East Hampshire District Council's story
Quebec Park was the first major mixed-use development created as part of the Whitehill & Bordon Green Town regeneration project and was designed to be an exemplary sustainable community that would establish a high standard for all future development. The project is part of a wider masterplan that will see the former 'garrison town' of Whitehill & Bordon become a truly green, healthy, and connected town.
Whitehill & Bordon has a long military history, though the Ministry of Defence withdrew from the town in 2015. Now, the future of the area is being shaped by the creation of a new Healthy Green Town offering 3350 new homes and 5500 new jobs. Quebec Park is situated on a brownfield site and former military base and has created 100 new homes alongside a community employment hub in the former barracks buildings, a community café, and a village green. The development is also connected to the town's pioneering Green Loop of cycleways and footpaths.
East Hampshire District Council worked closely with developer Abri – formerly Radian Housing – and architects, Architecture PLB, to develop a blend of private, shared ownership, and affordable family houses, flats, and sheltered housing all designed to high sustainable standards through a 'fabric-first' approach. The project was used as a case study for the Zero Carbon Hub's standards for Fabric Energy efficiency and Carbon Compliance. Although these standards have now been superseded, they proved to be a testbed for recent changes to energy regulations.
To ensure that the buildings continue to perform after completion, East Hampshire District Council partnered with Abri and the National Energy Foundation on the 'Assured Performance Process' (APP) pilot scheme. This initiative is focused on ensuring that the energy performance of the homes in use aligns with their predicted design stage performance, helping to close the 'performance gap' between the two. An ongoing Post Occupancy Review has shown that this initiative has been successful.
Quebec Park was completed in 2018 and was the 'Residential' winner in the RICS Awards South East 2019 as well as the 'Best use of brownfield land in placemaking' winner at the Planning Awards 2019.
Useful learnings from East Hampshire District Council
Be Holistic:
Strong leadership and support on planning policy are key.
Don't get lost in 'greenwash'.
Think about form and orientation from the beginning.
Literacy for planners, designers, developers is essential.
Feedback results regularly.
Take Time:
Engage with people early.
Analyse and respond to context (climatic and cultural).
Model designs to validate decisions.
Collaborate with contractors.
Monitor construction.
Keep it Simple:
Simple building forms are more energy efficient.
Make construction hard to get wrong.
Make systems easy to use.
Ensure renewables are understood.
East Hampshire District Council's metrics
Ongoing post occupancy review to measure performance.
