Southwark council unveils ambitious green targets for £1.5bn Elephant and Castle scheme

Southwark council are expected to agree to an ambitious sustanable plan for its new £1.5bn Elephant and Castle regeneration scheme. Councillors are due to ratify the plan at an executive meeting.

The plans intends to establish a multi utility services companyto provide locally generated heat, cooling and electricity. Cllr Richard Thomas said the council planned to keep carbon emissions to their current levels despite thee scheme tripling the number of homes and businesses in the area.

"This means coming up with creative ways of providing locally generated heat and power. We are in a unique position to be able to build this into the plans for the Elephant and Castle regeneration scheme before a brick is laid."

"The scheme will set new standards in green development on a scale not previously seen in the UK and will demonstrate that building new homes and businesses can be compatible with protecting the environment."

The planned development means it will also be possible to simultaneously install infrastruture to:

• Supply ‘green’ water extracted via boreholes from an underlying chalk aquifer for non-drinking water uses, such as toilet flushing and irrigation
• Connect the entire development with a high bandwidth fibre optic cable network, enabling energy management, intelligent building technology and the next generation of entertainment and connectivity for residents and businesses
• Use renewable energy sources and combined heat and power
• Provide automated waste management.

The team working on plans for the ambitious overall regeneration scheme includes project manager Hornagold & Hills.