Ellie, Ben and Cherry led a volunteer team of architects for the charity, Crisis Over Christmas, transforming a school in north London into a centre providing outreach services for homeless people.

Over eight days the centre provided hot meals, washing facilities, advice, companionship, health checks and many other essential services for homeless and vulnerably housed people.

ECA have been shortlisted for an International Urban Design Competition for the regeneration of Wellesley Road and Park Lane in Croydon.

ECA are one of four practices invited to take part in Stage 2 of the competition. Wellesley Road and Park Lane are part of Croydon's larger vision and Will Alsop's Third City Masterplan.

Further information about the competition and masterplan can be found on the Croydon Third City website

Robin Nicholson has been appointed joint Deputy Chair of CABE.

CABE (The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) is the government's advisor on architecture, urban design and public space.

ECA's first vertical axis wind turbine is now in place at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

The John Hope Gateway building is due for completion early next year and will be a threshold into the world of the Botanic Garden, as well as to the visitor facilities.

The wind turbine is part of a range of renewable energy systems and materials incorporated in the design, including a green roof, rainwater harvesting, a biomass boiler, natural ventilation and passive night-time cooling.

The International Digital Laboratory (IDL) at the University of Warwick is rated BREEAM 'Excellent'.

This flagship research building for the University is the first of its kind to achieve BREEAM 'Excellent', with a score of 74.71% under a bespoke assessment.

The sustainable methods employed to achieve this include:

• 2000 square metre mono-pitched sedum covered roof
• exposed thermal mass
• BSM system with automated windows and intelligent lighting
• majority natural ventilation with cooling through below-slab labyrinth
• energy supplied from University's CHP network

The Barge Arm Development has been awarded the Best Private Housing Development at the Brick Awards.

The Brick Awards recognise excellence in design and construction using brick. The Barge Arm was chosen for "the way in which this new building acknowledges its context by taking clues from the existing warehouses without slavishly copying them." The judges commented that "whilst there are a number of materials used...the brickwork provides a unifying theme that is fundamental to the success of the composition" and "the buildings create a number of external spaces that enhance the experience of living in these well designed apartments."

The Barge Arm Development is situated on the historic Gloucester Docks.

Over two weekends in September, ECA raised £1,000 for charity competing in a duathlon and taking part in the Open House Night Hike.

On 14th September, Chris Johnson and Javier Valladares completed a 34km duathlon in Richmond Park to raise money for the Chelsea & Westminster Health Charity that aims to improve the health of the people of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Wandsworth.

On Friday 19th September, dressed in their finest attire, Amy Glover, Chris Crofts, Dan Rigamonti and Eleanor Mayfield from ECA with friends, Anja and Enrico, hiked 20 miles around London through the night into Saturday morning to raise money for Maggie's Cancer Care Centres.

Open House London 20 - 21 September 2008.

As part of the Open House London events, ECA designed buildings, Greenwich Millennium Primary School and the University of East London Docklands Campus, will be open to the public.

Access to the buildings is free of charge. More information about the event can be found on the Open House London website.

Gordon Brown opened the Warwick Digital Laboratory on Friday 25th July 2008.

The new state-of-the-art laboratory at the University of Warwick will offer large scale research and development opportunities, post graduate education and knowledge transfer and assistance for small businesses.

The Prime Minister opened the Lab using computer generated scissors to 'cut' a ribbon in cyberspace.

Gordon Brown said of the Lab: "I was lucky enough to be able to lay the foundation stone...and to see a building constructed...of such quality, of such expertise and elegance is a tribute to all who played a part."

The Barge Arm Development has received a Commendation in the Gloucester City Council Civic Awards 2008.

The Barge Arm Development is situated on the historic Gloucester Docks and was commended for its contribution to the environment of the City in the Best Climate Friendly Scheme category.

The residential development is in two parts; the Barge Arm and the Barge Arm East and achieves environmental ratings of BREEAM 'Excellent' and BREEAM 'Very Good'.

As part of the London Festival of Architecture happening this month, ECA are opening their studios from 4 - 7pm on 17th July 2008.

A presentation of our work will start at 5.30pm, so please arrive 15 minutes before and join us for a drink. Details how to find our office can be found on our contact page.

ECA is a member of the Soft Landings Task Group, launched 30th April by BSRIA. Soft landings ensure the designers and constructors stay involved with buildings beyond practical completion, to help the operators and users to understand how to use the buildings and fine tune the M&E as necessary.

