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Sustainable travel

Aim: Maximise the number of trips by walking, cycling or public transport

Healthy homes & buildings

Aim: All homes are comfortable and safe for people of all ages and abilities

Overheating

Aim: Use passive design to reduce or avoid the risk of overheating

Sustainable travel

Ebbsfleet’s Sustainable Travel Strategy sets out the vision for balancing mobility in Ebbsfleet, so that everybody has a choice of affordable travel options, and active modes such as walking or cycling are widely recongised as being safe, secure and enjoyable by local residents. All planning applications should comply with the guidance set out in the sustainable travel strategy.

1. Provide high quality cycle storage, and facilities for walking, cycling and sustainable travel.

   Walking : Follow the guidance G2-G7 to ensure development is easy to access and safe, secure and attractive for pedestrians.

   Car Clubs : Follow the car club guidance G8 to ensure adequate car club provision is provided within 5 minutes walk of the site.

   Cycle share : Follow guidance G9 to ensure your development supports the provision of an area wide cycle share scheme.

   Cycle storage : Follow guidance G10-G17 to ensure adequate cycle parking is provided in the correct locations, and is easy, secure, safe and attractive to use.

2. Develop an approach to parking that is aligned with your sustainable travel provision.

   Use guidance G18-G19 to ensure the appropriate quantity of parking is provided.

3. Accommodate the car discretely

   Use guidance G20-G29 the most appropriate forms of parking are used, based on the type of use, housing typology, density and street typology.

4. Provide vehicle charging

   Use guidance G30-G36 to ensure appropriate provision, location and type of charging facility is provided.

   EV Charging points should include ‘Vehicle to Grid’ / ‘Vehicle to Home’ technology to support demand responsive grid network management.

5. Pro actively manage car parking

   Use guidance G37-G38 to ensure an appropriate parking management strategy is established and maintained to ensure streets remain accessible, safe and attractive for everybody.

6. Consider the provision of a centralised mobility hub to accommodate all shared / public transport facilities within the scheme site or local area.

   In addition to transport connections, they can include community facilities that reduce car use such as a cafés, co working spaces, parcel collection and cycle maintenance facilities, as well as meeting points for residents and live waiting time screens.

Healthy homes & buildings

EDC has developed a set of housing performance criteria to ensure homes in Ebbsfleet support Ebenezer Howard’s original ambitions for Garden Cities to “secure healthier surroundings for our residents”. Buildings should aim to provide the following performance to support resident’s health and wellbeing;

1. Space to live

   All new homes should have as a minimum, the liveable space required to meet the needs of people over their whole lifetime, including adequate internal and external storage space.

   All new homes in Ebbsfleet should meet the nationally described space standards, including the storage requirement.

   All new homes in Ebbsfleet should include a 2m3 space for a desk that is adjacent to a window to allow for home working. If this desk space is within a bedroom, this needs to be in addition to the bed and circulation space.

2. Private external spaces

   All new homes in Ebbsfleet should provide a private outdoor space that complies with EDC’s outdoor space, balcony and terrace guidance;

   All private balconies and roof terraces must provide a generous balcony, that is larger than 5 m2 for each 1-2 person dwelling, plus 1 m2 for each additional occupant over 2 persons.

   All balconies and roof terraces must have a minimum depth and width of 1500 mm.

3. Dual aspect homes

   Schemes should aim to maximise the number of dual aspect homes.

   Single aspect north facing homes should be avoided.

   Consider the use of deck access to enable dual aspect for medium and higher density apartment blocks.

4. Internal daylight, sunlight and ventilation

   Daylight and sunlight can significantly enhance the wellbeing of residents, and all main living areas and bedrooms of a new dwelling should have access to natural daylight.

   Aim to ensure habitable rooms are directly sunlit, achieving 750Lux ( 500lux as a minimum).

   A ceiling height of 2.6m significantly improves daylight and sunlight penetration into the home when combined with taller windows.

   The height of rooms in a dwelling dramatically affects the perception of space in a home. A small increase in ceiling height can make the difference between a home feeling cramped or spacious. When matched with generous window sizes, higher ceilings also improve natural light levels and ventilation, and the depth to which light penetrates a room.

   Higher ceiling heights are encouraged, particularly for ground floor dwellings and any single aspect north facing homes.

5. External sunlight

   Use the methodology set out in BS 209 to generate site layouts that map shade at ground level, and that allows for a visual assessment of where 2 hours direct sunlight or greater is achieved on the ground on 21st March.

6. Homes and buildings should be accessible to everybody

   All new homes and their surroundings should be designed to be inclusive, accessible, and adaptable to suit the needs of all.

   All homes should aim to meet M4 (2) Category 2 requirements as a minimum.

   Design teams should liaise with EDC to identify the need, and preferred location for M4 (3) Category 3 dwellings.

   All senior living accommodation should meet the HAPPI standard.

   All public buildings should meet the LLDC inclusive design standards.

7. Air quality

   All new homes should not contribute to unsafe or illegal levels of indoor or ambient air pollution and must be built to minimise, and where possible eliminate, the harmful impacts of air pollution on human health and the environment.

Overheating

As the climate changes there is a greater risk of overheating in buildings which can be a significant threat to occupants’ health and wellbeing, particularly for vulnerable people. Overheating risk can be reduced through careful passive design; thinking through orientation, massing, façade and window design, internal layout and shading. Locating rooms with openable windows facing onto external sources of noise and pollution should be avoided.

1. Use the Good Homes Alliance overheating risk tool to understand the factors that could contribute to or mitigate the likelihood of overheating.

   This tool provides a good starting point for identifying a site’s risk and opportunities that could contribute towards or mitigate the risk of overheating.

2. Consider building and room orientation

   Maximise dual aspect spaces to increase cross ventilation and naturally cool buildings.

   Consider the use of deck access to enable dual aspect for medium and higher density apartment blocks.

   Avoid bedrooms with west facing windows, this risks bedrooms heating up before residents go to bed, exacerbating night time overheating. This is a particular issue if facades face onto sources of noise or air pollution. If there are bedrooms facing west, avoid large window proportions and incorporate external shading to reduce overheating risk.

3. Window placement and design

   Ensure glazing areas are not excessive i.e. not more than 20-25% of facade on south or west façades.

   Avoid fixed panes and maximise opening areas of windows. Side hung windows typically allow more ventilation than top hung.

   Select a g-value (the solar factor indicating how much heat is transmitted from the sun) for glass of around 0.5 to balance heat gain and loss.

   Use the Acoustics and Noise Consultants (ANC) Acoustics, Ventilation and Overheating Guide to find a balanced approach to acoustics, daylight and overheating risk.

4. Consider external shading

   South façades should have fixed horizontal shading over the window (e.g. brise-soleil or deep reveals).

   East or west façades should have movable external vertical shading (e.g. shutters or louvres).

   Utilise green and blue infrastructure to provide natural cooling to the local environment.

   Balconies can be used to provide cost effective shading.

   Consider including shading above top floor balconies.

   Lighter coloured finishes applied to external surfaces will maximise sunlight reflection.

5. Use dynamic simulation analysis to satisfy Part O, and to report at planning application stage.

   Design teams should use CIBSE TM59 to iteratively test and confirm whether window and facade design and shading is reducing overheating to an acceptable level.

   Prioritise natural methods of reducing overheating over energy-intensive technology like air conditioning.

   CIBSE TM59/TM52 overheating analysis for homes and non-domestic spaces should be reported as part of detailed planning submissions.