NEWSLETTER Consiglio Architetti Europa - n° 6-05

 

English language version

The monthly electronic note from the Architects’ Council of Europe

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INTRODUCTION
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Welcome to the sixth issue in 2005 of ACE Info, covering the months of July and August, the regular update from the Architects' Council of Europe that will give you, at a glance, information on current issues, highlighting emerging areas of activity and informing you of matters of interest in the field of architectural policy.

This issue is also available in French.

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ACE Matters
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Henning Thomsen Takes up Post as Director of the AA (Denmark)
Henning Thomsen, an active member of the ACE Work Group on Urban Issues, takes up the post of Director in the ACE Member Organisation, Akademisk Arkitektforening (AA-Denmark) on the 15th August 2005. He succeeds Bente Beedholm, who has been very active within the ACE and its working structures for many years and who shall remain involved in several activities, in particular as a member of the Joint Working Party with the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE).

Trieste Declaration 2005
The Italian ACE Member Organisation, CNAPPC, organised a third international conference in Trieste on the topic of “Voyage Through Europe: Architectural experiences, visions and realities” in May 2005. It attracted a diverse audience from across the EU and beyond who were led in the debates by three leading architects: Richard Rogers (UK), Carlos Ferrater (Spain) and Hrvoje Njiric (Croatia) who shared their experiences in their respective countries. Presentation included one by the Past President of the ACE, Leopoldo Freyrie and by the Secretary General of the ACE, Alain Sagne At the end of the conference a declaration was signed by many of the participants representing various organisations in which they concluded that the planned review of the structure of the International Union of Architects (UIA) should follow a similar approach to that followed by the ACE in its recent re-structuring and that they shared a common commitment to five main elements that are crucial to achieving overall quality in the practice of architecture. These five elements are: education and training, professional practice, sustainability, cultural identity and solidarity. Copies of the declaration can be requested through the ACE Secretariat at info@acec-cae.org

ACE Events and Meetings in August, September and October 2005
Work Group on Procurement of Architectural Services – 25th and 26th August, Helsinki
Special Working Group on Services in the Internal Market – 2nd September 2005, Brussels
Work Group Urban Issues – 10th September, Poznan
Work Group on Education – 12th September, Brussels
Work Group on the Environment and Sustainable Architecture – 17th September, Lisbon
Work Group Research (first meeting) – 22nd September, Brussels
Permanent Committee – Professional Practice – 23rd September, Brussels
Permanent Committee – Communication and Education – 24th September, Brussels
Work Group Health and Safety – 5th October, Brussels
Meeting of Chief Executive Officers of Member Organisations – 6th October, Brussels
Finance Committee Meeting – 7th October, Brussels
Executive Board Meeting – 7th and 8th October, Brussels
Third Meeting of the Joint Working Party of the ACE and the EAAE – 28th October, Brussels

New President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
Jack Pringle, who has been involved in ACE activities before, has succeeded George Ferguson as the President of the RIBA for a period of one year.

Progress in USA-EU Profession to Profession Agreement for Mutual Recognition
Delegations of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and of the ACE met in Istanbul at the beginning July to advance the ongoing negotiations for a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) of Professional Qualifications. It is expected that the Agreement will be signed before the end of 2005. The Agreement will then be transmitted to the Competent Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic with a view to allow for official negotiations to take place. It is recalled that in February 2005 the Commission received a mandate from the Council to negotiate such MRA’s for architectural, planning and landscape services.

New Bureau of the International Union of Architects
The XXIII World Congress of architects took place in Istanbul, from 3-7 July 2005. The ACE was represented by Marie-Hélène Lucas, President, Alain Sagne, Secretary General and Adrian Joyce, Senior Adviser. The ACE also had an information stand in the exhibition area throughout the whole Congress.
Following the Congress, the General Assembly of the UIA took place, during which a new Bureau was elected as follows:
Gaetan Siew, President; Jordi Farrando, Secretary-General; Louise Cox, First Vice President (Region V); Giancarlo Ius, Vice President Region I; Martin Drahovsky, Vice President Region II; Mauricio Rivero Borrell, Vice-President, Region III; and Seif Alnaga, Vice-President, Region IV. Jack Pringle (RIBA, United Kingdom) and Nina Nedelykov (BAK, Germany) were elected as Members of the UIA Council.

