I do actually believe in nuclear power, it's the only solution to an ever increasing demand for energy.

However, to belittle its dangers is extremely irresponsible.

I was talking about the spokeswoman, should have been clearer.

New Building Proposed for The Barbican

Plans have been unveiled for a new skyscraper for London.  
If it were to go ahead, at 80 storeys (300 metres), it would be the second tallest building after The Shard.




The difference is that it would be a timber construction.  
Timber is the only renewable material used for structural applications, so there are plenty of good reasons for using it, but so far the tallest timber building is a block of flats in Norway at only 14 storeys high. 

I think it's fantastic and, as you say, very brave.
The biggest objection is due to the concerns over fire but they think they can make it meet the same standards as steel and concrete buildings.

I think of the bamboo scaffolding they use in Hong Kong.

Thought you could make wood virtually or actually fireproof....

It was a nice bright evening so I took a camera with me on the dog walk so I could snap a photo I've been meaning to take for a couple of years now.
This Oak looks like it wants to get into the neighbouring field. Grass is always greener?



Any structural engineers out there care to attempt to build something like that and be sure it won't fall over? Nature is incredible.

My own professional obsession is to grow trees as fast as possible. Mark Twain said something like "Land is precious, they only made it once and they're not going to be making any more", so my philosophy as a forestry manager has always been that if you're going to be committing that precious land to growing trees for a purpose, you want to get as much tree as possible in the shortest time on any given quantity of land.

Today, I think I've managed a career high-point in that regard!



This tree was planted on a dreadful Brownfield site (an ex-colliery slag heap) this March. It's a Rowan tree, a native broadleaf tree not particularly noted for a tendency for vigorous growth and was specified to be between 20-40 cm tall, as delivered from the nursery. The protective shelter that it is planted in is 1.2 metres tall, so at the very least, 3 times the height of the tree when it was planted just 5 months ago. I wasn't able to measure it, nor could I photograph it with anything beside it for scale, but I have a nifty trick to overcome that by taking a photo of my shadow touching the tip of the tree.



I reckon it's 2.22 metres tall, so it has grown at least 1.82 metres in 5 months, which is just unheard of in something like a Rowan. It's five and a half times the size it was just a few weeks ago! 
I had about 11,000 trees planted on the site and probably 30-35% of them have already emerged from those 1.2m tubes, which, alone is pretty stunning.

Here's an Oak, a species well known for growing slowly. Oak is always way down at the lower end of the 20-40 cm height spec when delivered, so this is a fantastic result. The purple colour of the shoot and foliage is a sure-fire sign that the tree is growing incredibly fast.



Now then - on to the fast growing species!
Here's a Eucalyptus glaucescens (Tingiringi Gum) - black and white, I'm afraid! 



They were tiny when planted and the tube is only 60 cm tall. This is good and you might think its not much when compared to the other trees, but the thing about Eucs is that when other broadleaved trees are shutting down and going dormant for the winter, they carry on growing. If the temperature is over about 2 degrees centigrade, they will grow. So the native species will continue growing for another few weeks and they may put on a little extra early autumn spurt (Lammas growth), but the Eucs will just keep on growing.   Come this time next year, they're going to be rather special!!

Here's a Euc I had planted in Nottinghamshire (on the site of a WWII bomb factory).  



Nigel, the guy standing beside it is well over 6' tall and the tree is 17 months old, grown from something about 15 cm tall.

There wasn't when we started!

Ah shame. I was hoping the slag heap had something useful for tree in it.

Fast growing trees are what we need in huge abundance