Figure 8. Diagram showing the basic concepts in a Zero Bills Zero Carbon Home

(source: zedfactory.com).

Prior to construction, it is advisable that workers put in place a Site Waste Management

Plan. The following guidelines should be considered when developing, designing, and building

(Zedfactory.com):

Identify resources already on site that could be useful during development.

Good practice of waste management should be employed.

Every opportunity to recycle materials is taken.

Keep the site tidy in order to reduce material loss/waste.

Key Aims and Objectives

In the UK, the ecological and carbon footprints of its inhabitants are split between the home,

transport, food, the consumer items people buy, and the services people use. BedZED was designed

BEDZED PROJECT, UK. 2

to minimise these ecological impacts in both its construction and operation. The original aims for this

development were as follows (BioRegional.co.uk):

To reduce main water consumption compared to the UK average by 33%

To reduce hot water consumption compared to the UK average by 33%

To reduce electricity consumption compared to the UK average by 33%

To reduce space heating needs compared to the UK average by 90%

To reduce private fossil fuel car mileage to 50% of the UK average

The project used a number of key strategies to achieve these goals (oneplanetcommunities.org),

listed as follows:

Planning gain, to increase density through provision of gardens on rooftops

Thermal efficiency: to reduce space heating by 80% through the following: solar heating,

south-facing conservatories, triple glazing, super insulation, and passive ventilation through

roof and wind cowl

Increase water efficiency by using water efficient appliances, rainwater collection for toilets

and irrigation, and onsite waste treatment

Green travel: pedestrian/cyclist priority, reduction in car parking

Renewable energy: reduce energy needs through onsite generation of renewable energy using

an experimental wood-fuelled combined heat power system

Locally sourced materials for construction

Strategies and Methods Used to Achieve Project Goals

The key ideas behind the project were to design homes to cope with the predicted

temperature rise by 2080 by reducing carbon emissions of their whole lifestyle by nearly 50%

through various methods; including shutting out summer heat, conserving water and minimizing

BEDZED PROJECT, UK. 3

energy. In the first year of residency, BioRegional employed a green lifestyles officer to assist

residents to maximise the green living potential of the development. Monitoring is therefore vital in

order to assess the effectiveness of the development, and careful planning is needed in all sectors of

a ZED lifestyle.

Local and Sustainable Food

Approximately 25% of the average UK residents’ ecological footprint is attributed to the

production and transportation of their food. BedZED created particular initiatives to reduce this,

listed as follows:

a) Local Organic box schemes: these provide local, seasonal and organic produce that supports the

local farming industry. 25% of residents use this service and receive a weekly delivery.

b) Internet Shopping Deliveries are promoted to reduce food miles for each resident, a total of 18%

of residents use this service.

c) Welcome packs were given, including details of local farmers markets. Residents also continue to

organize unplanned local produce markets.

d) Training and equipment is provided to offer to help residents grow their own fruit and vegetables

onsite.

e) Community composting scheme: turns kitchen and organic garden waste into nutrient rich

compost for use onsite.

Sustainable Transport

In the UK, road traffic has increased by nearly 25% in the last 15 years (BioRegional.co.uk).

BedZED tackled this by using different measures to reduce car dependency. They created a Green

Transport Plan which was written into the land purchase contract, where private car parking is

BEDZED PROJECT, UK. 4

limited. Their target was for fossil fuel car miles to be 50% lower than the UK average. To legalise

this, Peabody entered into a legally binding agreement which is the first of its kind of housing

developer in the UK to sign up to. The Green Transport Plan reduced car ownership in 3 unique

ways, outlined as follows:

1) Offering various alternatives to private car travel:

Onsite Car Club: This partnership with City Car Club provided vehicles for residents to book

through an internet-based booking system to drive within six minutes. From March 2002, 35

members shared only 3 vehicles. Around half of the club’s members work for BedZED-based

business and half are BedZED residents.

Electric Vehicles: The site is equipped to make running an electric car a practical option, with

40 electric car charging points located around the site.

