ZIP Bus Priority Corridor
Clanfield - Waterlooville - Portsmouth

Sustainability

Just as household recycling is important for a sustainable future, it is vital that when we undertake building projects for the needs of today, we do not do so at the expense of future generations. As Hampshire County Council's largest transportation scheme, it is vital that the ZIP project takes a leading role in terms of sustainable construction, and measures have been put in place to assess sustainability at every stage.

Between April 2002 and March 2005 Hampshire County Council had made an undertaking to government under a Public Service Agreement to achieve more demanding performance targets than would otherwise be expected. One of the targets was to recycle 40,000 tonnes of household, commercial and industrial waste though the Hampshire Natural Resource Initiative. In 2004 the ZIP Bus Priority project contributed 3,946 tonnes to this target. In terms of cost, this resulted in savings on landfill tax and the cost of new material that equated to around £87,000. Added to the scheme 'pot', this has allowed more of the ZIP corridor to be completed.

As a result of these assessments we have also introduced new technologies and ensured that best practice in sustainability is being considered and implemented into every section. These technologies include wind/solar power and directional street lighting to reduce light pollution.

Reducing water consumption is also a key factor. For the ornamental pear trees in London Road, Waterlooville, grey water harvested from nearby roofs helps supply an irrigation tank with up to 896 gallons.   This helps us minimise the use of drinking water and the associated power and materials need to make the water drinkable.

Material re-use is the most important contrubution that any construction project can make in terms of reducing impact on the environment. Each year we try to increase the re-use of the existing kerbs, road surface and footways, thereby reducing the quantities of new materials used. In one year in Waterlooville 2,500 tonnes of material was re-used as granular aggregate. This resulted in cost savings on new material that equated to around £96,000.

Hampshire County Council also takes seriously its responsibility to balance the protection and preservation of habitats and species. In the case of section 2 there was the opportunity to create a habitat corridor on the highway boundary with Plant Farm. The result was landscaping works over nearly 900m, consisting of 18 semi-mature oak trees and a hedgerow of hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, holly and other native species. In addition the slope of the cutting between fence and footway has been planted with a mixture of shrubs, grass and wild flowers.