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Core Issues
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UK Presidency Priorities
The UK has taken up the Presidency of the EU for the period July to December 2005 and it has announced its main priorities for the period. Those of interest to the architectural profession include the ambition to make progress on the proposed directive on Services in the Internal Market (SIM), to make significant progress on the REACH regulation for chemicals, to place particular emphasis on climate change policy, energy efficiency and better regulation. The full programme of the Presidency can be viewed at:
http://www.eu2005.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1107293521089

European Forum for Architectural Policies
The plenary meeting of the European Forum for Architectural Policies took place in Luxembourg on the 27th and 28th June last. Its first session was a joint session with the Ministers of Culture from the EU who were meeting at the same location for an Informal Culture Council meeting. The joint session was addressed by both Octavie Modert, the Secretary of State for Culture in Luxembourg and President of the Culture Council and by Jan Figel, EU Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multi-lingualism. In her opening remarks, Octavie Modert said “The natural and built up environment is a component of the cultural identity of our country and of the whole of Europe” stressing that “deep and lasting social and economic changes” are engendered by quality architectural projects. Jan Figel also underlined the importance of quality architecture for culture and for the Commission to take architectural quality into account in all relevant policies.
At the event, the result of a survey on the impact of the Council Resolution on architectural quality in the urban and rural landscape (adopted by the Council on the 12th February 2001) was presented. It showed that, although there have been many initiatives across the EU, there is still much to be done and many EU countries have yet to adopt coherent policies on architecture. The next event of the Forum is due to take place under the UK Presidency and will be held from the 13th to the 15th October in Glasgow and Edinburgh. For further information visit:
www.architecture-forum.net

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Other Matters
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Better Law-making – Commission Strengthens Rules on Impact Assessment
In the last issue of ACE Info, we reported on the initiative of the Commission to strengthen its rules on impact assessment through the publication of guidelines on the topic. It is possible for interested parties to submit comments on the matter via the following link:
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/impact/whatsnew.htm
It is also worth noting that the Commission is preparing, for the end of this year, a manual on self- and co-regulation for use by the Commission Services. Hearings of the various Directorates General on the proposal will take place in the context of the informal Groups of Commissioners put in place by President Barroso and Chaired by Vice-President Verheugen, Commissioner for enterprise. It is expected that this “panel” approach will result in a well-balanced proposal.

Commission Declaration on Guiding Principles for Sustainable Development
On the 25th May last, the Commission, responding to a request from the European Council of the 23rd March 2005, adopted a draft Declaration on Guiding Principles for Sustainable Development and an accompanying Commission Communication which sets out the European Union’s long-standing commitment to sustainable development as a guiding principle of all its policies and actions. The Guidelines should help the EU to create a better quality of life of all, now and in the future. The documents can be downloaded at the following address:
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/sustainable/docs/COM_2005_0218_F_EN_ACTE.pdf

Virtual Museum of Architecture
A truly virtual museum of architecture has been launched in Italy with the support of the National Council of Italian Architects and many other partners including the Municipality of Naples, the Campania Region and the National Institute of Architecture. It holds a permanent exhibition and a number of temporary exhibitions. Take a visit at:
www.muva.it

EU Submits a Revised GATS Offer
The EU submitted, at the beginning of June, a revised Global Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) Offer to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva. It outlines how the EU is prepared to further open access to its services market (including architectural services) in exchange for improved access to other WTO Member’s markets. It is ambitious in scope and responds, in many ways, to requests for access from developing countries while safeguarding public services such as education, health and audio-visual services. It can be accessed at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/newround/doha_da/pr020605_en.htm

