BedZED

BedZED is the Beddington Zero Energy Development was initiated by Bill Dunster Architects (now The ZED Factory). Dunster designed the development, ARUP provided systems engineering and Bioregional sustainability consulting. The 100 home development was designed and built with funds from the Peabody Trust, one of the oldest and biggest housing associations in London.

It lies a short train ride from London and a 5 minute walk from the Hackbridge station. Bioregional conducts tours every Tuesday and Wednesday for a small fee. Bioregional staff led two groups of 15 on a 2-hr long tour of the development closing with a short Q+A period with an architect from ZED Factory.

Bioregional’s promotional literature and website (http://www.bioregional.com/what-we-do/our-work/bedzed/ ) boast an 81% reduction in energy use for heating, a 60% reduction in water use per person and nearly 50% of the building materials sourced from within 50 km of the site.

The solid walls are insulated with 30 cm of insulation. Windows are south facing and triple glazed. Photo-voltaics produce approximately 20% of the developments electrical demand. Each unit is equipped with water, hot water and power meters in the kitchen installed at eye level inside a kitchen cabinet behind a viewing window so residents can monitor their own usage. 

Impressive as they are, these features don’t have the emblematic recognizability of the wind cowls. These multi-colored roof-mounted venting features track the wind providing intake and exhaust air.

One of the core ideas behind Bioregional’s One Planet principles is monitoring performance and sharing the results. The information is published on their web site and is refreshingly transparent. Since the doors opened in 2002 the designers have learned some valuable lessons and have modified the original system designs.

A living machine originally provided the on-site water treatment. The design proved effective, but rigorous local monitoring requirements eventually made the system untenable from a cost perspective. The system was later upgraded to UK’s first membrane bio-reactor. The rain water and black water is captured, treated and stored for toilet flushing and landscape irrigation.

The co-generation plant was originally designed to run on wood pellets and produce syn-gas to operate a small electric generator and the gas-fired boilers for district heating. Citing technical problems and planning constraints, they shut down the bio-mass plant and generator in 2005 and switched to municipal gas to run the boilers.

Nearly ten years after its opening, with integrated water management, energy efficiency and vehicle use reduction strategies, BedZED remains a development ahead of its time.