BedZED London, United Kingdom

Tecnical Information:

Project: Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED)

Year: 2000 (project) - 2002 (construction)

Area: 16.544 m²

Budget: € 31.467 million

Location: Hackbridge, London, United Kingdom

Architect: Bill Dunster

BedZED Ecovillage was developed to be a environmentally friendly housing. BedZED is the UK’s first large-scale, mixed use sustainable community with 100 homes, office space (1,405 m²), a college and community facilities. Completed in 2002, this pioneering eco-village in south London suburbia remains an inspiration for sustainable neighbourhoods.

Designed by architect Bill Dunster, BedZED was conducted as a partnership between the BioRegional Development Group, the Peabody Trust, Bill Dunster Architects, Arup and Gardiner and Theobald as cost consultants.

The project was later shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2003.

The homes range from one bed apartments to four bedroom houses. Half were sold on the open market, one quarter were reserved for social (low cost) rent by Peabody and the remaining quarter for shared ownership, a lower cost way of owning a home.

On average, BedZED homes were sold for about 5 to 10% more than homes of the same size in the surrounding area.

Even though BedZED is, by suburban standards, a high density development, most homes have private outdoor space and many have small gardens. The whole development shares a square and a large playing field.

Principals:

·         Zero energy - The project was designed to use only energy from renewable sources generated on site. There are 777 m² of solar panels. Tree waste fuels the development's cogeneration plant (downdraft gasifier) to provide district heating and electricity. The gasifier is not being used, because of technical implementation problems, though the technology has been and is being used successfully at other sites;

·         High quality - The apartments are finished to a high standard to attract the urban professional;

·         Energy efficient - The houses face south to take advantage of solar gain, are triple glazed, and have high thermal insulation;

·         Water efficient - Most rain water falling on the site is collected and reused. Appliances are chosen to be water-efficient and use recycled water when possible. A "living machine" system of recycling waste water was installed, but is not operating. It has dual flush toilets, aerated flow taps and shower heads and low water consumption washing machines installed throughout. Water consumption is easy to be seen in the houses;

·         Low-impact materials - Building materials were selected from renewable or recycled sources within 56 km of the site (from as close as possible), to minimize the energy required for transportation. Around 3,400 tonnes of construction material, 15% of the total used in BedZED, were reclaimed or recycled products. Nearly all of the steel in the building is reused, much of it coming from refurbishment work at Brighton Railway Station. Reclaimed timber was used for the interior partitions and some flooring;

·         Waste recycling - Refuse-collection facilities are designed to support recycling;

·         Transport - The development works in partnership with the United Kingdom's leading car-sharing operator, City Car Club. Residents are encouraged to use this environmentally friendly alternative to car ownership; an on-site selection of vehicles are available for use;

·         Encourage eco-friendly transport - Electric and liquefied-petroleum-gas cars have priority over cars that burn petrol and diesel, and electricity is provided in parking spaces for charging electric cars;

·         A higher reported quality of life, with a strong sense of community

Performance:

Monitoring conducted in 2003 found that BedZED had achieved these reductions in comparison to UK averages:

·         Space-heating requirements were 88% less;

·         Hot-water consumption was 57% less;

·         The electrical power used, at 3 kilowatt hours per person per day, was 25% less than the UK average; 11% of this was produced by solar panels. The remainder normally would be produced by a combined-heat-and-power plant fueled by wood chips, but the installation company's financial problems have delayed use of the plant;

·         Mains-water consumption has been reduced by 50%, or 67% compared to a power-shower household;

·         The residents' car mileage is 65% less.

Problems:

A review of the BedZed development in 2010 drew mainly positive conclusions. Residents and neighbours were largely happy. However, a few significant failures were highlighted, for example:

·         The biomass wood chip boiler (biomass gasifier) was no longer in operation and the back up power source, a gas boiler, was now used. The downdraft wood chip gasifier CHP (combined heat and power) had reliability problems due to technical failures and the intermittent schedule of operation (no night time operation) imposed by the local authority;

·         The 'Living Machine' water recycling facility had been unable to clean the water sufficiently. The cost of the facility also made it unviable;

·         The passive heating from the sunspaces had been insufficient;

·         Despite best efforts, residents were on average still leaving an ecological footprint of 1.7 planets, which is more than the target of 1.0 planet (but much less than the UK average of 3 planets).

  

Sources:

http://home2.btconnect.com/bedzedpavilion/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BedZED

http://www.bioregional.com/bedzed/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWhQVGZPFZI

http://www.building.co.uk/peabodys-bedzed-soars-%C2%A310m-over-budget/3031053.article