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Cambridge University goes for green

Posted: 13/01/2010

An ambitious green development is planned by Cambridge University. The site looks rather ordinary now, but what will be known as North West Cambridge is scheduled to be a new city quarter. The land is owned by Cambridge University, and the scheme is intended to accommodate expansion over the next 25 years, when numbers of students and staff are expected to increase by 8,000.

3,000 new homes will be built on this patch of the greenbelt, together with new faculty and research buildings, and a significant number of community facilities. The area action plan requires North West Cambridge to achieve an initial level 5 on the Code for Sustainable Homes, level 6 (zero carbon) by 2016, an 'excellent' BREEAM [BRE Environmental Assessment Method] rating, and to provide a site-decentralised energy system.

The mixed-use development will be constructed on the 120-hectare site between Madingley Road (A1303), Huntingdon Road (A1307) and the M11. As well as the new homes and 2,500 student beds, a local centre complete with supermarket and unit shops has been proposed, a new primary school, a hotel, nursery and community facilities.

Another 100,000 square metres will be set aside for academic and commercial research and development space. All buildings will be 'climate-proofed' and all non-residential buildings BREEAM 'excellent'. If planning permission is given, the first stage of construction will begin in 2012, with materials and design decided upon closer to the time.

North West Cambridge will also have its own site-wide decentralised energy system, which if fuelled by renewables, could save more than 60 per cent on current carbon emissions. Again, the specifics have yet to be decided upon; a wide range of options will be considered, but all will be required to keep harmful emissions to a minimum.

'The university's consultants are currently considering a range of systems to meet the policy requirements, including combined heat and power (CHP), and we have recommended that they build upon the work carried out by our consultants, which informed the development of the policy,' says Emma Davies, planning officer at Cambridge City Council.

'The systems considered in this piece of work included renewably fuelled CHP - of which biomass gasification and anaerobic digestion CHP was found to have the most scope for incorporation into the site, with biomass district heating also being considered to be complementary to the anaerobic digestion; gas CHP, as a low-carbon way of supplementing any biomass energy provision to the site; and renewably fuelled district heating.'

The development needs to demonstrate that it will add as little traffic as possible to Cambridge's already congested roads. Residents will be encouraged to keep car usage to a minimum; the site will be well served by public transport, and cutting through the centre will be the Ridgeway, a dedicated pedestrian and cycle route linked with the city centre.

Those parts of the site that aren't developed will keep their greenbelt designation; independent planning inspectors actually reduced the amount of greenbelt proposed by the policy. The nearby Travellers Rest SSSI will be maintained, and the councils promise biodiversity in the area will increase with the 'generous' open spaces slated for the development.

Simon Bunn, Cambridge City Council's sustainable drainage engineer, says dealing with flood water and surface water sustainably will also benefit biodiversity.

'A comprehensive series of swales throughout the development will feed down green fingers to the development's open spaces, where there will be a series of linear ponds. Some will be more of a retention basin with a low flow channel through the centre and others will be more recognisable as ponds. There are great crested newts on an adjacent site; sustainable drainage can provide habitat with a minimum of maintenance.'

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