Energy Efficiency Directive – EU States Reject Binding Targets
On the 28th June, at a meeting of Ministers responsible for energy from the 25 Member States, the binding targets written into the Commission proposal for a directive on energy end use efficiency, were rejected by the ministers. They replaced the targets with a commitment to make an effort to achieve a target of 6% in the period up to 2015. This decision follows on the adoption of the proposal by the European Parliament (see ACE Info 6-05), which had raised the targets above that set by the Commission. Without setting binding targets it seems likely that the EU Member States will not achieve the Kyoto targets that they have signed up for. Further information can be found at:
http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-141683-16&type=News

Oscar Niemeyer Project gets Protection
The International Fairground in Tripoli, Lebanon, designed by the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and built between 1968 and 1974, has been added to the World Monuments Watch list of 100 Most Endangered Sites for 2006. This is a programme of the World Monuments Fund and will have the effect of giving the buildings at the site a reprieve from a proposal to build a tourist village at the site. The full list for 2006 can be seen at:
http://wmf.org/html/programs/resources/interactive.html

Commission Publishes Contract Notices on the energy Performance of Buildings Directive and on Competitiveness of the Construction Sector
Both notices were published on the 12th July and relate to calls for tender to carry out work on topics relating to construction.
The first is a call run a variety of actions to support the full and continued implementation of the energy performance of buildings directive (2002/91/EC) over a two-and-a-half year period. It has an indicative budget of 2,000,000 euro and the closing date for receipt of tenders is the 20th September 2005. The full notice can be accessed at:
http://ted.publications.eu.int/official/Exec?DataFlow=result_details.dfl&Template=TED/result_details_curr.xsl&Page=26&StatLang=EN
The second is a call for the undertaking of a study that will analyse and assess the elements of certain Community policies that significantly affect the competitiveness of the construction sector. The indicative budget is 150,000 euro and the closing date for receipt of tenders is the 29th August 2005. The full notice can be accessed at:
http://ted.publications.eu.int/official/Exec?DataFlow=result_details.dfl&Template=TED/result_details_curr.xsl&Page=1&StatLang=EN

European Parliament Adopts a Resolution on the Proposal for a Council Regulation Establishing a Cohesion Fund (2007-2013)
On the 6th July last, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the proposal for a Council Regulation establishing a Cohesion Fund. Among the elements which the Parliament requests the Council and the Commission to take into account in the making of the regulation is the inclusion of an explicit reference in favour of people with disabilities and to the removal of every kind of barrier and obstacle and to making expenditure on the renovation of social housing with a view to achieving energy savings eligible for funding from the Cohesion funds. The full text can be accessed at:
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2005-0278+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&LEVEL=3&NAV=X

70 Cents for Culture
This is an initiative of the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) and the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (EFAH), which aims to get the EU to spend 70 cents per citizens per year on Culture. It is a long way from achieving its goal as the current expenditure is only about 7 cents per citizen per year. On the 10th May last, the European Parliament’s Temporary Committee on Policy Challenges and Budgetary Means of the enlarged EU on the EU’s general financial framework for 2007-2013 recommended an increase over the life of the framework to a sum of 17 cents per citizen per year. However, with the failure of the EU Summit to agree on the financial perspectives in June, even this modest increase is in doubt. More on the campaign can be found at:
www.eurocult.org

Commission Launches Campaign to Raise Awareness About Sustainable Energy
The Commission launched, on Monday 18th July, a Sustainable Energy Europe campaign aimed at raising the awareness of decision-makers at local, regional, national and European level, spread best practice, ensure a strong level of public awareness, understanding and support and stimulate the necessary trends towards an increase in private investment in sustainable energy technologies. Within the campaign, achievable benchmarks for 2008 are provided including several for buildings. These are that, by 2008, around 5 million inspections and assessments of heating systems will take place, 2 million Energy Performance Certifications on smaller buildings will be carried out and 50,000 “very low” energy houses will be built. More information at:
http://www.sustenergy.org/

The Berlaymont Building Receives its Energy Performance Certificates
On the 24th June last, the Commissioner for Industry, Andres Piebalgs, was given the energy performance certificates for the headquarters of the Commission – the Berlaymont Building. These certificates are part of the measures provided for by the Energy performance of Buildings Directive that must be brought into force in the Member States by January 2006. The Commission hopes to set a good example and the certificates issued in June seem to indicate that they have. The renovated building, located in the heart of the European Quarter in Brussels, has an energy consumption that is, according to the experts that prepared the certificates, less than half that of the average consumption of comparable buildings.

