Green Walls | Living Cities

This video was kindly sponsored by the Nick Mourne Foundation. Eco-villages are becoming increasingly popular around the world, as communities aim to lower their carbon footprint and become self-sufficient. The Bedside Project has been described as a viable solution for making eco-villages the mainstream. Therefore, in this video, we will be visiting the project in order to try and find out whether or not this style of living could be mass-produced in the modern world. Welcome back to Going Green. Today we have come to South London to see the UK's first large-scale eco-village. The project is known as Bedside and is home to over 250 residents. We were kindly shown around by James, who works at Bioregional. The project was constructed in 2002, using sustainable techniques which were incredibly groundbreaking at the time. Over half of the construction materials were sourced within 35 miles of the project. The buildings have incredibly thick walls in comparison to conventional buildings, which dramatically reduces the overall heat loss. The south-facing homes are passively heated, which means they capture the sun's energy to heat the space. The buildings facing north rely on the biomass boiler on site, which burns sustainably sourced wood chips to generate the heat. Each of the buildings are crowned by colourful wind cowls, which bring in fresh air for the residents and release the stale air. Also on the roofs are solar panels, which power the energy-efficient appliances inside. The green roofs help increase the insulation, as well as improve the biodiversity of the area. Each home has its own garden, and the community shares a vegetable patch where they grow their own food all year round. In Bedside, each resident knows around 20 neighbours, whereas the majority of people in London know next to none of their neighbours. You can't set up a sustainable community unless it's actually going to be a great place for people to live. The first thing that the residents here highlight is that they love the sense of community here, they have lots of friends. There are many things here that feel more human, and I enjoy very much the community in its loosest sense, because it's much more the way that the built environment is organised that makes it possible for people to be at least conscious of each other. This leads me on to ask how could we replicate more eco-villages in the rest of the world? Well, first of all, we need our governments to make sustainable living more accessible, through legislation and subsidies. But more importantly, we need to take a ground-up approach. The Bedside project would not have been such a success if it wasn't for the community that lives there. They've shown a willingness to come together and work collectively for a shared sustainable vision. In order for this style of living to become more mainstream, it requires all of us to do our bit in making the place we call home more sustainable. Yes, it may not be possible to convert all of our existing buildings into fancy high-tech eco-homes, but it is possible to change our attitudes and behaviours towards sustainability. Thank you for watching. As always, please hit the like button if you enjoyed this video, and make sure you go and check out some of our other videos on sustainable design. I'll see you in the next one.