London Borough of Sutton wins Highly Commended Net Zero Place of the Year at the UKREiiF Awards 2022

Sutton Council is delighted to announce that it has been recognised as one of the nation’s top net zero places at the UK Real Estate Investment Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) Awards this year.

The London Borough of Sutton is home to innovation and excellence in sustainability, demonstrated by pioneering low carbon developments that are UK firsts and sustainable partnerships. 

• We published the borough’s first environmental policy statement in the 1980s. 

• In 2002, the nation’s first major zero-carbon community was created at BedZED in Hackbridge. Completed in 2002, the UK’s first large-scale, mixed-use sustainable community comprises 100 homes, office space, a college and community facilities. 

• Hackbridge is also home to the UK’s first true net zero carbon, ‘PassivHaus plus’ certified primary school.

• In 2019, the Council declared a climate emergency and ambitions to achieve net zero carbon emissions across the wider borough, reflected in Sutton's Environment Strategy 2019-2025. 

• The London Cancer Hub campus in Belmont is also home to the UK’s first PassivHaus secondary school, the award-winning Harris Academy Sutton.

Key examples of work reducing carbon emissions include our social housing programme. 

• The 2021 Ludlow Lodge, a Royal Institute of British Architects regional award winning development by Bell Phillips Architects, was designed for quality living. The  approach to materials resulted in very low heating costs for residents in all 57 social rent apartments. 

• Sutton Council is working in partnership with Energiesprong UK to deliver some of the first low carbon retrofitted homes in London. These properties have reduced their space heating and hot water demand by around 65% as a result of these deep whole house retrofits. Thirteen properties have been retrofitted with 50 planned in the next year.

• Sutton Council is currently retrofitting 75 council-owned homes to reduce their environmental impact and improve energy efficiency with Government funding. 

We are also regenerating disused buildings in the town centre and around Sutton.

• The Sound Lounge opened in 2020 as the UK’s first carbon neutral music venue. 

• The former BHS store will become Oru Sutton - a space for co-working, wellbeing and hospitality with 500 desk spaces, 40 private offices, two wellbeing studios, and new places to eat and drink including a rooftop community garden.

• The old nightclub Chicagos will include a new cinema, food hall and flexible space for a range of cultural activities. The site, between Sutton High Street and Manor Park, will be brought back to life after standing empty for nearly ten years. 

• The Innovation Gateway at the London Cancer Hub, is a great example of repurposing a disused former hospital building into a life science facility for small businesses and start-ups to support vital life science work and oncology innovation.

UKREiiF Awards picture courtesy of Duncan Ray, Remarkable City