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Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland

theguardian.com

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Re: Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland

#81

Post by arjie »

harimau777 wrote: post #80
arjie wrote: post #78

Building construction in the UK is not the fastest most-frequent thing to start with. And planning constraints can be quite strict[0]. > Julia Moulder, development director at Catalyst and chair of the G15 development committee, said: ‘If you can’t source the brick and you change it you need to go back through the planning process, and that is something that’s started happening. I think it is going to start to knock…

I don't think that 35 pounds is likely to be a significant driver of rising home prices.

But having to wait months for planning permission because you had to substitute the specialized brick will be. The thing with thousand cuts is that no single cut is significant. There are a thousand of them. And they're all small.

Re: Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland

#82

Post by slopinthebag »

4ndrewl wrote: post #70
nothinkjustai wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re getting downvoted, but I agree. It’s never the carrot but always the stick with these kind of government initiatives and then people wonder why they’re so hated. If they were smart they would make it a tax break, and the more you do to welcome animals on your property the bigger it is. Why just one swift brick? What about a bird house? How about a little shelter for cats? Animal lovers get rewarded and those w…

You say they're hated, but my echo chamber says they're a great idea. If you're so opposed though, you could always vote them out in the next Scottish election.

Legislation like this is never really "hated", in fact people will look at you funny if you oppose it (or you get downvoted). But people hate how expensive housing is, they hate when they personally have to deal with the regulatory state, and they hate the outcomes of these types of regulations.

It's kind of like how a developer might be totally fine with an inefficient line of code and accuse you of prematurely optimising. But then the entire program is slow, because this mentality leaks to every line of code in the codebase. So they hate "slow software" but they see no problem with the individual inefficiencies.

Re: Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland

#83

Post by isleyaardvark »

tdb7893 wrote: post #24

In the US bird populations are down 30% since the 70s (with many species seeing much more significant declines) and you see similar trends in many other countries. You'll probably see a lot more of these sorts of conservation efforts as people start to realize how dire things are ecologically. Source for decline number: https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.aaw1313 I also know the numbers are similarly dir…

Even during the 70s there were already conservation efforts. The Eastern bluebird almost went extinct in the 70s but a bunch of Americans built birdhouses for them.

Re: Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland

#84

Post by soopypoos »

arjie wrote: post #78

Building construction in the UK is not the fastest most-frequent thing to start with. And planning constraints can be quite strict[0]. > Julia Moulder, development director at Catalyst and chair of the G15 development committee, said: ‘If you can’t source the brick and you change it you need to go back through the planning process, and that is something that’s started happening. I think it is going to start to knock…

seems like property developers complaining about having to stick to their own plans

Re: Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland

#85

Post by Nifty3929 »

harimau777 wrote: post #80
arjie wrote: post #78

Building construction in the UK is not the fastest most-frequent thing to start with. And planning constraints can be quite strict[0]. > Julia Moulder, development director at Catalyst and chair of the G15 development committee, said: ‘If you can’t source the brick and you change it you need to go back through the planning process, and that is something that’s started happening. I think it is going to start to knock…

I don't think that 35 pounds is likely to be a significant driver of rising home prices.

It will if it's a required 35lb item, which is not readily available from multiple sources.

Re: Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland

#86

Post by arjie »

Nifty3929 wrote: post #85
harimau777 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that 35 pounds is likely to be a significant driver of rising home prices.

It will if it's a required 35lb item, which is not readily available from multiple sources.

35 quid, not 35 lbs.

Re: Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland

#87

Post by js2 »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #59
js2 wrote: post #42

> Hannah Bourne-Taylor, who has campaigned for swift bricks nationally for four years. The article apparently undersells her role. Clicking through to her site, she seems to have been almost singularly responsible for making this happen: > For my campaign – for swifts – I have walked through London naked, twice. First to launch the petition (how else would a nobody reach the almost impossible target?) and secondly to…

Her photo on the linked article definitely makes her seem quite determined to get this done. "Your house is getting a swift brick, your choice is whether you install it during construction, or I install it through your window."

No kidding. From an earlier article:

> During her campaign, she’s been trolled by everyone from ministers to abusive internet trolls. “The worst ones are not the horrible violent ones, it’s the relentless, patronising criticism from nature lovers – ‘This is just one species, this is not going to solve the nature crisis.’ Firstly, [the brick] is not just for one species. And secondly, you’d like little old me to stop pesticide use? Let me just get on that right now. We shouldn’t just get Chris Packham to do everything. The nature crisis is on us.”

> In private, says Bourne-Taylor, politicians “always say things like: ‘Oh, legislation is very hard.’ That’s your job. Do your job. A senior Labour minister told me that [housing minister] Matthew Pennycook was getting irritated by the mention of swift bricks, implying that I should pipe down. How about you just do it and then I’ll go away?”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/05/the-hypo...

Re: Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland

#88

Post by Leonard_of_Q »

pdpi wrote: post #61
js2 wrote: post #42

> Hannah Bourne-Taylor, who has campaigned for swift bricks nationally for four years. The article apparently undersells her role. Clicking through to her site, she seems to have been almost singularly responsible for making this happen: > For my campaign – for swifts – I have walked through London naked, twice. First to launch the petition (how else would a nobody reach the almost impossible target?) and secondly to…

The photo is somewhat NSFW (lots of exposed skin, no “naughty bits”), but it’s well worth looking at in some detail. It’s an amazing photo!

There's nothing NSFW about that photo, she's wearing some shirt-thing which happens to be light-coloured.

Re: Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland

#89

Post by Leonard_of_Q »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #59
js2 wrote: post #42

> Hannah Bourne-Taylor, who has campaigned for swift bricks nationally for four years. The article apparently undersells her role. Clicking through to her site, she seems to have been almost singularly responsible for making this happen: > For my campaign – for swifts – I have walked through London naked, twice. First to launch the petition (how else would a nobody reach the almost impossible target?) and secondly to…

Her photo on the linked article definitely makes her seem quite determined to get this done. "Your house is getting a swift brick, your choice is whether you install it during construction, or I install it through your window."

> "Your house is getting a swift brick, your choice is whether you install it during construction, or I install it through your window."

While I'm fine with adding nesting opportunities for birds to newly built houses I'm quite done with the die Partei hat immer recht attitude of these do-gooders. The attitude of 'I know better and anyone who refuses my wisdom is a cave troll who can expect a brick chucked through the window' is not an example of 'girl power' or 'righteous anger' but one of an individual not used to having to explain her position based on facts and figures. The aggressive pose in that photo only underlines this. A fine photo, sure, but combined with the above message it is not so fine.

Re: Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland

#90

Post by CraigJPerry »

jgraham wrote: post #34
erhserhdfd wrote: post #27

I am frustrated by this article. 1. Why focus on Swifts as opposed to any other species in decline? They state that they are "iconic", so maybe that's the answer? Are they more "iconic" than any other specifies in Scotland? 2. Why are these bricks the best solution? Why not take that money that would be spent on bricks and instead preserve land, or just build them dedicated houses elsewhere? 3. Why does this need to…

> 1. Why focus on Swifts as opposed to any other species in decline? They state that they are "iconic", so maybe that's the answer? Are they more "iconic" than any other specifies in Scotland? They are a red-listed species whose population in the UK has declined by two thirds in 30 years. They are also a species for which there's an obvious measure that can be taken to reverse one of the changes which we know has hap…

That was a really thoughtfully put together answer. Kudos, i enjoyed reading that
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