MANSFIELD DISTRICT COUNCIL Working for the future This Guide has been printed by Hawthornes of Nottingham on Paperback Evolution coated paper, which is made up from 75% recycled fibre. JULY 2004 Sustainable Developer Guide FOR NOTTINGHAMSHIRE FOREWORD By Jonathon Porritt Chair of the Sustainable Development Commission and Director of Forum of the Future. This proactive Guide is exactly It fills me with optimism to see The benefits to developers of industry. This Guide will help what is needed to boost knowledge Nottinghamshire local authorities following this Guide are numerous. developers stay ahead of about sustainable development combining forces and working in Investing in more sustainable future regulation, and on top solutions and it comes at a critical partnership with the Environment design provides a real pay back of consumer demand. time for developers. Agency and the Newark and from lower running and building Sherwood Energy Agency to lead maintenance costs. Investing in Much firmer UK government the way on this agenda – an skills to deliver more sustainable leadership is finally emerging on area that we in the UK have design and building techniques sustainable design and construction. lagged behind on for far too will ensure the long-term viability Stricter building regulations for long. The innovative building and competitiveness of the energy efficiency and low carbon projects highlighted in this buildings are on their way. The Guide provide clear examples of writing is on the wall from what is already being achieved Brussels too, with the EU by some leading-edge developers Sustainable Buildings Directive on the ground. They provide a requiring much higher standards body of best practice for others from developers before 2006. to learn from. CONTENTS PARTNERSHIP: Who’s Involved? Introduction Page 3 This Guide has been prepared by a Using the Guide Page 4 partnership of Nottinghamshire local authorities, the Environment Agency Planning Context Pages 5 (Lower Trent Area) and Newark & Land Use, Layout and Landscape Pages 6 - 7 Sherwood Energy Agency. All project Travel and Transport Pages 8 - 9 partners are listed on page 35 along- Building Design and Specification Pages 10 - 11 side the Glossary. The work has been led by Nottinghamshire County Energy Use Pages 12 - 13 Council’s Environment Department Renewable Energy Pages 14 - 15 (Sustainability Team) Health and Pollution Pages 16 - 17 with contributions from the following consultancies: Waste Minimisation Pages 18 - 19 • Hockerton Housing Project Water Use and Drainage Pages 20 - 21 • Benchmark Graphics Ltd Biodiversity Pages 22 - 23 • Amanda Miller Communications Community Pages 24 - 25 DISCLAIMER Historic Environment Pages 26 - 27 The information that this document contains is for guidance only and is as Maintenance and Management Page 28 accurate as possible at the time of Appendices: publication. The Partnership accepts no I Extended Case Studies Pages 29 - 31 liability for the consequences of any II Useful Contacts Pages 31 - 33 reader acting upon inaccurate or out-of-date reference material or a Key Organisations planning advice. It will be updated at b Local Planning Authorities appropriate intervals on the project III Useful Publications Page 34 website. IV Glossary and Project Partners Page 35 www.sdg-nottinghamshire.org.uk 2 Sustainable Developer Guide for Notts (2004) INTRODUCTION If we accept the need to live more sustainable lifestyles, then we should accept that planning, design and construction standards need to be raised so that the benefits of sustainable buildings in sustainable locations are increasingly available. The Sustainable Developer Guide Clearly environmental damage can It offers: is intended as a useful resource for have severe social and economic • A reliable set of recommendations anyone involved in the development consequences, and thus responsible on a range of key topics. process. Its main focus is on governments, organisations and • Directions to the most relevant planning and design, but it also individuals are committed to sources of practical information offers advice about the construction reducing their greenhouse gas – publications and web sites. and maintenance of buildings emissions. Buildings are major • A range of case studies that have and considers how the wider sources of carbon dioxide emissions successfully incorporated several impacts of development can be (almost half of the UK total) associated sustainable elements. managed (for example waste with energy use in construction This Guide demonstrates that it is and transport issues). and operation, and there is now relatively easy, and not necessarily more expensive, for designers and This publication aims to provide a straightforward and builders to improve on their current Conservatory at Hockerton Housing Project. accessible path through the maze of published advice performance in delivering beneficial about sustainable development. environmental and social outcomes. The publication of this guide is To date, experience shows that therefore timely. Whilst it does not The principal reason for seeking widespread recognition of the role sustainable buildings can be easier provide a set of rules or standards, sustainable solutions in design and of planning and design in achieving to market as well as cheaper to run, it does signpost the route to better construction is environmental - it significant savings. and tend to hold their value practice. In this way, it is intended will minimise adverse impacts compared to conventional designs. to complement the advice of upon our precious planet, especially The main role of this Guide is to architects, town planners, from greenhouse gases which can inform and inspire developers, At present, the environmental builders, landscape designers and give rise to climate change, so that householders and their advisers, dimension of many planning other specialists in the field. The it can be passed on to future and to demonstrate that more proposals is only partially aim is to provide a straightforward generations with an adequate sustainable choices, which respect addressed. Local planning and accessible path through the stock of resources (energy, water, the environment and take a authorities’ powers are mainly maze of published advice about minerals etc.) for their needs. long-term perspective, are within focussed on the spatial and visual sustainable development, and, in their reach. impact of a development rather doing so, it is hoped to raise the than its long-term impact on design quality of schemes coming natural resources, health, climate forward for planning approval. etc. The 2004 planning legislation and emerging guidance suggests that this sustainable agenda will increasingly become part of mainstream policy and practice, and be instrumental in shaping planning negotiations. Tighter building regulations are also planned from 2005 and there are moves towards a national code for sustainable building driven by an EU Energy Performance Directive that comes into force in 2006. Construction site at Sherwood Energy Village. www.sdg-nottinghamshire.org.uk 3 USING THE GUIDE Although this Guide contains a wealth of reference material and of recommendations, it is simple to use and not prescriptive. It is intended to be of value to commercial developers, planning consultants, community and environmental groups, householders and small entrepreneurs as well as local authority planners and designers. The sustainable solutions put • Further Resources have agreed to convert the Guide forward in this Guide have been Lists key reference material, onto a web-based format, which divided into twelve topic headings, including websites and publications will facilitate and allow regular each representing different (with contacts where available), monitoring and updating with links aspects of development. These which are related to the to other related websites. topics overlap, so each chapter recommended solutions. should not be viewed in isolation. The most frequently quoted The Guide’s website address is: Every topic is presented as a organisations are highlighted www.sdg-nottinghamshire.org.uk double page spread. For ease of and then listed in more detail reference they have all been under Useful Contacts in A further development of the structured in the same way with Appendix II. In addition, Useful Guide is planned for those background and resource material Publications are listed in involved in smaller scale building Glazed walkway at Nottingham City on the left hand page and Appendix III, many of which projects such as house extensions Housing Association site at Newark. questions/solutions and case cover a range of topics - and and changes of use. A leaflet or studies on the right. Each double thus may not occur in individual ‘Compact’ Guide will be available in page is made up of the following topic chapters. late 2004 from local planning five sections: authority reception areas, The signposted information under libraries and elsewhere. It will • Introduction Further Resources is viewed as a highlight key messages from the Indicates the context of the topic critical part of the Guide, most relevant chapters of the and the extent of its significance although, in a fast changing world, main document - notably Building in sustainability terms. it cannot claim to be comprehensive Design and Specification, Energy or wholly up to date. Use, Water Use & Drainage and • Forces for Change Consequently, the Project Partners Waste Minimisation.