Dry-stone walls are formed by carefully stacking blocks of stone rubble, without the use of mortar. Found throughout the world, dry-stone walls form the distinctive character of many areas of the UK, including the Cotswolds, Peak District and Lake District. Dry-stone retaining walls are engineering structures used to support road, railway and canal cuttings and embankments. The walls are commonly about 0.6m thick and are comprised of a bonded masonry face with stacked rubble stone behind. They were mostly built during the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are about 9000 km of these walls along the UK road network alone, having an estimated replacement value in excess of 1 billion. Though the ageing stock of walls is still performing very well, their deteriorating condition and occasional sudden collapse is a major problem for highway maintenance authorities.There is uncertainty about how these walls actually behave under load and what the factors of safety against collapse are. This current lack of understanding of real collapse mechanisms including three-dimensional effects, combined with the factors of safety required by modern design codes and uncertainties over design parameters such as soil properties, wall dimensions, groundwater conditions and loading, leads to the unnecessary replacement of satisfactory walls and the failure to identify walls that are in danger of imminent collapse.Even though dry-stone walls have distinct advantages over more modern earth retention methods (such as the use of local materials combined with a free-draining and flexible structure), the engineering uncertainties are such that new and replacement construction is rarely in dry-stone masonry. The unnecessary replacement of satisfactory walls, often by concrete structures, results in high costs associated with construction, traffic disruption, increased risk of damage to property or life, and potentially adverse environmental impacts. The current lack of understanding of the real mechanisms of dry-stone retaining wall behaviour is perhaps unsurprising given that no significant experimental investigation of dry-stone retaining walls has been carried out since a limited study undertaken over 170 years ago. The resulting lack of direct quantitative data concerning dry-stone retaining wall behaviour is not only a problem in its own right, but has also hampered validation of modern computer-based numerical analyses.Increased use of dry-stone walling for repairs and new construction, and prolonging the service life of the existing stock, can only happen with a proper, validated, theoretically based understanding of how these structures work, and the development of suitable design methods that are applicable in the modern engineering environment. The two main areas of uncertainty currently hindering the efficient and accurate assessment of dry-stone retaining walls are bulging and wall thickness. The objective of the proposed research is to develop a greater understanding of these two key issues by means of an experimental study combined with parametric three-dimensional discrete element analyses, and the further development of limit equilibrium analysis methods for the design and analysis of existing dry-stone retaining walls.

Dry-stone walls are formed by carefully stacking blocks of stone rubble, without the use of mortar. Found throughout the world, dry-stone walls form the distinctive character of many areas of the UK, including the Cotswolds, Peak District and Lake District. Dry-stone retaining walls are engineering structures used to support road, railway and canal cuttings and embankments. The walls are commonly about 0.6m thick and are comprised of a bonded masonry face with stacked rubble stone behind. They were mostly built during the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are about 9000 km of these walls along the UK road network alone, having an estimated replacement value in excess of 1 billion. Though the ageing stock of walls is still performing very well, their deteriorating condition and occasional sudden collapse is a major problem for highway maintenance authorities.There is uncertainty about how these walls actually behave under load and what the factors of safety against collapse are. This current lack of understanding of real collapse mechanisms including three-dimensional effects, combined with the factors of safety required by modern design codes and uncertainties over design parameters such as soil properties, wall dimensions, groundwater conditions and loading, leads to the unnecessary replacement of satisfactory walls and the failure to identify walls that are in danger of imminent collapse.Even though dry-stone walls have distinct advantages over more modern earth retention methods (such as the use of local materials combined with a free-draining and flexible structure), the engineering uncertainties are such that new and replacement construction is rarely in dry-stone masonry. The unnecessary replacement of satisfactory walls, often by concrete structures, results in high costs associated with construction, traffic disruption, increased risk of damage to property or life, and potentially adverse environmental impacts. The current lack of understanding of the real mechanisms of dry-stone retaining wall behaviour is perhaps unsurprising given that no significant experimental investigation of dry-stone retaining walls has been carried out since a limited study undertaken over 170 years ago. The resulting lack of direct quantitative data concerning dry-stone retaining wall behaviour is not only a problem in its own right, but has also hampered validation of modern computer-based numerical analyses.Increased use of dry-stone walling for repairs and new construction, and prolonging the service life of the existing stock, can only happen with a proper, validated, theoretically based understanding of how these structures work, and the development of suitable design methods that are applicable in the modern engineering environment. The two main areas of uncertainty currently hindering the efficient and accurate assessment of dry-stone retaining walls are bulging and wall thickness. The objective of the proposed research is to develop a greater understanding of these two key issues by means of an experimental study combined with parametric three-dimensional discrete element analyses, and the further development of limit equilibrium analysis methods for the design and analysis of existing dry-stone retaining walls.

