Eco-quarter

The Church in the

Thames Gateway

A Thames Gateway Eco-Quarter?

The eco-quarter is, at this stage, only a concept which has been put out by DCLG for consultation. The aim would be to develop one eco-quarter in the TG in an existing urban area. It would would not be starting from scratch but instead seek to model how our existing infrastructure could be transformed into a sustainable future. It is particularly interesting because it addresses the issue that new sustainable building will only be a small proportion of society. We have to face up to reducing our carbon footprint in existing communities. The aims of the eco-quarter would be:

To develop and test new sustainable technologies
To pilot ways of achieving the ambition of making the TG an eco-region
To demonstrate economic benefits of sustainable developments to residents, local authorities, developers and business
To demonstrate health and wellbeing benefits
To model what can be achieved in other communities whilst retaining high quality design and living
To encourage wider market demand and test new business models

The diagramatic representation of an eco-quarter includes:

Decentralised energy
Renewable technology
Sustainable transport
Sustainable lifestyles
Efficient built environment (new construction & retrofitting existing)
Flood risk management
Efficient use of water resources
Enhanced bio-diversity and environmental quality
Waste management

The Prospectus, issued in November 2008, is seeking initial comments on the idea by the end of February 2009. If the idea went ahead then proposals would be sought from Local Authorities for an eco-quarter in their area for which the Local Authority would be the accountable body.