Soft Landings grew out of the experience of several buildings at the University of Cambridge including our Centre for Mathematical Sciences, seen here being tested for air-tightness during the 2003 Probe Study (www.usablebuildings.co.uk)

Soft Landings starts at the inception stage and continues through to pre-handover and a three year aftercare period. It complements environmental assessments and the results of user surveys will help the building's facilities team deliver a sustained high level of environmental and business performance.

Robin Nicholson, Senior Practice Director of ECA, was confirmed on 16 June 2008 by Children's Secretary, Ed Balls, as the chair of an expert task force to advise ministers on making every new school building zero carbon from 2016.

Robin said:"I'm delighted to chair the zero carbon task force. This is not going to be straightforward but if there is one sector that must show the way then it should be schools, at the heart of our communities, especially given the scale of the replacement programmes".

The task force will launch a call for evidence later this summer and report to ministers by the end of the year on overcoming the technological and cost barriers.

The 'Cullinan Bird' flew a record breaking 40m over the Serpentine in Hyde Park on Saturday.

A crowd of 80,000 people watched the 'Bird' on its victorious flight at the 2nd Red Bull Flugtag in London.

Piloted by Phil 'the Legs' Graham (ECA) and pushed along the ramp by Roddy Langmuir (ECA), Henry Pinder (Ramboll Whitby Bird) & Shane Slater (Element Energy), the 'Cullinan Bird' became the crowd's favourite when it flew over 6 times the previous record of 6m on its maiden, and only voyage.

Building 10 at Bristol Harbourside has been shortlisted for the Housing Design Awards 2008.

The Building, known locally as 'Romeo and Juliet' was completed in the first phase of the Canon's Marsh Masterplan in the heart of Bristol in 2006.

"The Housing Design Awards are promoted by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the National House-Building Council, the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Town Planning Institute. Awards are made at two stages: for projects of high quality where the scheme has detailed planning permission but is not yet finished and occupied, and for completed schemes of outstanding merit."

Enjoy a picnic and music at the Downland Gridshell or take a stroll around the new Herbarium and Library Wing extension at Kew Gardens as part of Architecture08 and the London Festival of Architecture.

A contemporary music piece entitled 'Gridshell Fantasia' will be performed at the Incredible Architectural Musical Picnic that will take place at the Downland Gridshell, Weald & Downland Open Air Museum on 29 June 2008, 12.30 - 4.30pm and is part of Architecture08 - a celebration of architecture in the South East of England.

The new Herbarium and Library Wing extension at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew will feature in a tour of contemporary architecture at the gardens taking place on 8 July 2008 at 10.30am as part of the London Festival of Architecture.

An intrepid ECA team, in collaboration with Ramboll Whitby Bird and Element Energy, is currently in preparation for the 2nd Red Bull Flugtag in London on Saturday 7th June 2008.

'The Cullinan Bird' will be taking part in the competition in front of an anticipated crowd of 80,000. Man-powered aircraft will take off from a ramp into the Serpentine in Hyde Park and will be judged on flight distance, creativity of the machine and the team's pre-flight performance.

Visit the Red Bull Flugtag website to vote for 'The Cullinan Bird' and enter a ticket ballot (open until 23rd May) to make a request for tickets to watch this momentous occasion.

The Newham Learning Partnership is declared Preferred Bidder for the London Borough of Newham BSF programme.

ECA designed one of the sample schools that was assessed in the bid.

Laura Marr and Colin Rice appear in the TRADA Technology Ltd publication, Timber and the Sustainable Home, talking about the Barge Arm Development in Gloucester.

The book features eight architectural practices, who talk about how they have employed timber in residential buildings and more broadly about their attitudes towards sustainable design.

Colin and Laura explain how timber helped them regenerate Gloucester Docks and how the material is viewed more generally within ECA.

It was announced on 22nd February 2008 that Edward Cullinan Architects, in association with Aedas Limited, have been appointed campus masterplanners for the Chinese University of Hong Kong

The University needs a visionary Campus Master Plan for the adoption of a Strategic Plan for long term growth and a new curriculum in 2012. This project will continue ECA's history of university master planning and design, including University of East London; Cambridge University's Centre for Mathematical Sciences and Singapore Management University.

On Tuesday 12th February 2008, Ted Cullinan was presented with the RIBA Royal Gold Medal.

"Ted Cullinan is one of those British Architects who have shown us that we can build very modern buildings that hark back to tradition both in terms of craftsmanship, in terms of romance, of all those things and he has shown us all how we can move forward and get a big general public liking of very modern buildings." - Jonathan Glancey, The Guardian