BedZED

BedZED

Street view

Roofs

Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is an environmentally friendly housing development in Hackbridge, London, England. It is in the London Borough of Sutton. It was designed by the architect Bill Dunster to support a more sustainable lifestyle. The project was led by the Peabody Trust in partnership with Bill Dunster Architects, Ellis & Moore Consulting Engineers, BioRegional, Arup and the cost consultants Gardiner and Theobald. The 99 homes, and 1,405 square metres of work space were built in 2000–2002. The project was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2003.

Location

BedZED is accessible from the east side of London Road (A237), opposite New Road, approximately 500 metres north of Hackbridge station. Because of BedZED's low-energy-emission concept, cars are discouraged; the project encourages public transport, cycling, and walking, and has limited parking space.

The development is within about five minutes walk of Hackbridge station, which services trains from London Victoria and St Pancras International via London Blackfriars. There is a Tramlink service from Croydon or Wimbledon to Mitcham Junction station, which is within 15 minutes walk of BedZED.

BedZED is serviced by the 127 bus on the Purley–Tooting route, via Wallington railway station and Hackbridge.

Design principles

• Zero energy—The project is 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.
• Low-impact materials—Building materials were selected from renewable or recycled sources within 35 miles of the site, to minimize the energy required for transportation.
• 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 is 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.

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 was no longer in operation and the back up power source, a gas boiler, was now used.
• 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 for comfort in winter and created overheating in summer.
• plans to create allotments in an adjacent field had failed.
• 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).

Embodied carbon

The greenhouse gases released as a result of building construction - the embodied carbon in buildings - is usually ignored. But it was calculated for BedZED by one of the project initiators, BioRegional. They say:

the embodied environmental impacts of BedZED’s construction materials are within the same range as standard UK housing. The total embodied CO₂ of BedZED is 675kg/m², whilst typical volume house builders build to 600-800kg/m².

This means a 100m² flat in BedZED has embodied carbon of 67.5 tonnes CO₂. Compare this to carbon rations suggested in the GreenRationBook [2] :

The average UK citizen creates 11 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) a year. New UK targets aim to cut this by 80%. Dividing the ration equally between categories "consumables", "building", "transport" and "government", allows 1.5kg per day.

This argument gives a ration for building of 500 kg CO₂e per person per year. For two people living in an average-sized 3-bedroomed flat, the 67.5 tonnes CO₂ is 60+ years of their building ration. That's before the flat is heated, the fridge switched on and the impact of all the other necessary buildings (shops, offices schools etc.) are considered.

Awards

• 2001 - Housing Design Award for sustainability, from the Royal Institute of British Architects
• 2001 - Evening Standard New Homes Awards – BedZED won the London Lifestyle award. "Ambitious and brave, and a model for future developments"
• 2001 - UK Solar Awards, run by Energy 21, for BedZED – "perhaps the most influential of all housing projects this century".
• 2002 - World Habitat Awards – BedZED was a finalist.
• 2003 - Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Award for sustainable communities – BedZED was short listed with 3 other projects.
• 2003 - Stirling Prize – BedZED was short listed
• 2003 - RIBA journal sustainability award
• 2003 - Housing Design Awards – BedZED won a 'Completed Scheme' award.
• 2003 - Ashden Awards - for projects building on the experience of BedZED
• 2002 - Energy Globe Award – international award recognising BedZED as the foremost example of sustainable energy in building and housing.
• 2002 - Building Services Award for innovation.
• 2004 - Bremen Awards Special Commendation
• 2004 - Civic Trust’s sustainability award
• 2005 - Sutton and Cheam Society Design award.

See also

• Energy efficiency in British housing
• Passive solar building design
• BioRegional
• Peabody housing association

External links

• ZedFactory's BedZED website
• BioRegional BedZED website
• BedZED seven years on, Publications by BioRegional
• An architect’s sustainable dreams - chinadialogue article about BedZED
• Information about BedZED on Peabody's website