be involved in religion. We will be looking at practical ways for the Italian Government and Non-Governmental Organisations to promote dialogue between religions on particular issues and in particular regions of the world.”

Matthew Sellick, 19, was awarded the scholarship after producing a write up of a project that involved redesigning the mechanism skateboards use in order to go around corners called ‘trucks’.

To apply for the scholarship, students had to come up with an innovative design for an original engineering device.

Matthews design stood out because it combined the two different styles of trucks that are available into one that reduced the drawbacks of both.

Matthew attended The John of Gaunt School in Trowbridge before starting a degree course in Integrated Mechanical & Electrical Engineering at the University in October this year.

The Jeremy Fry scholarship commemorates the work of the Bath-based engineer who died in 2005. Mr Fry, who founded the company Rotork Controls, was renowned for his inventive approach to engineering design as well as for nurturing young talent. He gave inventor James Dyson his first job.

The scholarship is funded by The James Dyson Foundation and is presented annually to a first-year engineering student at the University.

Matthew said: “It’s a great compliment to be recognised with a scholarship like this. It has and will continue to help my studies at University.”

He now has his eyes set on being part of the Student Formula team, an annual competition where engineering students have to design and manufacture a car. The University team came first in the UK at the competition in the summer.

He said: “After my degree I want to become an engineer for Formula One so entering that competition would be great experience for me.”

The Jeremy Fry Memorial scholarship is open to all first year engineering students studying at the University of Bath who are originally from Bath & North East Somerset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Bristol or South Gloucestershire.
Students who receive the Scholarship will get £1,000 for the first three years of their course, and £2,000 in the final year (excluding placement years).

Silicon 2009 is an international networking event attracting more than 100 delegates from microelectronics companies from as far afield as the USA and Canada.

It’s just one of the Global Entrepreneurship Week events being organised by the University’s Student’s Union, Division for Lifelong Learning, Innovation Centre and Careers Advisory Service.

Global Entrepreneurship Week, which runs from Monday 16 November until Friday 20 November, is an initiative to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity.

Other events at the University of Bath during the week include an Apprentice-style business challenge to students to bring to life an empty shop in Bath city centre, and a workshop for women about the benefits of e-business entitled, the Delights of the Digital Age on Wednesday 18 November.

Rachael Selley, Participation Manager for the Division for Lifelong Learning, said: “More and more people are showing a greater interest in enterprise since the BBC programmes ‘Dragon’s Den’ and ‘The Apprentice’.

“Global Entrepreneurship Week provides University of Bath students, staff and the public with the opportunity to develop their understanding of enterprise through a range of events, including the chance to visit students who have set up their own shop in Bath for a fortnight.”

The shop at 7a Lower Borough Walls, Bath, will be run by a different group of students each day during the fortnight, which started on Monday 10 November, with each group making a video diary.

In addition, the Careers Advisory Service will be holding regular skills workshops by the Careers Advisory Service including Leadership Skills by Proctor & Gamble, Deloitte Olympics 2012 Event by Deloitte, and How to be an Enterprising Employee by Accenture.

Anyone interested in getting involved should check the individual websites which can be found in related links and register prior to the event