European Competition Policy Report 2004
The European Commission has recently adopted its annual report on European competition policy for 2004, a year marked by the entry into force of new regulations, particularly regulation 1/2003 on antitrust and 139/2004 on concentrations. The report can be downloaded from the following address:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/annual_reports/

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Publications
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Encounters – Architectural Essays
A collection of the essays (in English) by the Finnish architect, educator and critic, Juhani Pallasmaa and edited by Peter McKeith. The essays are collected from those that have been written over a 25-year period. This publication contains essays that range from considerations of identity and intention to technology and nature, from standardised systems of construction to phenomenological approaches to architecture. It can be ordered on line at:
www.rakennustieto.fi
The same publisher is also offering a number of books on the works of Alvar Aalto that are work a look.

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Events
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Communicating European Research 2005
On 14-15 November, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research will host the second “Communicating European Research” conference at the Brussels Exhibition Centre. Based on the very positive experiences from the 2004 edition, the event will focus on the manifold aspects of science communication and will provide an excellent forum and meeting place for scientists, communication professionals and journalists. The conference will also take stock of the way towards the Seventh Framework Programme. Full information is available at:
www.europa.eu.int/comm/research/cer2005.html

1st European Social Housing Week 10th to 14th October 2005
CECODHAS, the European Liaison Committee for Social Housing, has announced the first ever European Social Housing Week, for which a number of high-level events and a major exhibition in the European Parliament, are being organised in Brussels. Full information can be found at:
http://www.cecodhas.org/rightclick.cfm?ID=40

Symposium on Market Access
To be Chaired by the EU Commissioner for Trade, Peter Mandelson, the EU Commission is organising a symposium on market access entitled “To Lisbon … and Beyond: Market Access and External Aspects of Competitiveness” in Brussels on the 19th September 2005. This is one of the Commission's regular Market Access symposia - the last of which took place in February 2003 and which hosted over 1000 business, Member States, accession and third country representatives as well as lawyers and academic circles - have contributed substantially to this three-way pro-active dialogue, providing the Commission with detailed and strategic guidance on how to improve our access to third countries' markets. Full details on this years event can be accessed at:
http://mkaccdb.eu.int/madb2/symposium2005/index.htm

Emissions and Odours from Materials
Being organised by CERTECH – the Centre for Technology Resources in Chemistry – is organising this conference on the 12th and 13th October 2005. It will be held in Brussels and it will look at a range of issues surrounding the question of indoor air quality including comfort and impacts on health. Full details can be accessed at:
http://www.certech.be/index.php?ContentID=6

2nd European Symposium on Research in Architecture, Urban and Landscape Design
To be held in Lille, France, this symposium will explore the issue of “Space on a Large Scale” and will take place from the 23rd to the 25th November 2005. The languages of the symposium will be French and English and full details at:
http://eurau2005.lille.archi.fr/

Modern Earth Building 2005
To be held in Berlin, Germany, from the 18th to the 20th November 2005, this international conference will seek to enhance co-operation and transfer of knowledge about earth construction. Conference languages will be German and English and full details can be accessed at:
http://www.moderner-lehmbau.com/english/programm/index.html

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Calls for Papers
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The ACE frequently receives notifications of “Calls for Papers” for conferences and seminars worldwide. You may have written a thesis or doctorate paper that you would like to present or you may have an idea that you wish develop and to share with a wider audience – here is your chance:

5th Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions – New Delhi, India
This conference will be held in India from the 6th to the 8th November 2006. The organisers have issued a call for papers with a deadline for receipt of abstracts of the 30th September 2005. Full details can be found at:
www.sahc2006.org

Improving Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings – Frankfurt, Germany
This conference will be held in Germany on the 26th and 27th of April 2006. It will seek to attract property investors to present and discuss the energy efficiency contribution to shareholder value in publicly traded companies as well as the importance of public buildings as showcase examples for energy efficiency solutions and practices. The deadline for the submission of abstracts has been set at the 30th September 2005. Full details can be found at:
http://energyefficiency.jrc.cec.eu.int/Electricity%20end-use/events.htm
under “Future Events”.