Cycling Facilities: in the first year, BioRegional and Cyclism partnered to run free Dr Bike

sessions, providing 10 minute bike check and basic repair service. A free cycling pack was also

given to all residents, including cycling storage, Sheffield stands, wall-mounted bike locking

points, and every home has space to store a bike inside and outside. The ZED e-bike service

(Figure 9) was also created, and each e-bike annually saves 1.3, 1.0, 0.2, and 0.1 tonnes of CO2

compared to taxi hire, private car, bus, and tube in London respectively. The ZED e-bike

service annually saves £10k-£1.6k, with a payback period of 33 months for investors. The e-

bikes can cover 48km with a single charge (Figure 10), at speeds from 24km to 40kmph with

80,000km battery life. The e-bikes have 2x LiFePO4 batteries capable of 1kwh of storage giving

3500 full charge cycles.

BEDZED PROJECT, UK. 5

Figure 9. Image displaying the ZED e-bike (source: zedfactory.com).

Figure 10. Image displaying the e-bike dock (source: zedfactory.com).

2) Promoting Public Transport:

Trains and two local bus routes are available nearby.

Hackbridge station is only a 10 minute walk away, with regular service to London Victoria

(25minutes), and London St. Pancras (41minutes)

Mitcham junction station is 15 minutes away, and links to Wimbledon and Croydon.

3) Reducing the need to travel:

Mixing workspaces with homes, offering an option to work from home whilst cutting

commuting times.

Onsite facilities enable businesses and residents to meet more of their everyday needs

without needing a car, such as a green relaxation space, a community centre (which hosts

BEDZED PROJECT, UK. 6

exercise classes, film nights, book clubs, etc.), village square, recycling bins, and home food

delivery.

Reducing Waste

The housing development was designed to make recycling easy, in order to reduce

household waste output to attain a recycling rate of 60%. The following methods of recycling are

used at BedZED:

a) Community Compost Scheme: Compost is used in a closed loop system on site.

b) Segregated Under-Sink Bins: every home has a colour-coded, compartmentalised under-sink bin.

The colour-coding corresponds to recyclables as follows: Green = compostable vegan waste; Grey

(x2) = glass, plastics, paper, fabric, cardboard and tin.

c) White Paper Recycling: Paper is collected from residents, and after reprocessing, it can be bought

back as 100% recycled white paper. Paper accounts for 40% of the commercial waste from offices

(Westminister Council Study).

d) Clothes and Furniture shop was set up in the first year.

Water Management and Biodiversity

Water needs to be stretched to serve many people in the South-East of England, as it is

currently considered a water-stressed area (BioRegional.co.uk). The UK water system involves all

water from taps and toilets to storm drainage, all of which passes through the sewage system. A

green water treatment plant was created, and Thames and Peabody created a membrane bio

reactor (MBR). Green roofs on buildings also retain water to reuse as well as promoting a rich

ecosystem, in which 17 species of spider were found (BioRegional.co.uk). Their aim is to prevent

untreated water from going into the Thames, therefore they want to separate water and storm

BEDZED PROJECT, UK. 7

drainage. In addition to reducing water, they are using aerators and smaller bathtubs. They have

managed to reduce water consumption by half of the national average.

Energy Efficiency and Low Carbon Power

The project has the aim to reduce heating demand by 90%. To help achieve this, 30% of their

insulation is in the walls, using 300ml of insulation rather than the usual 50/75mil (Zedfactory.com).

They also installed a high thermal mass for building regulation. The south facing conservatory in all

houses has a double layer of double glazed windows in order to balance temperatures. Electricity

demand is down by 25%, with energy efficient lights and appliances (Oneplanetcommunities.org), as

well as 777 m² solar panels on the windows and ceilings (globalecovillages.org), supplying electricity

to the residents as well as to car charging points powering 40 cars. The developers originally aimed

to use a biomass heat system, but found this was better for a development of around 5000 homes,

so they exchanged this for three gas boilers.

Results and Findings

There have been a number of outcomes from the BedZED development, the majority of

which have been positive in getting closer to creating environmental sustainability. The 2007

monitoring report showed results in certain areas (BioRegional.co.uk), outlined as follows:

a) Energy and Water Use:

BedZED residents use 5.2kWh of electricity per person per day which is 34% lower than the

average Sutton resident.

The biomass combined heat and power plant was removed for technical issues, so they

switched to using gas to power the district heating system.

Residents use on average 3.4kWh of heat per day.

Residents used only 72 litres of mains water per day, including 15 litres recycled rain water

which is less than half of the local average.

BEDZED PROJECT, UK. 8

b) Green Lifestyles:

86% of residents buy organic food and 39% grow their own food.

