Bedzed - A Failure??

The Sutton Post recently reported on a number of problems at Bedzed relating to energy production and waste disposal that mean it is not yet a zero-carbon facility. Also not all residents are taking part in al its schemes.

Below are a few other issues also affecting it.

1. It was very expensive to build for Peabody Homes, which led to controversy in the housing press.

2. Some of the entrances do seem to be almost designed for young people to hang about in the dark areas and thus is suffers from increased anti-social behaviour. At a time when we are demolishing some estates like Durand for exactly this reason, it is suffering the same issues. Since the whole aim was to integrate it into the surrounding community, rather than it become an almost gated eco "intentional community", it is facing challenges that other non gated and non entry-phoned flatted areas face.

The whole point of Bedzed was to be an experiment. In any such experiment there are bound to be failures as well as successes - and there are many successes at the development in terms of developing a thriving and engaged community. The key point is to learn from the failure and to promost the successes.