BEDDINGTON ZERO

A SUSTAINABLE SITE & BUILDING CONNIE BOYER + CORINDA GUHO + WILLY HABERMAN

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BedZED is UK’s largest mixed use sustainable community. Located in Hackbridge, London, England. It was Designed by Architect Bill Dunster and is owned and managed by Peabody Trust. The project was built in 2000-2002, consisting of 82 residential homes and 18 live/work units, commercial workspaces and several onsite facilities.

This is a mmulti aaward winning project focusing on using only energy from renewable sources generated on site. Energy is primarily obtained through PV panels and the ccombustion of woodchips. The llarge cowls on the roof are for passive cooling strategies.

CLIMATE! London, England recieves more than 33 inches of rainfall annually. Max Temp. 69 degrees in July Min. Temp. 34 degrees in January. 1,457 hours of sunshine per year.

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Revised Well’s Checklist [SITE]0 POLLUTION: On site gardens, the living green roofs and the lack of fossil fuels use cleans the air, however the CHP does cause pollution so it’s balanced out to

zero.

+74 CLEANS WATER: Storm water is stored, site runoff is removed, and wastewater is treated with living machine. Water is not returned to its potable state but it is left cleaner and acceptable to re-enter natural cycle. Does not harm water

further.

+100 RAINWATER: Site stores as much rainfall as needed from rooftops and is stored in cisterns. Not all storm water is saved due to extreme amount of annual rainfall.

+25 PRODUCES FOOD: Community does have a series of gardens where growing own food is available & encouraged, however most food must come from off site, not enough generated on site fulfill all needs.

+75 SOIL: Improves soil condition with living machine and composting

techniques. The brown field was turned into green space and was designed for erosion protection. Vehicles are allowed on site and with the pervious paving pollutants do reach soil.

+75 WASTE: Site has living machine incorporated to recycle waste water. Takes

advantage of extensive composting of food scraps, and recycling of plastic/paper/ tin. Sends all office waste paper to recycling paper mill and is returned with 100% recycled paper.

+50 WILDLIFE HABITAT: Wild life habitats are available to the green roof

which is a benefit of developing the brown fields. But developing causes automatic problems with habitat such as paving systems and the imposition of the built environment.

+25 ENERGY: Photovoltaic panels take advantage of solar energy. CHP plant

creates energy for community from burning woodchips. Walls are included with insulation, saving on heating and cooling needs. The energy demand of BedZED is 25% less than conventional homes. The site creates energy for its own needs but does not export a lot of energy.

-25 TRANSPORTATION: Promotes public transportation with easy access to bus routes and Tramlink. Also promotes bicycle use with extensive storage and easy access to Sutton’s cycle network. But the site is accommodating to vehicle use and a portion of residents own cars.

+50 WEATHER: Wind is used for ventilation. Pervious paving and gardens amount to a lot of green space reducing urban heat island effect and bring down the temperature of the interior spaces.

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+75 DAYLIGHT: Building site and orientation are thought out to maximize sunlight. Residences were designed to not block sun from one another but

shading devices are not maximized to full potential

+50 HEATING: PV panels are used to generate energy. Southern exposed glazing is used for interior heating. Apartments do require energy to heat in winter months, this energy comes from the CHP plant.

+75 COOLING: Walls are well insulated. Cowls on the roof ventilate the building and windows are operable to create a lessened need for mechanical cooling.

-50 MAINTENANCE: The building itself does not require extensive

maintenance except, but the CHP plant, living machine and gardens need to maintained to be able to keep running at an efficient rate.

+75 COMFORT: Many onsite facilities, personal gardens, and extensive glazing

allows for comfort and pleasure for the residents.

+75 HUMAN POWERED CIRCULATION: Stairs are the primary method of vertical transportation. Walking is encourage around site through various paths and trails.

+50 INDOOR AIR: Materials used are low off-gassing. Interiors have good ventilation, and gardens to promote healthy indoor air. But does not go quite as far as producing ample amounts of healthier air.

+75 BUILT OF RECYCLED MATERIALS: Built from mostly recycled

materials. All materials are from sources within 60km radius of site. And using sustainably harvested wood.

+75 CAN BE RECYCLED: Most materials have already been recycled and

have potential to be recycled again.

+75 ICON: BedZED is UK’s most famous eco-community, it sets up standards to which other project will be compared against. But it is not 100% regenerative.

+75 GOOD NEIGHBOR: Site run-off is collected, lack of pavement helps minimize neighborhood temperatures. Does not block sun from surrounding buildings. Responsible for itself. Extensive amount of glazing may cause glare.

+75 AESTHETICS: Building was well constructed and it shows. Most of the

beautiful areas (gardens etc.) are located inside and not visible from the road.

TOTAL: -75 + 1250 = +1175

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LEED RATING : GOLD.

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N • TThe size of the green roof can be reduced in order to include more photovoltaic panels.

This will reduce the demand on the on-site biofuel plant, which emits carbon.

• Critical design features like the biofuel plant and the living machine can be brought to working order.

• Replace the carpool cars with electric cars.

• Replace part of the playing field area with a garden that would be shared not only by the residents of BedZED, but by all the neighbors.

• Most paving is permeable, but that paving which is not can be used to collect rainwater for use in irrigating the community garden.

• The existing playing field can be surrounded by native trees to provide bird habitat and reduce wind on the site.

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NEW TOTAL: -50 + 1450 = ++ 1400

Added trees help clean air.

Extra garden space produces more food.

Added trees create more wildlife habitat.

Replacing fuel cars for car pool use with electric cuts down on fossil fuel consumption.

Added trees reduce wind on site.

Creating community gardens: being a good neighbor!

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BBedZED is an ambitious project, but to truly serve as an example for self-contained sustainable communities it needs to take advantage of the green infrastructure included on the site. The living machine and biofuel plant must be brought to full working order. Otherwise, the design is highly successful and meets many of the aspirations for a “zero energy development.” We suggested only a few upgrades (in addition to the obvious) that would help BedZED even better realize these goals.