One of the driving forces behind the Connected Communities scheme is to help communities become stronger, more resilient and self-reliant so that they can adapt and thrive even in difficult times like the economic downturn. Recent research showed that good use of co-design and co-production in community-led developments could support community building, since the participatory approach encourages self-help and positive behaviour changes, as well as create new networks within the community and strengthen existing ones. Effective use of co-design and co-production in community-led developments could get hard to reach groups involved and come up with creative and practical solutions. However, successful use of co-design and co-production in community-led developments is still rare. In most cases, people are not truly treated as co-decision makers or co-developers. The majority of engagements in community-led development projects are confined to consultation practices. Experts observed that engagement activities should not focus on identifying needs, problems and deficiencies, as it could make people look at their communities with negative lenses. It would be more useful to concentrate on assets that a community possesses (e.g. self-help groups) and explore how to mobilise them to create new opportunities. As a result, we are interested in the 'Asset-Based Community Development: ABCD' concept, which begins with the self-mapping exercise to uncover hidden assets. For us, these positive principles will underpin our approach to co-design and co-production, since it concentrates on working with communities to achieve lasting changes. While the original ABCD concept aims to identify assets to create new economic opportunities, we are particularly interested in how to uncover hidden assets - the assets that are currently unrecognised by most community members (e.g. voices of marginalised members). We would like to find out why some community engagement activities include/exclude certain members of the community. What are conditions that enable/hinder community engagement? It is important to explore both practical and emotional barriers, e.g. ethnic/cultural differences that could lead to prejudices and stigmas. Although previous studies suggested that it is unrealistic to expect the same level of participation from all members of a community, there is a need to ensure that community engagement activities are designed in ways that allows active members to shine without making less-active members feel left out. We will explore how to practically make community-led developments more inclusive. We are also interested in exploring how the asset-mapping exercise might help us understand the makeup of a community. The idea is to understand the makeup of a well-functioning community and use it as an example to inspire other communities to realise their potential and help them move towards becoming well-functioning. Our main contribution and innovative element of our proposal is making the invisible (people, assets and the makeup of a community) visible so that they can be utilised to create new opportunities for communities in an inclusive manner. Hence, the aim of the project is 'to find out how to achieve inclusive asset-based community developments through co-design and co-production.' In Phase 1, we will try out different co-creation techniques (e.g. community film making and community-led design) to find out which co-creation activities include or exclude which groups and which activities are likely to identify which types of assets (e.g. economic, social or cultural assets). We will work with communities to learn from previous ABCD projects, reflect on our former community engagement experiences, identify potential barriers and explore how to address them. What we learn from piloting different co-creation activities will help us shape up the agendas and methodology for Phase 2, and plan inclusive co-production activities.

Ensuring there is sufficient energy is a global challenge, caused by increasing demand and the need to move to low carbon energy to avoid dangerous climate change. Photovoltaics, including those mounted on buildings and the ground, are predicted to provide a key component of energy in the future, with the recent US Clean Power Plan and policies in China and Japan placing particular emphasis on solar power. Further, solar energy is increasingly cost competitive, with large scale solar park costs now similar to that of conventional energy sources. Within the UK, 47 % of solar photovoltaics are ground-mounted as solar parks. There has been a shift towards ground-mounted solar parks in countries within 35 degrees of the equator and a shift toward large-scale ground-mounted systems in Europe is anticipated. Solar parks take up a relatively large area of land for the energy they produce compared with conventional sources of energy. Yet, despite the expanding land area occupied by solar parks little is known of the impacts of their construction, physical presence and management on the landscape, or how we can use the opportunities provided by this land use transition to bring additional benefits, such as enhanced green infrastructure and ecological connectivity. Alongside switching to low carbon energy sources, in the light of growing populations and heightened pressures on resources, it is becoming increasingly recognised that we need to protect our environment, since it provides many goods (e.g. crops) and services (e.g. carbon storage) that contribute to the wellbeing and economic prosperity of society. The increasing land cover of solar parks presents an excellent opportunity to maximise the provisioning of such goods and services, with management options relatively low cost compared with those related to solar park construction. Therefore, this project will develop a decision-support tool to assess the impacts of solar parks, including their construction, physical presence and management, on the goods and services the landscape provides. There are five key components: 1. Synthesis of existing solar park guidelines; 2. Production of a compendium of the beneficial and detrimental effects of solar parks on goods and services supplied by the landscape; 3. Quantification of the change in goods and services over the operational life-time of solar parks; 4. Development of a decision-support tool that promotes the optimal deployment and management of solar parks; 5. Dissemination of the outcomes of the project to the broader solar development community. There are 11 project partners, covering all solar park stakeholders: Christine Coonick, National Solar Centre; Ed Jessamine, Novus Solar; Nick White, Natural England; Jonathan Scurlock, National Farmers Union; Jon Abbatt, ADAS; Richard Winspear, RSPB; Melanie Dodd, Wiltshire Council; Adam Twine, Colleymore Farm; James Ryle, Good Energy; and Phillip Duncan, Corylus. The key output from the project is the SPIES (Solar Park Impacts on Ecosystem Services) decision-support tool, which will provide a standardised means of identifying the best way to install and manage solar parks. Thus the tool will be useful for developers, consultees and regulatory agencies and may reduce prolonged and expensive planning applications, which will be beneficial to all parties. The National Solar Centre will help us drive the tool into policy which would lead to a noteworthy sustained contribution to sustainable energy generation and the supply of goods and services from the landscape. Further, given the global proliferation of solar parks and the growing global awareness of the importance of our natural environment, the proposed tool could help to stimulate innovation in business and investment opportunities, and build the UK's reputation as a global leader in solar park deployment. Keywords: solar parks, low carbon energy, ecosystem services, green infrastructure

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