Even though they have lower car ownership and drive less miles, they fly more, so overall their

transport impact is slightly higher than the average Sutton resident.

Waste audits of 10 households showed 60% of waste by weight is recycled or composted.

c) Quality of Life:

Sense of community and innovate design is the aspect that is most valued by residents.

84% of residents felt that the community facilities were better here than the previous

neighbourhoods.

Residents on average know 20 of their fellow residents by name; one even knows 150 of

them!

d) Ecological footprint:

4.67 hectares of ecological footprint for the average resident.

One negative factor is that there is so much impact that occurs outside of the estate; such as

workplaces, schools, and the goods and foods they buy.

Other research from the local residents showed:

Total energy use in homes is 60% less than for average homes in the local area.

Photovoltaics supply 20% of electricity, and a planned new biomass energy plant and offsite

renewable energy will mean zero carbon emissions from energy use in the future.

A higher reported quality of life with a strong sense of community.

Significantly lower use of energy for heating (77%) and electricity (45%).

Reduced water consumption; 58% lower than the local average.

BEDZED PROJECT, UK. 9

Lower rate of car ownership and annual mileage reduced by 64% compared to the national

average.

Further lifestyle changes driven by a strong community, with high recycling rates (60%) and

sustainable food choices.

Space heating requirements were 88% less.

Hot water consumption was 57% less.

Electrical power used at 3 kilowatt hours per person per day were 25% less.

Mains water consumption reduced by 50%.

Residents’ car mileage was 65% less.

However, there were some problems they found, outlined as follows:

The ‘living machine’ water recycling facility had been unable to clean water sufficiently.

Passive heating from sunspaces was insufficient for comfort in winter and created over-

heating in the summer.

Plans to create allotments in adjacent fields failed.

Residents on average were still leaving an ecological footprint of 1.7 planets, more than the

target of 1.0 planet which is lower than the UK average of 3 planets.

The Future for BedZED

BedZED is the most significant sustainable housing project in the UK in the last 50 years. It

has inspired people globally to develop and use the One Planet Living Framework; with 100,000

homes across the world constructed using this concept. They are working with the Sutton Council

in 2005 to develop a One Planet living strategy for the entire Borough in an aim to reduce their

ecological footprint by 2025 (Bioregional.co.uk). The project has also helped develop the Zero

Carbon Homes Policy in which all new homes are to be zero carbon by 2016 by introducing energy-

efficient standards.

BEDZED PROJECT, UK. 10

Since completing BedZED, BioRegional has continued to work on other new and existing

sustainable communities (Figure 11), within the UK as well as across the world (Figure 12): UK

EcoTowns, kit houses, Bespoke houses, Multifunctional buildings, CityZED and Cityscaping.

Figure 11. Graph showing data for the range of ZED projects (source: zedfactory.com).

Figure 12. Map showing the different ZED projects across the world (source: Zedfactory.com).

BEDZED PROJECT, UK. 11

References

Bioregional.co.uk. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.bioregional.co.uk/flagship-projects/one-planet-communities/bedzed-uk/

Bioregional. (2012). BedZED – the need for sustainable communities [online video]. BioRegional. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWhQVGZPFZI

Bioregional. (2012). BedZED – sustainability during construction [online video]. BioRegional. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYOSfcHCDmI

Bioregional. (2012). BedZED – energy efficiency and low carbon power [online video]. BioRegional. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcY26StEWCo

Bioregional. (2012). BedZED – sustainable water management and biodiversity [online video]. BioRegional. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UsfJZErc0g

Bioregional. (2012). BedZED – Sustainable lifestyles; food, transport and waste [online video]. BioRegional. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZx_lKMyQpI

Bioregional. (2012). BedZED – Lessons learned and the future [online video]. BioRegional. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMFEm_7Y_lI

Global EcoVillage Admin. (2012, April 4). BedZED – an environmentally friendly housing development in London. In globalecovillages.org. Retrieved March 8, 2013, from

BEDZED PROJECT, UK. 12

http://www.globalecovillages.org/profiles/blogs/bedzed-an-environmentally-friendly-housing-development-in-london

Home2.btconnect.com. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://home2.btconnect.com/bedzedpavilion/forthcomingevents.html

Maps.google.co.uk. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2013, from https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Oneplanetcommunities.org. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.oneplanetcommunities.org/communities/bedzed/

Zedfactory.com. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2013 from http://www.zedfactory.com/zed/