Mission to prove that sustainable development works

Property developer Marchday believes it is conducting the ultimate sustainability experiment at its Lingfield Point site in Darlington, Co Durham. Its Director, John Orchard, says if its vision of Lingfield Point as a truly sustainable mixed-use community cannot be achieved there – it can’t be achieved anywhere…

At Lingfield Point it’s not about paying lip service to recycling with a few bottles, newspapers and cans the whole of the 107-acre former industrial site is being recycled into a mixed-use live/work community.
Sustainable features include everything from the recycling of buildings, (achieving a huge reduction in the carbon footprint) to bus routes, cycle lanes and allotments as well as sustainable technologies such as a CHP district heating system.

Marchday, which also owns Cavendish Square in London and New Lodge, Windsor, bought the Lingfield Point site in 1998 and didn’t anticipate such a long-term involvement. But, 13 years and £35M later, it’s turned into an award-winning labour of love for the team.

Property developer Marchday was working on another North East-based project, Centre North East in Middlesbrough, and found that contrary to the Southern mindset, there was a market for office space, warehousing etc in the North East and was consequently attracted to Lingfield Point just 20 miles down the road.

John Orchard, Director of Marchday (pictured above at Lingfield Point’s Grow Your Own Allotments), said: “Development of low-energy homes will also begin within next 12 months and a combined heat and power unit will also provide low-cost low-carbon energy for our businesses, homes and school.

“Our masterplan will take the site back to the pioneering spirit of Patons and Baldwins, who back in 1945 worked really hard to create a community where people could simply walk to work, drop off their kids, eat good food and generally enjoy a true community spirit.

“Our new community built around the existing business space will include eco-homes, a school, parkland, sports pitches, a health centre, shops and restaurants. We are creating a 21st century vision of the good life – and we are well on our way to achieving this.”

Lingfield Point is home to a wide variety of buildings from the magnificent Art Deco Lingfield House to hangar-style warehousing. The areas already given the ultimate make-over have changed Marchday’s relationship with the site – and regularly set the hearts of built environment lovers fluttering with their good-looks, style and personality.

The spectacular masterplan (above) by FAT (Fashion, Architecture, Taste) Architects is being developed – despite the ill-timed and rude interruption of the recession – and, indeed, the masterplan itself was deemed a work of art by the Royal Academy this year and exhibited at its Summer Show.

John says the masterplan is a ‘vision’ of what Lingfield Point will one day be – and sticking firm to its path Lingfield Point has now appointed Taylor Wimpey to bring its residential offering to life – in keeping with the quirky design-led ethos that runs through the site.

Lingfield Point is also home to the Government’s Students Loans Company and won the BCO Award for the Best Recycled Space after answering the brief to design a fun, funky space to help retain the young workforce.

Lingfield Point has just finished its YARN office spaces (pictured above), offering small but beautifully designed work areas for SMEs, again playing on the history of the site to breathe new life into its disused areas.

John said: “We genuinely believe that Lingfield Point will be the yardstick of whether or not true sustainability is achievable in the UK.

“We’ve been to Malmo where some of the best sustainable homes and offices are being built. There’s no doubt that in northern Europe they have embraced the idea of energy from waste, wind and solar power and a lot of businesses are coming up around this technology there. We need to do the same here – to embrace and trust in that new technology.

“If we can’t do it at Lingfield Point there’s not much chance of it working anywhere – Lingfield Point is riddled with tunnels from its wool factory days when an onside energy centre provided steam for various processes. Once all the elements are in place there will be round the clock demand.

“In the North East there has been a lot of talk about utilising the existing manufacturing skills in the region to build green technologies like wind turbines. In Malmo, Sweden the shipyards are already doing it.
“Somehow they turned the ideas and talk into action. We need to do the same in the UK. It seems to me that UK businesses need confidence that the Government will create the right framework for sustainable companies and not change it.

“The recent changes in the feed in tariff regime undermined confidence when investment in commercial solar arrays was just taking off. In the UK we talk a good game but have so far come up short when it comes to turning the talk into reality.”