Olympic village looks to BedZed

Jason Prior, a principal at architect EDAW, who last week saw his masterplan for the Olympic site approved by the five east London boroughs affected, said he wanted the 9000-unit Olympic village to be as sustainable as BedZed, the south London low-emission housing scheme developed by the Peabody Trust.

The bid team is working with BioRegional, a consultant on BedZed, and is looking at its 2000-unit “Z-squared” development planned for the Thames Gateway to see if the same principles can be applied to the Olympic site.

Prior said: “They are going for zero-carbon emissions at Z-squared. We will see how that looks but there is no reason why it can’t be adapted to the Olympic site.”

The bid team will be mindful, however, that BedZed, which was completed in 2001, reportedly went £3m over budget.

BioRegional is looking at sites in the Thames Gateway for its Z-squared project, which aims to eliminate carbon emission and polluting waste.

The sustainability consultant hopes to release a concept design for Z-squared by the end of this year and start construction in 2006.

The Olympic team wants the whole Olympic precinct to follow strict targets on sustainability. Its planning application predicts that “the proposed buildings are likely to be more energy efficient and environmentally sensitive in terms of construction materials, design and energy consumption”.