Environmental & Sustainability

Biodiversity

Large parts of the Estate form part of the Local Wildlife Site and the Habitat Network. The limestone rock base under parts of the Estate provides the ideal environment for calcareous grassland rich in wildflowers. As part of the Estate’s ongoing development, areas that were previously maintained as amenity grassland are being sown as wildflower meadows to increase biodiversity.

Recycling of Materials

The Estate was constructed on agricultural land in 1941 as a munitions factory, with the buildings designed with a 10-year life expectancy.

Where buildings become vacant and are incapable of occupation it is the Estate’s preferred option to refurbish. However, refurbishment is not always possible. Where buildings have been vacant for a number of years (often decades) and are in a dangerous condition, or the configuration of the building is prohibitive then the buildings need to be demolished to facilitate redevelopment. In such circumstances the Estate seeks to recycle as many materials as possible, and minimise waste.

• Demolition – Where buildings are demolished on site, the concrete and brick materials are crushed and retained for use on future development sites.
• Earth Embankments – A number of the original 1941 munition magazines have earth embankments (blast walls) around the brick elevations. When these buildings are demolished, the earth is removed and graded according to quality and reused on site as either infill or top soil.

Solar PV

New development and refurbishment schemes incorporate the installation of Solar PV on the roofs.

Electric Vehicle Charging

New developments feature the facility to install electric vehicle charging points with scope for expansion as demand dictates. Refurbishment schemes incorporate underground ducting to facilitate the installation of electric vehicle charging.

Water Attenuation

New development schemes include underground water attenuation tanks with reduced runoff rates, which reduce the volume of surface water discharged to the River Wharfe during heavy rainfall.

Street Lighting

The private Estate roads have over 260 streetlights. The Estate is partway through a 5-year programme of replacing all the lighting heads with new efficient LED heads.

Transport Coordinator

The Estate has over 180 businesses employing over 2,000 employees. The Estate Office voluntarily acts as a Travel Plan Coordinator cascading travel initiatives to the business owners on behalf of Travelwise, part of Leeds City Council. Initiatives include lift sharing and cycle to work. The transport page of the Estates website provides links to Leeds City Councils car sharing site as well as providing links to bus services, train stations and the Sustrans cycle route that runs along the west boundary of the Estate.