Elmsbrook Eco-Town: Pioneering Sustainable Living and Lessons for the Future
Above: Ecotown rooftops against vibrant greenery
Welcome to Elmsbrook Eco-Town, a beacon of sustainable development nestled in the heart of Oxfordshire. Elevate occupied the role of Owner’s Engineer back when it was being developed and as I walked through its streets, it was clear that Elmsbrook isn't just a housing development; it's a living, breathing testament to what can be achieved when environmental foresight meets community living. I would like to share the lessons we can learn from this pioneering development, and insights that could shape the future of sustainable communities.
A Snapshot
Elmsbrook, part of the ambitious North West Bicester Eco Town, stands as a model of sustainable living. With its homes strategically orientated to maximise solar PV efficiency, green roofs, smart tech to promote public transport use, and centralised heat generation, Elmsbrook exemplifies innovation. The village’s dedication to green spaces, including areas left wild for native life, is commendable. Moreover, the inclusion of a business centre and productive community spaces reflects a deep understanding of modern lifestyle needs, especially evident during the pandemic.
Lessons for Future Sustainable Developments
As I explored Elmsbrook, several key lessons emerged, essential for anyone interested in the future of planning community-focused developments that benefit nature:
Leveraging Sustainable Natural Resources
Elmsbrook's use of its rooftops is a masterclass in maximising use of local sustainable resources. This becomes immediately apparent in the consistent plot orientation. The pitched roofs all look south, and feature expansive photovoltaic solar panels, facing the sun like a field of beaming sunflowers, optimising yield, and minimising embodied carbon payback time. The arrays are large (34m2 average), flush with roof tiling, and pleasing on the eye with their positive impact firmly in my mind.
Less optimally oriented roof spaces are put to work, too. Greenery is aplenty across flat garage roofs. These sequester carbon, reduce ambient air temperature, bolster biodiversity, and increase land use productivity. Furthermore, rooftop rainwater harvesting (RWH) is employed across 300 of the homes to supplement toilet flushing and communal outdoor use, which is halving mains water consumption. Future developments should look to integrate renewable electricity and other technology foundationally at plot planning and house type decision stage to achieve this, rather than as a late addition which can stunt their potential.
Above: Elmsbrook rooftops oriented south
Above: Illustrative comparison of Elmsbrook rooftops (left) and typical residential rooftop (right) PV arrays
Below right: north-facing green roof and below left: flat green roof
Balancing Green and Built Spaces
Above: Wild space connected with footpaths
The village’s approach to green spaces teaches us the importance of balancing built environments with natural ones. Elmsbrook is not just a neighbour to nature, but a partner embracing its presence. Some areas are landscaped to create useful and practical space for residents - including a natural park for exercise and play. Other areas are left to be wild, where native plant life predating the development are allowed to thrive. A community notice board promotes the Forest School, regular nature connection workshops, and bat walks demonstrating the close relationship. Elmsbrook exemplifies the preservation of biodiversity and how this can offer residents a valuable connection to nature.
Above: Elmsbrook Community Notice Board
Flexible Community Spaces
The inclusion of a business centre on such a development isn’t commonplace but has so far been a success. It is the first non-domestic building to receive Passivhaus Plus certification and has seen strong resident use since the recent increase in remote/home working. The management company have forged a professional community through tailored events in consultation with users, including networking evenings and fully funded programmes such as the Startup Club together with Town Square Spaces. Similarly exciting plans are also afoot for a community hub to encourage communal gathering and build community links. Incorporating versatile community spaces that maximise social benefit and evolve with residents’ needs promotes and strengthens togetherness.
Protection Against Fuel Poverty
Elmsbrook properties include high fabric efficiency and high solar resource utilisation. Together with a strong dissemination of low energy use and sustainable living practices in the community, residents are saving on average £400 per year on energy costs compared to their Bicester neighbours, vastly decreasing the likelihood they will fall below the fuel poverty line. This has been shown by Savills to come at an average house price premium of 12% for larger plots versus a nearby standard development, but not for the smaller affordable homes, where operational cost savings are delivered without additional cost burden on homeowners and tenants.
Low Impact Construction
Despite high fabric performances and other investments in sustainable operation, embodied carbon of site construction was 30% lower than a typical build. Using Life Cycle Analysis, sustainable materials, local sources, and efficient construction techniques were utilised to achieve maximum impact, including for example, recycled aggregate and preconstructed SIP panels. Local suppliers and contractors within a 50-mile radius were also prioritised to limit workforce transport emissions.
Engaging in Sustainable Living Practices
The inclusion of allotment spaces in Elmsbrook is a system employed to engage residents in sustainable living. Space has been dedicated to allotments that can both educate and connect residents young and old, and act as another method to reduce household emissions. By including communal areas that simultaneously fosters environmental awareness and participation, you nurture a collective sense of ownership and care that extends beyond formal boundaries.
Other Opportunities
While Elmsbrook has many successes, it's always interesting to consider how we might approach a similar project now.
Advancing Sustainable Energy Solutions
More advanced lower-carbon heating solutions now exist that make full use of the rapidly decarbonising electricity grid and sustainable energy sources that are taking priority over efficient natural gas use through combined heat and power (CHP). While the choice to deliver heat to residents via a heat network will reduce the burden of adapting to such technology for Elmsbrook, future projects should be courageous and ambitious in selecting a technology to invest in. This can circumvent decision regret and a potential conflict between sweating investment or pushing toward net zero targets.
Further to this, central government are now directing substantial funding to heat network commercialisation and construction, which wasn’t available during the planning of Elmsbrook. The Heat Networks Delivery Unit also provides early-stage grant funding and guidance to local authorities in England and Wales for heat network project development. Its most recent application window closed in December 2023, but is likely to be extended for more funding rounds in 2024 and beyond, given the government’s commitment to green energy.
The Green Heat Network Fund help progress such projects into commercialisation and construction and has a strict focus on low and zero carbon heat network solutions. This scheme recently saw a further £485m committed to extend its life through 2025 to 2028. Any developer should look to take advantage of this fund but must look away from gas CHP to cleaner alternatives such as heat pumps or waste heat sources.
Aesthetic and Functional Use of Space
Transforming functional spaces like an energy centre into appealing community assets can significantly enhance a sustainable development's overall appeal. Oftentimes such an installation takes centre stage to ensure efficient heat distribution. It's important we love every yard of a place, minimise infrastructure land use, and justify the efforts toward this goal with other productive use for community benefit. For example, there are fantastic proposals elsewhere to utilise waste energy centre heat in creative ways such as community greenhouses for additional local food sources with far less energy input. With Elmsbrook residents already in the food production game, this would be a natural addition to the estate’s circular economy and independence.
We Can Go Further
Elmsbrook Eco Village is a living lesson in sustainable development, offering inspiration for future projects. By embracing its innovative approaches and considering what might enrich other developments, we can pave the way for more sustainable, community-focused places that not only benefit the environment but also enrich the lives of their residents.
Meanwhile, it's also vital to not only build the present, but with an eye on future regulation, increasing environmental standards, and a changing climate. With respect to the huge gains made, Elmsbrook is still held back from achieving its goal of true net zero operation. With a shared vision and ambitious plans realised through innovative engineering, we can establish regenerative places that not only do no harm, but actively and concurrently improve health, build lasting communities, and heal our environment.