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Home Sustainable design

Contact us

Contact our Environment Team
Email: Sustainability@Redbridge.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 8708 2036

The way we design and operate our buildings can have a large impact on the environment and climate change. Redbridge Council encourages the use of sustainable design principles within all developments, big or small.

Sustainable design not only benefits the environment. It can also save you money in operational costs and improve the liveability and workability of the building, through features such as natural ventilation.

The Council's sustainability requirements:

Visit the Sustainability Requirements page for information and guidance.

Energy

Redbridge Council supports the Mayor of London's approach to reducing carbon emissions in buildings: The Energy Hierarchy. Each step should be followed at the building design stage:

1. Be lean: energy efficient design

This should be the first step, before decentralised or renewable energy is considered, to ensure the greatest energy carbon reduction savings. Energy efficienct design should include:

passive solar design and orientation- utilise the sun for heating and lighting as much as possible
use natural ventilation
use trees and landscaping for natural shading, to reduce the need for mechanical cooling in summer
insulate
use energy efficient appliances and lighting throughout

2. Be clean: decentralised energy

This primarily refers to Combined Heat and Power and or Cooling systems (CHP/CCHP). Once energy demand has been reduced by energy efficient design, large developments should evaluate the feasibility of a CHP/ CCHP system. Alternatively, buildings should be designed for future heating and cooling networks where appropriate.

3. Be green: use renewable energy technology

The final step is to consider renewable and low carbon energy technology, to further reduce the building's reliance on CO2 emitting fuels, such as coal and gas. For examples of this technology, visit are renewable energy page.

For detailed information on the Council's sustainability requirements on energy, visit the Sustainability Requirements page.

Water

Water efficient appliances should be used throughout and, where possible, developments should use rainwater harvesting systems.

For detailed information on the Council's sustainability requirements on water efficiency, visit the Sustainability Requirements page.

Sustainable urban drainage

Large building footprints and hard paving increase surface water run off, increasing the chance of flooding and potentially reducing water quality. Using sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDs) allows water to be better managed on site and limits flood risk. Large scale developments should consider the incorporation of sustainable drainage systems.

For detailed information on the Council's sustainability requirements on SUDs, visit the Sustainability Requirements page.

Paving front gardens

Paving large areas of front or rear gardens can increase the risk of flooding to your property. Paving should be kept to a minimum and where required it should be permeable to allow water to be absorbed into the ground.

Planning permission is now required for the paving of front gardens. For more information, visit our Front gardens and driveways page.

Landscaping and green roofs

When designing gardens, use native species wherever possible. They are more suited to soil and weather conditions, so will have a higher survival rate and are likely to need less water.

Green roofs maximise green space within a development, improving amenity space, absorbing carbon dioxide, increasing biodiversity, regulating the temperature of the building and decreasing the chance of flooding by absorbing run off.