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- Who we work with
- BedZED and tours
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Sustainable business consultancy
Built environment consultancy.
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Bioregional australia, bioregional south africa, bedzed - the uk's first major sustainable community.
If you have any questions, please do get in touch
Bedzed tours.
Bioregional offers a regular guided tour of BedZED.
Find out more .
What we did
BedZED was initiated by Bioregional and developed by Peabody Trust in partnership with Bioregional and ZEDfactory architects. Completed in 2002, the UK’s first large-scale, mixed-use sustainable community comprises 100 homes, office space, a college and community facilities. It is also where our main office was located from 2002-2022.
The story behind the world-famous eco-development
The idea for BedZED was conceived in 1997. Bioregional, architect Bill Dunster and engineers Arup were looking for an opportunity to create a zero-carbon eco-village. And our co-founders Sue Riddlestone and Pooran Desai were looking for a new, green office!
Sutton Borough Council was selling a plot of undeveloped open land for housing development near Beddington Farmlands. Alongside developer Peabody Trust the project partners managed to secure the land and construction began in 2001.
Download the story - everything you need to know about BedZED:
BedZED: The story of a pioneering eco-village
Resources 11.6 Mb | 4 September 2019
BedZED, in Sutton, south London, has gone down in history as the UK’s first large-scale, mixed-use sustainable community. It has been an inspiration for low-carbon, environmentally-friendly housing developments around the world
How Bioregional helped
BedZED was designed to achieve big reductions in climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions and water use. We wanted to make it easy for people living there to have a greener, lower impact lifestyle, relying less on private cars and producing less waste.
Bioregional acted as sustainability advisors to the design team, steering green transport planning, renewable energy solutions, the selection and sourcing of construction materials and a ‘green lifestyles’ programme to residents and businesses in transport, local food and composting initiatives.
This included helping develop the sustainability strategy in collaboration with the project partners, with new and ambitious benchmarks in areas such as energy efficiency and greener construction.
What did BedZED achieve?
After it was completed in 2002, BedZED became famous for the scale of its ambition. It remains, arguably, the most ambitious attempt at all-round sustainability in a major new housing development and has attracted thousands of global visitors.
It won the Housing Design Award for sustainability from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2001 and was shortlisted for the prestigious Stirling Prize in 2003.
There’s a real sense of shared values as well as a strong community feel at BedZED. Combined with the green space nearby and the layout of our streets, it makes it a special place to live, and quite unique to London living. Dave Tchilingirian, resident of BedZED
We continue to help create zero-carbon homes and share our learning from BedZED
BedZED has stood the test of time, though some of its green technologies have been challenging to adopt. Most importantly, BedZED also inspired us to create the One Planet Living framework which now underpins all our work and has been used in billions of dollars worth of property developments worldwide .
We also run regular One Planet Living training courses for people who want to use the framework in their own projects and organisations.
Bioregional Hill
In 2018, we created a wholly owned subsidiary Bioregional Homes to continue our mission to create exemplar communities. In 2020, Bioregional Homes formed a new partnership with award-winning housebuilder Hill Group. Bioregional Hill creates zero-carbon, locally affordable homes with communities, for communities.
Greener construction
- Local materials: Just over half (52%) of the construction materials by weight were sourced within 35 miles – considerably closer than the construction industry average. The bricks used on the outside walls came from just 20 miles away.
- Reclaimed products: 3,400 tonnes of construction material, 15% of the total used in BedZED, were reclaimed or recycled products. Nearly all the steel in the building is reused, much of it coming from refurbishment work at Brighton Railway Station.
- Giving unused land new life: Even the land the eco-village stands on is recycled. It was used for many years for spreading sludge from the nearby sewage works.
Warm, comfortable, cheaper-to-run homes
- Warm, well-ventilated houses: Most of BedZED’s homes are heated by the warmth of the sun and highly insulated. Its distinctive wind cowls help fresh air circulate.
- Biomass boiler: While the original wood-powered boiler had to be turned off in 2005 due to technical difficulties, in 2017 a new biomass boiler was installed. Alongside a green electricity tariff, this means BedZED remains true to its zero-carbon vision.
