Go Green!
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By David Jenkins
Posted: Wed Mar 8 2006
Estate of the art
London Road in Hackbridge, Sutton, looks like any suburban stretch of road. There’s a small parade of shops, a clutch of modern semis and a huge mock-Tudor commuter development. But peer past the olde-England timber-clad apartment blocks and something very odd comes into view: a rooftop covered in dozens of fins, painted in bright primary colours, bobbing benignly in the wind, and looking like alien but friendly creatures from a kids’ cartoon. Move closer and you see the swathes of glass and wood. This is BedZed – nothing to do with a collapsible metal guest bed – but Beddington Zero Energy Development, Britain’s most revolutionary housing estate and the UK’s first carbon-neutral neigbourhood.
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Designed by architect Bill Dunster and planned by environmental group Bioregional, the estate, which was completed in 2002, ticks all the eco boxes: it’s built on an old sewerage works; all houses are south-facing to maximise solar heat gain; there are dual flush toilets; solar panels; and all the materials are renewable or recycled and mostly sourced from within a 35-mile radius. Most remarkable is the ‘invisible’ heating system, whereby the houses are clad in a whopping 30cm insulation jacket, have triple glazing, and spacious conservatories at the rear to harness the sun’s heat. The combination of sunlight, insulation and the heat produced by simply living is enough to create a constant temperature of around 18 °C.
But is it really possible to live through a UK winter without any heating at all? ‘I was sceptical at first, but we have watched it snowing outside, while we are warm and cosy in here,’ says Steve Tarbard, 42, who has lived here since 2003. Tarbard says he occasionally runs an electric heater at the foot of the stairs but otherwise ‘just making the tea helps keep it warm’. Some residents have put blinds across the conservatories, which affects heat production, but the only complaint from most residents about the heating is that it can get blistering during hot summers. And all that glass does take an awful lot of cleaning.
For lazy eco warriors such as resident Stefan Groves, 28, BedZed is the perfect solution. ‘The best thing is that I don’t have to do anything extra in order to live in a way that cuts down on CO2. You are saving the planet just by living here.’
But some swotting is required. Residents must learn how many windows to open and close to maintain the temperature. ‘It makes you very aware of the physics of the building. In the summer, we open the outer doors and close the inner doors to keep the heat out. And it’s the only place I’ve lived in where you get an owner’s manual that’s an inch-and-a-half thick,’ says Paul Murray, 37, who has lived here with his wife and two children since the estate first opened. Residents also need to learn how to operate their chimneys – the colourful roof creatures – which control the flow of air into the houses.
Another innovation is the glass-fronted meter box in every kitchen which gives residents an instant reading of how much electricity and water they’re using (and whether they need to cut down). Energy costs have dropped dramatically – although in most cases not as much as the 90 per cent they were originally promised. ‘Ours are down by 60-70 per cent since we started living here,’ says Murray, ‘which is still excellent.’ Compared to the rest of Sutton, fossil fuel use on the site has been reduced by 65 per cent.
However, the main source of electricity, an on-site CHP (combined heat and power) plant intended to provide hot water, has not been a success. The plant, which is powered by wood chip from tree surgery waste otherwise earmarked for landfill, broke down last summer and the estate has since been using electricity from the national grid. ‘It’s really been a case of not having had the technology back in 1997 that is now available,’ says Sue Riddlestone, a director of Bioregional and herself a BedZed resident. Bioregional is aiming to get the plant running with new technology by the end of this year.
Part of the remit for the site was that it also developed a green transport plan. BedZed’s pièce de résistance is ZedCars, London’s first car pool, which operates three cars from the estate and has around 40 members. ‘It stops you just getting in the car for every little thing,’ says Riddlestone. ‘Sometimes at the beginning, I’d come back and find an irate person waiting for their booking, but for most residents it has worked well.’ In fact, the car pool has been so popular that nine members have sold their cars while living here, others have deferred buying a first or second car, and those that did have cars have, in many cases, turned them in for more environmentally friendly models. ‘I drive a diesel powered lounger instead of an Italian sports car, now,’ says Murray, proudly.
The best thing about BedZed is that it’s not virtuous in a hairshirt sort of way. People are attracted to it as much for its unique buildings as its green credentials. Architecture students still arrive by the coachload for regular tours conducted around the estate and the development has scooped several industry awards. In 2003 it was shortlisted for the prestigious Stirling Prize (awarded to the building of the year). With its interlocking flats, sky gardens, glass bridges and loft-style, double height spaces, the estate is an aesthetic delight.
‘Before we lived here I wasn’t really an eco warrior; what attracted me to the place was the architecture,’ says Murray. ‘I loved the glass and light and the fact it is very well built. We moved from a Victorian house in Bromley, so this is very different.’ ‘We’re not just a bunch of old hippies,’ adds Groves. ‘I wasn’t an environmental evangelist before, I just did a bit of recycling.’
Perhaps the biggest impact that BedZed has had on its residents’ lives has been its sense of community. The 100 homes are a mix of social, rentable and private housing (prices range from around £100,000 for a one-bed to £350,000 for a three-bed). ‘I met more people here in the first six weeks than I met in 13 years of living in London,’ says Murray. ‘It was helped by having a central bar.’ There’s also a community centre where everything from yoga classes to circus skills are taught as well as an organic box delivery scheme.
‘You can opt in or out of the community but we have always felt very welcomed,’ says Groves. ‘There’s a sense of community here you don’t find in other places. And there’s a real mix of kids and senior people.’
Murray says it’s an ideal place to bring up kids: ‘My family loves the bridge to the sky garden and the places to play. It’s very safe. Having a family here makes you realise that we need to take care of the environment for future generations.’
Since BedZed was completed, Dunster and his practice have built similar projects, including BowZed, a scheme with two carbon-neutral houses in Bow, as well as 12 key worker flats in Brixton. There’s also Z-Squared, which is still in the planning stage, and aims to build 2,000 zero-carbon, zero-waste homes in the Thames Gateway. Zed in a Box, a self-build kit, is in the process of being developed. One Planet Living, Bioregional’s sustainable planning strategy, was included as part of the green brief for the 2012 Olympic Games, as well as providing a model for whole cityscapes for sustainable living in China.
So, given BedZed’s success, why have similar schemes not been taken up more widely?
‘It’s a generational thing,’ says Barry Smith, head of Sustainable Homes, which promotes sustainable building practices. ‘There are new practices emerging now that incorporate eco-practices in building. The building industry is very conservative but what BedZed did spurred others into action. The top 20 developers, such as Countryside and Barclay Home, have been forced to look at their own sustainable policies, leading to developments such as Countryside’s sustainable community at the Greenwich Millennium Village. The Government is also introducing new building regulations this year which will grade homes on their eco-effectiveness. BedZed’s legacy has been huge.’
Riddlestone accepts that BedZed was not without hiccups. If they repeated the project they’d reconsider the CHP plant, keep the costs of building materials lower and slim down those duvet-thick walls. But it must be one of the few housing estates in London where virtually all the residents seem absolutely delighted to be living there. ‘It’s held up well,’ she says. ‘It was a fantastically brave attempt, ahead of its time and it has changed people’s attitude about what is possible.’
For more information or to book a tour call Bioregional on 020 8404 4880, email info@bioregional.com, or visit www.bioregional.com. To find out more about new buliding practices, visit www.sustainablehomes.co.uk
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