From Sunday 26th October, Sandra will be taking part in a 150 mile, 7 day foot race across the Sahara Desert in Egypt. The race will be entirely self-supported, with the exception of a tent and water she will have to carry all her food and gear for the 7 days.

The Sahara Desert is the largest non-polar desert in the world, there are 150 competitors, 25% of which are female. Temperatures during the race can reach up to 43 degrees celsius, competitors will run approximately a marathon a day with one long day of 100 km to finish the race at the foot of the pyramids.

This is the second of four desert races Sandra wants to complete by 2010, last year Sandra completed the Atacama Crossing in Chile (the driest desert), she will have the Gobi (windiest) and the Antarctic (coldest) remaining once she finishes this one.

Congratulations to Charlotte and Ben on the birth of their daughter Bebe! We are hoping her first word is going to be either 'recycle', 'sustainability' or 'eight'!

The youngest member of the Eight Team....Bebe Mary Blades was born on 6th June 2008, coming in at 5lb and 8oz, she was almost 4 weeks early! But she is doing well, Charlotte and Ben are adjusting to being new parents...miraculously she is even sleeping through the night!

We are pleased to announce that Elliot and David have passed their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) exams, and are now LEED Accredited Professionals (AP).

Well done guys!

Elliot will be appearing on the Channel 4 show 'Grand designs: Trade Secrets' on Wednesday 26th March 2008. The show will start at 10pm on More 4.