The latest climate projections for the UK suggest that by 2080 London will be between 2^o celsius and 6^o celsius warmer and that every part of the UK is likely to be wetter in winter and drier in summer.  By 2050, summer rainfall could decrease by 20 per cent in southern England, while Scotland and the north west of England could see winter rainfall increase by the same amount, leading to climate change impacts such as periodic floods and drought and local overheating through heat island effect¹.

The design of sustainable communities is an important process in the journey to create resilient infrastructure to cope with these projections since sustainably designed infrastructure can reduce these disruptive and costly impacts.

Sustainable planning can improve the quality of life of the community by providing increasing comfort levels in and around buildings and strengthen society by dealing with the consequences of climate change. By taking an integrated approach to energy, waste, water, transport, infrastructure and public space we can arrive at better design solutions for our cities and urban communities.

Future proofing these developments will also ensure we build communities resilient to climate change and with stable economic growth and social infrastructure.

As practitioners involved in the built environment we have an opportunity to positively impact society and the natural environment in ways that often endure for decades – we have an obligation and a desire to get it right. What is emerging is an even greater responsibility to create places that work in harmony with the environment and those are developed around socially and economically sound principles – not just for this generation but for future generations².

The role of government: Sustainable Communities Agenda

Government too, has a role to play and in the United Kingdom a new agenda has been laid out explaining how, from a local to global level, the government will contribute, encourage and assist in the creation of future sustainable communities.

At a local level, the strategy sets out how local government leadership will help to improve lives by delivering better urban and rural neighbourhoods.  These neighbourhoods will essentially be greener, safer and have a stronger sense of place and community. At a national level it is understood that government policy will need to be developed so everyone can fulfill their potential and at a global level the issue surrounds partnerships and good governance focused on local priorities. There is also a belief that sharing knowledge and best practice while applying or reforming key international agreements will promote the proliferation of sustainable development.

To realise this vision a partnering approach is required

Creating sustainable communities requires the integration of social, environmental and economic goals and an understanding and appreciation of the natural assets, resources, typography and community of an area and its role within the regional, national and international context.

The UK Government is driving sustainable development and challenging local authorities; developers and designers to ensure all new developments and regeneration schemes are designed and built sustainably. This is further demonstrated by the Planning Policy Statement (PPS1) which positions sustainable development as a core principle underpinning planning policy.

The goal is to deliver sustainable communities that are environmentally sensitive and positive places for people to work, learn, live and play – considerate of the environment and well designed and built featuring a quality environment. By their very nature they need to be well connected with good transport services and communication, linking people to jobs, schools, leisure and health services³.

Sustainable Development Framework and Methodology

The challenge is to deliver a practical approach to implementing national, regional and local planning policy requirements with economic, social and environmental objectives being met within the built environment.  The framework provides the objectives for achieving this and will require developers, planning consultants and local planning authorities to not just demonstrate but verify the extent to which these requirements are met within masterplans that are put forward for planning approval.

The framework should ideally provide: A structure and process for delivering sustainable developments. Assistance to review planning submissions and reduce pressure on planning departments. More efficient (quicker) approvals at lower cost. An open and transparent framework for developers and planners. Verification on a developments overall commitment. Sustainable solutions which optimise community assets.

The natural evolution is a third party assessment and certification scheme to promote compliance and provide benchmarks for excellence at statutory planning application stage.

Known as BREEAM Communities, this system, based on the Building Research Establishment’s already established BREEAM model for buildings, offers an open source sustainability assessment framework for an entire development. It provides a simple assessment methodology that measures the development’s commitments ensuring that sustainability targets set by the local planning authority are met before planning permission is granted and that all relevant criteria are considered.

The BREEAM system includes: A flexible and non-prescriptive delivery mechanism through the use of compliant assessment methodologies. This ensures key targets and requirements set out in the framework are correctly addressed by the developer. Enables both planners and developers to set and agree on appropriate targets for developments. Targets are based on key sustainability objectives and core planning policy requirements, adapted for the specific development and surrounding area Reflects real sustainability obligations for the site.

Third party assessment and certification

In the UK, certification against BREEAM Communities is considered a major facilitator of faster, lower cost and more confident planning approval decisions. The goal with BREEAM is to reduce pressure on planning departments and provide greater confidence towards successful sustainable development outcomes for the future.

