Introduction
Becoming a Net Zero Carbon community
In June 2019, Winchester City Council declared a climate emergency. Following this announcement, the Council committed to become a carbon neutral local authority by 2024 and has aims for the wider district to be carbon neutral by 2030.
In support of these ambitions, Bushfield Camp has taken a rigorous and systematic approach to address our sustainability strategy.
Across the design and construction stages, we have developed a framework and tracker which monitors eight key sustainability target themes beyond carbon. This aligns with the aspirations of the Council and development partners, exceeds planning requirements, and creates accountability throughout development.
Development goals
These eight themes span a range of resources and impacts, including carbon, biodiversity, the use of water, energy and emissions, climate resilience and adaptation, waste, circularity and materials, movement, and social value and wellbeing.
This approach allows the design team to incorporate best practice industry standards and approaches from various institutions such as LETI and the UKGBC, to holistically consider challenges and solutions between sustainability themes and deliver the best outcome.
Bushfield Camp will strive to become a Net Zero Carbon community through an early-stage focus on embodied and operational carbon reduction throughout design. We are developing a UKGBC-aligned plan to achieve Net Zero in operation and construction.
To achieve this goal, the design will:
- Utilise resource efficiencies to reduce, reuse, recycle and repurpose where possible.
- Maximise passive gains to reduce energy demands across the site by applying a ‘fabric-first’ approach to all uses and buildings. We will also adopt a Whole Life Carbon Approach to master planning, urban design, and building engineering.
- Deliver a gas-free All-Electric approach by maximising the deployment of on-site renewables and low carbon technologies.
Waste management
As part of the waste management plan, the development is committed to reduce construction waste generation to less than 3.2 tonnes/100m2 GIA with a stretch target of 1.9 tonnes/100m2 GIA in line with BREEAM exemplary level standards.
The development will also include targets for 95% construction waste diverted from landfill with a stretch target of zero waste to landfill.
Green and blue infrastructure
Bushfield Camp’s masterplan will have a nature-first focus on biodiversity, delivering generative green spaces that serve as both carbon sinks, collaborative social spaces and habitat restoration. This will be intertwined with an accessible network of paths and trails which facilitate active travel and a biophilic community.
Our sustainable water strategies include an aim to deliver a 55% improvement in water consumption (litres/person/day), compared to BREEAM’s notional baseline performance, and implementing Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) to mitigate surface water runoff in a sustainable way.
Climate Resilience will be integral to the deployment of our bespoke strategy. We will ensure optimised water efficiency, retention, and the use of landscape driven design features as a way of reducing the effects of indirect solar heat gain, which mitigates the urban heat island effect.
* LETI = Low Energy Transformation Initiative CIC
** BCO = Building Council for Offices
*** WELL GOLD = WELL Building Standard
Join the conversation
We want your thoughts
Let us know what you would like to see incorporated as part of the 26 hectares (circa 60 acres) of legacy land that will be retained as publicly accessible and biodiverse green space.