Client Southwark Council
Original masterplan Foster + Partners
The Elephant and Castle redevelopment is a comprehensive project to upgrade over 30 hectares of land. It will entail a major programme of phased infrastructure works, alterations to the highways network and the development of a new mixed-use urban centre, which will include approximately 5,300 new homes and a total new build area of floor space of approximately 6 million square feet.
The redevelopment sets ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions and minimising the use of treated water for non-potable use. To meet these targets, Southwark Council are committed to establish a MuSCo (Multi-utility Services Company), a private/ public joint venture energy and environmental services company to deliver low carbon energy and environmental services and next generation data connectivity toelephant and Castle and the wider borough.
Southwark Council are currently seeking a commercial partner or partners to assist in the implementation, construction, financing and operation of the MuSCo.
The targets and aspirations established by the council, its partners and technical teams include a minimum 20 percent contribution from building-mounted/building-integrated renewable sources, a reduction in water demand of at least 20 percent and the provision of a locally sourced alternative supply of water for non-potable (‘green’) use within the development and across the wider area.
The proposed ‘green’ water supply system is to be based on the installation of two groundwater abstraction wells located at opposite ends of the core development area, at Stead Street and St Mary’s Churchyard, drawing water from the underlying chalk aquifer to provide 100 percent of the non-potable demand of the Elephant and Castle redevelopment (30 to 40 percent of the total annual demand). Non-potable uses are envisaged to include: - construction
- toilet flushing
- hand basins (commercial buildings only)
- public area cleansing
- landscape establishment and street cleaning.
To date, the Environment Agency consent to drill and test has been granted and tender documents have been prepared for issue to drilling contractors.
The Council has already granted planning consent for two key sites at the Elephant and Castle, New Kent Road and Castlehouse, and demonstrated its commitment to the provision of MuSCo infrastructure by requiring that these buildings are ‘fitted for connection’ to MuSCo services.
This approach will be taken for all early developments in the area, and it is the Council’s intention to provide each developer with a standardised interface document containing enough technical information to safeguard service entry points and plant room space for an indirect connection to the district-heating network and for a separate supply of non-potable water. With the introduction of London-wide carbon targets, schemes on the scale of the Elephant and Castle represent opportunities to deploy more sustainable means of generating heat, power and cooling at a local level. The project has become integrated with the working arrangements of the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the London Climate Change Agency (LCCA). The GLA has declared the Elephant and Castle an energy action area and the London Climate Change agency are providing support on technical aspects of this procurement process. | 