- Solar panels and energy-efficient appliances: Extensive solar panels provide some of BedZED’s electricity, while efficient appliances reduce energy bills.
- Onsite car club: A major success was the introduction of the first car club to England which has subsequently led to major expansion of the car club network in London and other UK cities.
A healthier, happier place to live
- Mixed sizes and mixed tenure: Homes range from one-bed apartments to four-bedroom houses. Half were sold on the open market, one quarter were reserved for social (low cost) rent by Peabody and the remaining quarter for shared ownership, a lower-cost way of owning a home.
- Abundant green space: Even though BedZED is a high-density development, most homes have private outdoor space and many have small gardens. The whole development shares a square and a large playing field.
- Water-saving appliances: Dual-flush toilets, aerated flow taps and shower heads and water-efficient washing machines means the average home uses almost 40% less water than average metered homes in Sutton.
- Neighbourliness : One of BedZED’s biggest successes is that it has created a great community, with car-free streets for children to play and people to chat.
- Cheaper bills: For one three-person BedZED household using an on-site car club car instead of its own vehicle, we estimated total annual savings in transport, water and energy bills at £1,391 a year compared to an average London household with its own car. That’s nearly £4 a day.
Extra resources
One Planet Living goals and guidance for communities and destinations
Resources 13.0 Mb | 16 February 2019
This document is for anyone who wants to build or transform a real estate development or tourism destination into a truly sustainable one
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Contact us to find out how we work with you to build truly sustainable, affordable homes, ronan leyden director of consultancy, fill in the form to send your enquiry direct to ronan.
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Learn more about our consultancy services:
Bioregional works with companies in the built environment, communities and local government to create homes and communities that make it easy to live a sustainable lifestyle
Sustainability consultancy for new developments
Our sustainability consultancy services for new developments cover everything from pre-planning through to whole-life carbon assessments
Our sustainability consultancy services can help you get to net-zero carbon, as well as plan and implement an innovative sustainability strategy that covers all aspects of ESG for your organisation
Greenroofs.com Connecting the Planet + Living Architecture
Bedzed (beddington zero energy development), additional resources.
Read about BedZED on the Peabody Trust website .
Case Studies
BioRegional .
July 22, 2007 BedZED. redefining the way people should live by Petre Williams in Jamaica Observer.
BedZED (Beddington Zero Energy Development) is the UK’s largest eco-village, a mixed housing and work space development located in Beddington, London Borough of Sutton. Initiated by BioRegional and designed and constructed by a team of the architect Bill Dunster, BioRegional, Peabody Trust and Arup, BedZED embraces all aspects of sustainable design with 100 experimental homes, community facilities and workspace for 100 people (1600 m2 of workspace) and offers many eco-living amenities.
According to the BedZED website, “It is the first large-scale ‘carbon neutral’ community – i.e. the first not to add to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and is an excellent example of creative use of brownfield land…The design is to a very high standard and is used to enhance the environmental dimensions, with strong emphasis on roof gardens, sunlight, solar energy, reduction of energy consumption and waste water recycling.”
Some of the BedZED features include multicolored wind funnels, or wind cowls – which provide passive ventilation – sustainable building, materials, low energy appliances and fixtures, a residents-only car pool, and every part of the roofscape is used for passive solar, PV’s, roof gardens or extensive Sedum coir mats.
BedZED is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including the 2004 Civic Trust Sustainability Award in 2004; the Housing Design Awards in 2003; and the Building Energy Globe Award in 2002. BedZED was also a finalist for Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s (ODPM) Award for sustainable communities in 2003; a finalist for the 2003 Sterling Silver Prize; and a finalist for the 2002 World Habitat Awards.
