Alex Masi

Danny Burrage, a local fireman, is walking by his house in BedZED on Thursday, Sep. 6, 2007, in London, UK. BedZED or the Beddington Zero Energy Development, is an environmentally-friendly housing development near Wallington, England in the London Borough of Sutton. It was designed by the architect Bill Dunster who was looking for a more sustainable way of building housing in urban areas in partnership between the BioRegional Development Group and the Peabody Trust. There are 82 houses, 17 apartments and 1,405 square meters of work space were built between 2000. The project was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2003. The project is designed to use only energy from renewable source generated on site. In addition to 777 square meters of solar panels, tree waste is used for heating and electricity. The houses face south to take advantage of solar gain, are triple glazed and have high thermal insulation while most rain water is collected and reused. Appliances are chosen to be water efficient and use recycled water wherever possible. Low impact building materials were selected from renewable or recycled sources and were all originating within a 35 mile radius of the site to minimize the energy required for transportation. Also, refuse collection facilities are designed to support recycling and the site encourage eco-friendly transport: electric and LPG cars have priority over petrol/diesel cars, and electricity is provided by parking spaces appositely built for charging electric cars.