Cleantech collaboration at Alconbury Weald
- 11.12.2012
On Wednesday 5 December, fifty environmental goods and services or ‘cleantech’ businesses attended this event at Alconbury Weald. The event was hosted by Cambridge Cleantech and Urban&Civic - the owners and developers of the 1420 acre former airfield site being transformed into Alconbury Weald.
Robin Butler, Managing Director of Urban&Civic said: "We have a real opportunity at the moment: we have set out the low carbon principles of the site in our Outline Application, and are now planning the first phase of commercial and residential space.
With such an established cleantech sector in the area, we wanted to have early discussions about the type of products, services and companies with which we could work. The range of people we saw was exceptional and we have already identified a number of companies we want to carry on talking to. We also had some really interesting ideas for projects and collaborations where we can use the scale of the site or existing space to trial and demonstrate some of the innovations just emerging. The discussions have reinforced our ambitions to be an exemplar for low carbon living and working, and to provide a platform for local cleantech innovation."
The development of Alconbury Weald will include over 3million square foot of commercial space, 5000 homes, 700 acres of open space and a range of sustainable energy, transport and community facilities.
Martin Garratt, CEO at Cambridge Cleantech added: “We were delighted with the response shown by our members to this event with companies attending from sectors as diverse as solar, recycling and water supply. The Urban&Civic team are open to innovative and leading edge products which is ideal for the creative companies in the cleantech sector”.
The world leading design products included bricks made out of hemp for buildings, energy producing solar cloth for car ports and water monitors to maintain optimum flows and reduce costs. The companies presenting their products included Breathing Buildings, the David Ball Group, Amey Cespa, Cyan Technology, Ridgeons and Myriad CEG.