Written by Professor Malcolm Grant, Provost of UCL and Chair of the Shadow Board of Thames Gateway Institute for Sustainability

The Prime Minister launched the concept of the Institute and a sister institute in Shanghai when he was in China in early 2008. The Institute is a centre of excellence for independent sustainability research, demonstration and knowledge dissemination. It brings together world-leading experts from academia and business to conduct collaborative research to create a better environment for our future.

We have recently incorporated as a company and registered with the Charity Commission. We have strong financial backing with commitments of £12m revenue and £14m of capital over the next three years. With funding for Institute supported research and demonstration projects on top of this, we are in an excellent position to make a big impact quickly.

We have a broad base of organisations working with us already and several have made financial or in-kind contributions including Prologis, Arup, Sustainable Development Capital, VTT Group, University College London, King’s College, University of East London, Communities and Local Government, South East England Development Agency and the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation.

While a number of research projects have been progressing for 12 months, work on the ground is now gaining momentum with over a dozen projects underway, including:

• Retrofit of residential and commercial properties to reduce energy and water consumption and change behaviour
• Green roofs project to research the best materials and methods for installing green roofs on 40% of properties at the 11,000 home Barking Riverside development in east London
• Sensing project to look at the use of wireless sensors to assess the thermal performance of buildings
• Project to develop innovative insulant coatings for domestic and commercial application
• Algal biomass initiative to install and monitor a demonstrator plant in Dartford which uses algae fed from waste to generate biofuel
• Energy from landfill project at Rainham to improve the gas capture from landfill sites

By June our core team will have offices at The Bridge at Dartford and in central London with plans underway to construct a purpose-built research facility at the London Sustainable Industries Park at Dagenham Dock.

The past 18 months have been an exciting journey and as Chair of the Shadow Board I’ve had the privilege to be at the heart of the activity, working with fellow board members to shape the Institute’s development. Having recently incorporated the company we have now embarked on the important process appointing a permanent board. An advert is running in the Sunday Times on 31st May and we hope to bring you news on appointments in the near future.

I’d like to thank my fellow board members for their commitment and guidance to date and am grateful to each of you for your continued support as the Institute has evolved from concept to reality.

I hope you enjoy the first issue of our newsletter in which we bring you up to date with the Institute’s work with China and take a closer look at our retrofit activity.