Following the launch of the Government’s Sustainable Communities Plan, English Partnerships has a major role in developing high quality, lower cost and affordable housing in an environmentally responsible manner in areas of market pressure.

As a national agency, one of English Partnerships’ key roles is to ensure that the lessons learnt in one part of the country are made good use of in another. It is an essential part of English Partnerships’ work to inspire a better way, a better result and a better life for the communities we serve.

This is something English Partnerships already has extensive experience of doing through its Millennium Communities Programme, which was initiated in 1997 with the launch of the development competition for Greenwich Millennium Village.

The programme aims to deliver some 5,000 to 6,000 dwellings over the course of a seven to ten year period. A range of different types of site have been chosen to demonstrate that energy-efficient, environmentally-responsible development is achievable regardless of geographic and economic location.
Seven sites have been identified to date. In chronological order, they are:

• Greenwich Peninsula, South London: The site of the largest remediated gas works in Europe, the Greenwich Millennium Village is located within the 121 hectare (300 acre) Greenwich Peninsula.
• Allerton Bywater, near Leeds: Set on a former colliery
site 10 kilometres east of Leeds, the 24 hectare (60 acre) site at Allerton Bywater will provide 520 new houses along with 25,000 square metres of business and community space.
• New Islington, Ancoats, East Manchester: Built in the 1970’s the Cardroom Estate in Ancoats, Manchester is a 10 hectare (25 acre) site suffering a range of problems. Currently only half of the 204 homes are occupied. Working with the Manchester City Council preferred developer, Urban Splash, and the local community, English Partnerships is co-ordinating the development of 1,400 homes and up to 6,000 square metres of commercial and community space.

• Nar Ouse, King’s Lynn, East Anglia: English Partnerships and the King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council have been working to transform the derelict 48.5 hectare (120 acre) former industrial site at King’s Lynn into a Millennium Community. The project is likely to comprise 500 dwellings and 60,000 square metres of commercial space.
• East Ketley, Telford: East Ketley is a 40 hectare (100 acre) brownfield site, which includes former mine work ings and shale deposits, to the North of Telford town centre. The vision for East Ketley includes the potential for the development of up to 800 new homes, new community, leisure and retail facilities, improvements to the road and public transport system and a new primary school.
• Oakgrove, Milton Keynes: The Oakgrove area of Milton Keynes is a 51 hectare (125 acre) brownfield site on the eastern side of the town, previously used for the extraction of gravel. The vision for the scheme includes the development of up to 700 new homes, commercial, community and leisure facilities.
• Hastings: The Hastings Millennium Community will span six sites, joined by a proposed metrolink, and will include the creation of a new Country Park.

According to Duncan Innes, English Partnerships’ Head of Millennium Communities, all Millennium Communities aim to meet a number of objectives: "We are aiming to achieve the highest quality of design and to meet stringent targets for resource consumption and construction quality and efficiency, as well as increasing social inclusion and improving quality of life. If we are going to encourage volume house builders to follow our example elsewhere, we need to find the most economic ways of doing this."

Each home will meet environmental performance standards relating to energy, water and waste efficiency which are more exacting than current building regulations or current industry practice. House builders are encouraged to use innovative construction methods and materials to improve the quality of the end product. These can then be adopted by volume house builders in the mainstream housing market.

At Greenwich Millennium Village in South London over 300 homes have already been sold and a further 400 are under construction. The 121 hectare (300 acre) Greenwich Peninsula site was once the largest gas works in Europe and now boasts over 50 acres of parks and public spaces including a flourishing Ecology Park. A new school and health centre opened in 2001, as part of the Millennium Communities’ commitment to putting community facilities in place early on in the development. Nearby, there is a 14-screen multiplex cinema and an award-winning lowenergy supermarket.

Once complete, Greenwich Millennium Village will comprise 1377 new homes - 20% of which are designated as affordable housing - and 5,000 square metres of commercial space, as well as delivering real savings in energy and water usage for its occupiers.

In addition to the Millennium Communities Programme, English Partnerships requires all residential developments built on its land or utilising its funding to meet an EcoHomes rating of Very Good, a standard Duncan Innes would like to see implemented more widely across the house building industry;

"From recent consumer research, it is apparent that the attitude of house buyers is changing and that they are demanding ever more exacting standards of their homes. Properties that are designed to have enhanced environmental performance are also less expensive to run and therefore more desirable as far as many of today’s house buyers are concerned.

"Through the seven sites included in the Millennium Communities Programme, we are aiming to demonstrate this conclusively to the house building industry in the hope that enhanced environmental performance will be taken up across the board."