Over time, the framework will develop to include follow-up assessment stages, such as post construction review and post occupancy evaluation. The process also enables the local planning authorities to shape development projects at the statutory planning stage and consider the entire lifecycle of development proposals.

BREEAM Communities: Two step process

1. Regional Sustainability Checklists – used as a dialogue tool, it provides the development team and local planning authority with an opportunity to ensure the sustainability objectives and planning policy requirements are clearly identified.
2. BREEAM Communities Assessment – after the core team has established the development’s sustainability and planning policy commitments, an independent BREEAM Communities Assessor will check and verify that all the commitments have been met.

The aggregate of the two stages results in an independent third-party certification report, summarising the commitments of the developer to address sustainability objectives and planning policy requirements as outlined by the local planning authority.

Using the two steps, developers are able to assess the sustainability of their design as well as understand its strengths and weaknesses. Since all the issues are considered at the masterplanning stage it reduces the need to re-work development designs and plans therefore saving time and money.

Better still, local authorities can see that sustainability commitments are being met that achieve development goals for the local area.  This facilitates benchmarking of sustainability performance with other local authorities and helps to improve reporting to the electorate, business and Government.

Case study:  MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a leading example of sustainable regeneration on a grand scale. MediaCityUK is a purpose built home for creative and digital business. Located at Salford Quays, in the north west of England, it is anticipated it will house over one thousand companies including the BBC and employ over fifteen thousand people when completed.  From the outset, the development team has been committed to maximising the sustainability potential of the site and ensuring the development incorporates world leading sustainability whereby all interactions and possible impact on the local and wider community are taken into consideration. Nothing is taken for granted. MediaCityUK embodies sound environmental practices through design, construction and operation providing opportunities for local economic growth, sustainable living as well as flexibility for future growth. SKM acted as sustainability advisor to Peel Holdings providing an independent review of the development’s energy and sustainability strategy.  SKM also provided the lead designer role for the tri-generation system on the site.  Released from conventional solutions, the modular energy centre at MediaCityUK provides the development with power, heating and cooling through a gas fired Combined Heat and Power unit. This tri-generation system works in conjunction with a canal water cooling system to maximise efficiencies of energy usage, particularly in the winter period where the generated heat from the CHP unit is fully utilised for heating and canal water temperature is low enough to provide free cooling. The modular design of the energy system provides a number of benefits including cost saving phased installation, flexible operation and maintenance and adaptability for future proofing and changes in fuel sources.   This innovative approach will free up valuable real estate and reduce emissions usual associated with multi-site boilers.  The energy system capitalises on the entire development as a ‘total asset’ and optimises the use of the surrounding environment. SKM identified the potential for MediaCityUK to be a pilot for the BRE’s BREEAM Communities scheme and led the project team through the process and onto achieving the highest scoring ‘Excellent’ rating in the UK.

About SKM

SKM does not just deliver engineering skills. Using the BREEAM Communities methodology we act as sustainability advisors and consider the needs of all relevant stakeholders, impacts on the local and wider community to deliver award winning sustainable developments for our clients.

SKM are committed to the principles of sustainable development in every project they deliver.  SKM can demonstrate extensive experience in all aspects of building services engineering and understand the critical requirements to have these services integrated. Our expertise includes energy management systems, lighting and power, communications, fire protection and security, lift services, hydraulics, air conditioning and mechanical ventilation.  Additional services include project management, environmental consultancy, civil, structural and geotechnical engineering.

About BREEAM

BREEAM:  (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings around the world, with over 110,000 buildings certified and over half a million registered. It sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the de-facto measure used to describe a building's environmental performance. Credits are awarded in eight categories according to performance. These credits are then aggregated to produce a single overall score on a scale of Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding which is also reflected in a star rating from 1 to 5 stars. The operation of BREEAM is overseen by an independent Sustainability Board, representing a wide cross-section of construction industry stakeholders. http://www.breeam.org/.

¹ UKCP09 – UK Climate Projections, http://ukcp09.defra.gov.uk/
² Creating a world of difference, SKM 2008, p 6
³ From Local to Global: Creating Sustainable Communities in a Fairer World www.odpm.gov.uk/fiveyearstrategy,  p 121

© Sinclair Knight Merz
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