Local historian and conservationist and Waterlight Project team member Bruce Huett shares an update on the latest showing of our film — and the choice of venue, at a landmark building in Eddington, a sustainable development near Cambridge.
The Waterlight team were delighted to be able to show the film twice (the 27-minute and 45-minute versions) at the Storey’s Field Centre on the Eddington estate on Saturday February 22nd 2020. The showings at the centre, on the outskirts of Cambridge (near Madingley Park and Ride), were previewed in an interview with Bruce Huett of the project for the local radio station.
The audiences were made up of local families and also chalk stream enthusiasts who had come from Cambridge and surrounding villages. We had a lively discussion after the second showing, which we hope will lead to some new posts on this blog.
EddingtonImage source: Eddington Cambridge
A sustainable site
We were especially pleased to be at the Eddington development as this is an excellent example of what can be done to provide a sustainable living environment when the effort is made. It has the UK’s largest water recycling system, which can only be good for endangered chalk streams. There are two systems on site: one recycles rain and surface water to be used for flushing toilets, clothes washing and garden watering, and another supplies high quality treated water for drinking, cooking and bathing. Both are designed to minimise potable water consumption. There are also ‘green roofs‘, where sedum plants capture rainfall.
The development was constructed with sustainability in mind so insulation is of a very high quality and there is extensive use of solar energy. The buildings have all been designed and built to the Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5 and BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method is part of the Code for a Sustainable Built Environment, which is a strategic international framework for sustainability assessment of buildings). There is a centralised energy centre and district heating network, providing greener, more environmentally friendly heating, hot water and energy. The energy centre uses gas to generate heating and hot water distributed via the network.
Eddington Energy CentreImage source: Eddington Cambridge
There is an innovative waste disposal system. Stainless steel bins have an underground sealed container to collect waste and recycling materials. When the container is 80% full, a signal is automatically sent to the collection company to alert them to empty the container.
There are over 50 hectares of open and green spaces around Eddington. Lakes at Brook Leys store the rainwater collected from across Eddington before it is treated and pumped back to the homes. The site is a Cambridge University project using a number of architects and sympathetic construction firms.
More details of the development can be found at Eddington Cambridge.
Historic connections
Historically the area is important, with the site of a Roman villa close by and evidence of even earlier occupation going back to prehistoric times. Roman coins have been found in an ancient well and, in 2014, artists Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie worked with the Archaeology department and used subsoil from the dig, combining the historical settlement and future development to create a scale model of the first phase of the development made from cob, an ancient, sustainable form of building. I participated in the archaeological event and the cob making.
There is also an interesting ancient conduit head nearby. Built in 1327, this used to supply water to a Franciscan friary in Cambridge in wooden pipes, then Sidney Sussex college and now Trinity College. This may have been a holy well in Roman, and possibly, pre-Roman times.
Thus this site, with its sacred water connections, was a perfect venue for the film showing, as there were many links to themes developed in the film: the spirituality of water; the importance of maintaining a healthy natural water environment; and the way in which this can inspire creative poetry and visual imagery.
We will be showing the film again at Eddington on 27th June, with Cambridge Past Present & Future — see our Upcoming Events page for details.