Millennium Village, Allerton Bywater Street scene, Millennium Village

Millennium Village, Allerton Bywater, Leeds

Allerton Bywater is a former colliery which was closed in 1992. Miller Homes devised a competition-winning bid for the site in May 1999 after the announcement that Allerton Bywater was to be the second Millennium Community.

The whole project, led by English Partnerships, comprises 59 acres of mixed used development. Miller Homes’ contribution includes 197 units of mixed tenure housing. Around 20% of these will be ‘affordable housing’ administered by a local housing association.

Exceptional examples of community consultation

Throughout the planning application stage, both Miller and English Partnerships participated in community consultation. The outline planning permission obtained by English Partnerships provided for a considerable amount of community gain including public open space, the refurbishment of a miners’ welfare facility and the setting up of a community committee to assist with the regeneration of the former colliery. The community’s views were considered during the application process and developed into the incorporation of the ‘home zone principle’ which specifically promotes neighbourhood interaction and creates a community-policed environment which will foster a community identity.

Green specification or construction methods

It has been confirmed that Phase 1 of the project has achieved an EcoHomes rating of Excellent. This is a major milestone.

In addition, a series of ‘Millennium Community Benchmark Standards’ have been reached or exceeded:

Energy consumption has been reduced by 20%;

The use of materials with low embodied energy has been achieved;

Water consumption has been reduced by 20% (110 litres per person per day);

Use of natural daylight has been increased by 10%;

Noise-proofing well in excess of Building Regulations has been achieved;

We have been involved in devising a green transport plan for the development and have incorporated ‘atelier’ units designed for both living and working, to promote alternative lifestyles that reduce the need for cars.

Waste and recycling initiatives

At Allerton Bywater, we achieved a reduction of 50% in both domestic waste and construction waste (8.5m3 per unit). These figures have been audited and verified by one of English Partnerships’ consultants.

Supplier initiatives

Not only have we used only timber of FSC quality from accredited renewable sources, we have investigated the full chain of custody to confirm that the manufacturing process has been efficient and the wastage of raw material has been minimal.

Human Resource and Charitable initiatives

We have integrated a number of trainees into the work taking place on-site. We decided to recruit the trainees into both the bricklaying and joinery trades particularly, as both these trades tend to be on-site continuously. This has been done to offer re-training to a local workforce seriously affected by the closure of the colliery.