First impressions of eco project (From Bicester Advertiser)
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First impressions of eco project
2:10pm Friday 17th August 2012 in News
The vision
THIS is an image of what the first houses in Bicester’s 5,000 home eco town could look like.
Developer A2Dominion has released pictures ahead of the start of building work on phase one.
A total of 393 homes, an eco business centre, shops, a pub and school will be built in the first phase, off Banbury Road, and work is expected to start this autumn.
The first residents are expected to move into North West Bicester by the end of next year.
All homes will energy efficient and will include solar panels, triple glazing, rainwater harvesting and heat provided from underground pipes.
The images also show open streets and communal areas, which will include barbecue areas, herb boxes, allotments and seating.
A2 Dominion’s project director Steve Hornblow said: “Achieving environmental integrity has in the past often meant compromising on style, but we want NW Bicester to fully integrate into the landscape.”
But Colin Cockshaw, of action group Bicester Against Eco Con (BaECON), said: “It looks to me like a fairly urban-style community, but being built in the countryside — lots of hard surfaces, use of decorative evergreen trees rather than indigenous countryside species.”
Comments(8)
snert
says...
5:19pm Fri 17 Aug 12
mytaxes
says...
5:51pm Fri 17 Aug 12
adster
says...
9:49pm Fri 17 Aug 12
mytaxes wrote:Nobody is asking you to live there......
Not my idea of heaven that's for sure.
Thinkingoutloud
says...
10:02pm Fri 17 Aug 12
Lord Palmerstone
says...
8:06am Sat 18 Aug 12
steve1955
says...
9:05am Sat 18 Aug 12
i still think this project will only get a small way to its target umless more subsidies are handed out lets wait for next installment of public money for eco town cherwell council must be saving for the day
to ny w
says...
6:28am Sun 19 Aug 12
Estate agents tell me its a joke. Nobody will buy the. As BaECON keping saying, it is an ECO CON.
Andrew:Oxford says...
3:19pm Fri 17 Aug 12
bury, visitors and disabled friends & family supposed to park their vans and cars?
Not sure if I'm keen on the public decking - can imagine that would be treacherous when wet.
Aren't the trees a little close to the houses? I'm sure my insurers ask me if there are any trees closer to the house than their height or a specific distance.
Definitely not impressed by the shared central (roofline) gutter for the houses either - where is the responsibility there if one neighbour is an owner occupier and the other is a remote landlord?