Accidents and Safety in the Construction Sector – Helsinki, Finland
This conference will be held in Finland from the 10th to the 12th May 2006. The call for papers covers a wide range of topics and their relationship to accidents and safety in the sector. The deadline for receipt of abstracts is the 31st October 2005 and full details can be accessed at:
http://www.ril.fi/Resource.phx/seminaari/semi-safety/index.htx

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Competitions

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International Ideas Competition – “Time in a City”
With a first prize of 3,000 US dollars, this ideas competition seeks to explore the concept of how time can be expressed by a square, a river, a fountain, a park, a construction, a landscape element, a sculpture etc. Full details can be accessed at:
http://www.professionearchitetto.it/concorsi/notizia.asp?id=4038

Global House 2005 – for Young Architects
Restricted to students and architects under the age of 28, this competition this competition seeks to collect the best ideas about what houses ought to be like in the current Global Village. There are three cash prizes and nine regional “mentions”. Full details at:
http://www.arquitectum.com/casa_global_en.php

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Useful links

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION HOMEPAGE
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/index_en.htm

SEARCH PAGE FOR COMMISSION DOCUMENTS
http://www.europa.eu.int/prelex/rech_simple.cfm?CL=en

THE BARROSO COMMISSION:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/commission_barroso/index_en.htm

Website of the UK Presidency
http://www.eu2005.gov.uk

WEBSITE OF THE LUXEMBOURG PRESIDENCY
http://www.eu2005.lu/en (Then choose your preferred language)

European Forum for Architectural Policies
http://www.architecture-forum.net

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING WEBSITE
www.sustainablebuilding.info

COAC INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS DATABASE:
http://www.coac.net/internacional/default_w.html

CNAPPC DATABASE – ARCHIEUROPE:
http://www.archieuro.archiworld.it

WEBSITE OF THE EUROPEAN CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM:
http://www.ectp.org

EU IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN PRACTICE
Consult a list of impact assessments that the EU has carried out on various legislative packages at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/impact/index_en.htm

ACE WEBSITE
http://www.ace-cae.org

USEFUL TIP:
In the website addresses given in ACE Info for the documents of the EU, you will frequently see the following near the end of the address: “_en”. These two letters define the language of the document (English in the case of “en”) and you can usually change these two letters in order to bring you to a different language version as follows:
French _fr German _de Danish _da Swedish _sv
Italian _it Spanish _es Greek _el Dutch _nl
Portuguese _pt Finnish _fi Czech _cs Maltese _mt
Estonian _et Latvian _lv Lithuanian _lt Polish _pl
Hungarian _hu Slovene _sl Slovak _sk

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EDITOR’S NOTE
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The editorial board for the compilation of ACE Info is:

The ACE President: Marie-Helene Lucas
The Secretary General of the ACE: Alain Sagne
Senior Advisor to the ACE: Adrian Joyce

ACE Info is normally issued around the second Wednesday of each month. You are free to circulate the document as widely as you wish, to translate its contents for use in your publications and to refer to the information it contains once you credit the ACE as the origin.

If you wish to receive ACE Info regularly and you are not on the mailing list, you can register online at: http://www.ace-cae.org/Public/fsPublicNetwork_EN.html

If you have information that you wish to have included in the next issue then e-mail it (in English or French please) to adrian.joyce@ace-cae.org Deadline for submissions is the first Friday of each month.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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The editorial board wishes to acknowledge the sources of information for this issue of ACE Info which include the UIA, Jean-Marie Fauconnier, the Euractiv website (www.euractiv.com) and Bulletin Quotidien Europe.

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adrian.joyce@ace-cae.org – Comments and contributions welcome