In order to ensure a new urban extension is delivered to zero carbon principles, and indeed bring the other gains mentioned in this blog, it is crucial for a monitoring period to be introduced once the urban extension is occupied, so there is a clear data log to ensure the benefits are being achieved.
In order to ensure this is incorporated, it needs to be a planning requirement for the development, either as a condition or as part of the legal framework put in place to grant the consent. This ties in any property developer and means they are committed to this for a defined time period post occupancy. In order to make this condition have teeth, there are examples where the legal agreement accompanying the planning permission has financial penalties built into it if the monitoring is not carried out, and indeed also financial penalties if the results to do not deliver the agreed aspirations as set out in the conditions. For example a condition may be that car use has to be 50% of the rate of car use when comparing the urban extension to the wider City car use statistics. When the developer is clearing conditions it would be a requirement for them to put in a robust transport strategy outlining how this can be achieved, and this could incorporate things like real time information at bus stops within the development, no bus stop being more than x meters from any of the homes, a car club on the site for shared use, strategically designed footpath and cycle routes throughout the urban extension to encourage cycling and walking to key destinations and so on. In the Bicester Eco town in the UK all trips for the wider town were analysed and it was shown that a significant reduction in overall car use could be achieved if 2 key things were delivered in terms of behavioural change, and these were school runs and what were described as the small runs to the local shop for milk and other small items. The overall design of the urban development goes into great detail in terms of just how easy it is to access schools to be built within the extension and shops within the extension by bicycle or walking. A further important sustainable avenue that was accepted for Bicester was allowing electric cars to not be counted within overall car trips, as this clearly encourages the developer to offer incentives to all occupiers to invest in electric cars. At Bicester the lead promoter of the site has placed electric charging facilities in all the garages for the homes, and also communal electric charging facilities throughout communal parking areas across the site, and the developer also has formed a partnership arrangement with an local electric car provider to offer incentives to new occupants of the development not open to others. The overall monitoring would need to cover travel patterns, water use, electric use and overall energy efficiency within the homes. Water and electric use can be easily monitored by introducing technology within the homes (smart meters or a specific monitoring device that feeds a central server for all the homes), and this technology is relatively straightforward to incorporate into the design. At Bicester all homes were provided with a "shimmy" device which is about the size of an Ipad and can be attached somewhere in the home to capture this information. The great thing about a Shimmy device is is can also have other uses, such as providing real time bus information to residents, or letting them know when the car club vehicles are free for booking. This monitoring over time is a highly useful and valuable tool, not just for the home owner and the developer, but also for the planning authority and the Government. The Government has committed to reducing emissions along with other other international partners, and it is crucial for any Government to be able to monitor this in terms of new developments so it can robustly show further down the line that the benefits are tangible and deliverable when looking to further legislate in terms of how sustainable the homes of the future should be
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AuthorGerald Walker. BA Hons Economics and Studying for a Masters at UNSW in Property and Development Archives
June 2017
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