Sustainability

Location

WCN is a highly sustainable location, on the fringe of the existing urban area yet within a mile of the city centre.

This map shows the location of WCN in relation to existing and proposed retail, leisure, health and community facilities in Winchester.

Download map of WCN and existing/proposed community
facilities (PDF: 1.3Mb)

The site will be well-served by existing and new bus services connecting to the city centre, the railway station and other key locations. Winchester railway station is within walking distance of much of the site and within easy cycling distance of all of it.

Commuting

Winchester currently suffers from a significant imbalance between local housing supply and jobs.

House prices are exceptionally high - Winchester is the most expensive area in Hampshire with average prices some 33% higher than for the county or the South East region as a whole.

This leads directly to very high levels of in-commuting to the city centre - Winchester has a higher proportion of people travelling 10 kilometres or more to work than any other town or city in the South East (other than Crawley, where the figures are distorted by proximity to Gatwick airport).

The provision of 2,000 new homes within walking and cycling distance of the city centre, and with good public transport links - including 800 affordable homes - will help to tackle Winchester's current problems of spiralling house prices, congestion, pollution and long distance commuting.

Low Carbon Development

WCN will be a low carbon development.

All homes will be built to at least Sustainable Homes Code level 3, progressively increasing to level 6 (zero carbon) in line with changes to the building regulations. CALA will be considering a number of options to achieve this including:

Minimising demand through the provision of efficient equipment and controls.
Providing comprehensive home owners manuals to inform occupiers of the energy efficiency measures incorporated in the development and to encourage their use.
Improving the thermal efficiency of walls, windows and roofs of all homes.
Reducing the carbon impact of all community buildings.
Installing high efficiency condensing boilers and, if appropriate, district heating systems.
Using low embodied energy materials in buildings and offsetting carbon emissions by appropriate planting and landscaping.
Investigating renewable energy initiatives including solar panels, photovoltaics, geothermal ground source heating, combined heat and power, biomass and on-site micro wind generation.

Green Travel

WCN will cut carbon emissions by reducing the high levels of inward commuting Winchester currently experiences. In addition, CALA's green travel plans include:

Subsidising a fleet of bio diesel or hybrid buses to service the site.
Supporting the introduction of a car-pooling system.
Encouraging cycling and walking by the provision of an extensive network of dedicated cycle/footways across the site as well as off-site improvements.

Resources

The efficient use of water will be a key consideration in the WCN development. CALA will ensure water saving devices such as dual flush toilets, flow reducing/aerating taps and low water usage white goods are installed throughout. Opportunities for rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling will also be investigated.

Wherever possible, waste will be minimised using locally reclaimed or recycled materials and by ensuring a waste management scheme is in place during construction. All households will be provided with composting and recycling facilities.

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