“Flat roofs have been used to provide private gardens where 300mm of soil has been covered with turf (but owners or tenants are free to grow whatever they wish). The extensive greenroof has been limited to the remaining (mainly north facing) areas. Sedum roofs are covered in semi-succulent plants that absorb rainfall and decrease the amount of rainwater that can be harvested. The BedZED sedum roofs have an absorption capacity of 28 litres/m2. With light/moderate rainfall, all rainfall will be absorbed, whereas with heavy rain, there is run-off, but the discharge rate is halved1. If 75% of all rainfall is absorbed on the sedum, then rainwater yield is: Rooflights: 144m2 @ 770mm/year = 111m3; Sedum roof:328m2 @ 770mm/year @ 25% = 63m3; Total = 174m3. The harvesting of 174m3 or 363m3 of rainwater replaces the same volume of treated mains water.” Jennie Organ, Bioregional from Toolkit for Carbon Neutral Developments Part II Report , Personal Communications 2007
Contributing Directory Companies
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BedZED Beddington Zero Energy Development
Hackbridge, Sutton, United Kingdom
Photo by Tom Chance , CC BY-SA 2.0
BedZED Beddington Zero Energy Development is a brownfield development that contains a mixed use sustainable community with residences, office space, community space. This zero-carbon development encourages a lifestyle dedicated to reducing electricity, heating, water and fossil fuel transportation demands.
2000 - 2003
Peabody Trust, BioRegional Development Group, Bill Dunster Architects
Performance levels achieved:
Regenerative
Goals & Strategies:
Goals: Promote a local food network.
Strategies: Farmers market, walking distance to community garden.
Goals: Increase biodiversity in the area.
Strategies: Garden plots, balcony gardens, green roof, reed wetland for waste water filtration.
Transportation
Goals: 50% reduction in resident vehicle mileage.
Strategies: Car sharing, bicycle infrastructure, walking paths between units, vehicle parking on periphery, proximity to public transportation.
Goals: Hot water consumption reduction by 33%, potable water consumption reduced by 33%, on site water treatment.
Strategies: Water efficient appliances, water meters monitor consumption, resident education, biofiltriation gardens that filters blackwater into greywater for use in non-potable applications.
Goals: Zero-carbon development, 90% reduction in space heating needs, generate sites energy on site.
Strategies: Passive solar heating, passive ventilation and heat exchangers, district hot water, PV arrays, energy efficient appliances, monitor performance.
Health + Happiness
Neighborhood design.
Goals: Not defined.
Strategies: Shared public square and sports fields, community center, sports area.
Embodied Energy & Carbon
Goals: Use low embodied energy materials and construction practices.
Strategies: 52% of materials were sourced within 35 miles, 15% of construction materials were reclaimed or recycled products.
Goals: Waste reduction by 30%.
Strategies: Encourage recycling.
Neighborhood & Access
Goals: Percent of affordable units: 25%-50%.
Strategies: Variety of housing options.
Access to Nature
Strategies: Outdoor spaces and gardens connected to homes, outdoor seating area.
Photo by Nigel Cox , CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo: ©2018 Google Earth
Sources: energy-cities.eu/ *Note: This case study was developed using found information. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, contuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy.
Beddington Zero Energy Development
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Living the sustainable life: a case study of the Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) sustainable interior
Chick, Anne (2009) Living the sustainable life: a case study of the Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) sustainable interior. In: Designing the modern interior: from the Victorians to today. Berg, Oxford, pp. 275-286. ISBN 9781847882875
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Completed in 2002, Peabody led the BedZED (Beddington Zero Energy Development) in partnership with Bill Dunster Architects and environmental consultants
A BedZED case study written for the Housing Corporation by Bioregional soon after it was ... Bioregional Development Group is a registered charity no.
Major energy savings and lower bills, abundant green space, ... selling a plot of undeveloped open land for housing development near Beddington Farmlands.
Additional Resources. Read about BedZED on the Peabody Trust website. Case Studies. BioRegional. News. July 22, 2007 BedZED. redefining the
Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED). Bill Dunster, ZED Factory, Architect. BedZED. BedZED is a mixed development urban village for The Peabody Trust
*Note: This case study was developed using found information. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, contuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy. Back to Top. 21st
Beddington Zero Energy Development Case Study Report Produced for the Housing Corportion by BioRegional Development Group December 2002 BedZED Case Study
BedZed (Beddington Zero Energy Development) is an environmentally friending housing development which is situated in Hackbridge, London.
Chick, Anne (2009) Living the sustainable life: a case study of the Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) sustainable interior.
BedZED (Beddington. Zero Energy. Development) ... BedZED, in Beddington, south-west London, was built on a brownfield ... “case study of sustainable housing”.