Beddington Zero Energy Development

The Beddington Zero Energy Development or BedZED is the largest eco-village in the UK. It was built in conjunction with BioRegional Trust and has become multi award-winning.

At the time of construction, it was frontier-breaking in that every natural resource was examined for potential energy use, whether for heating, cooling or conservation.

The project involved the construction of 100 homes, community facilities and workspace for 100 people. The masonry package had its share of innovation with cavities of between 200 – 300mm, this necessitated special manufacture of bespoke cavity ties. Single and double leaf lintels were stiffened and had built-in insulation properties.
Where cavities were closed at reveals, heads and parapets special high-value insulation was inserted to prevent cold bridging and maintain the U-value required.

All construction materials used were carefully selected from sustainable sources. Many materials were reclaimed, for example, crushed concrete used as road sub-base. Materials were sourced as locally as possible in order to reduce transportation, cutting fossil fuel consumption etc. Waste was segregated on site to reduce the amount going to land fill.

The unique village effect was created with Sky bridges, walkways, solid fuel self generation plant and of course the multi coloured chimney cowels all contributing to the very special nature of the scheme.