The historic market town of Bicester, Oxfordshire, is home to 30,000 people and growing fast. There are plans for some 10,000 new homes by 2031.

In 2009, Government granted eco-town status to a proposal for a major urban extension North West of the town meeting high sustainability standards. Plans for this 6,000 home extension were accompanied by an ambitious Eco Bicester programme delivering practical projects for improving the existing town, reducing its environmental impacts and benefiting all residents. In 2014 the town was also designated as a Garden Town by the Government in recognition of the ambition for growth of the town.

Led by Cherwell District Council, this programme aims to ensure that Bicester benefits from major expansion and becomes a better, more sustainable place to live in, work and do business. Projects include trialing innovative retrofit technologies and new business models for the roll out of renewables, carbon mapping the town and detailed process mapping of the construction of the new homes.

The programme aims for some of the highest sustainability standards in the UK, includes partners from the private, public and third sectors and aims to benefit the existing community as well as shaping new development. Read more about Eco-Bicester here.

Bicester is the UK’s only Eco-Town to begin development. The first phase of 393 state of the art homes is under construction with A2Dominion as lead developer. NW Bicester’s first residents are due to move into what will be the UK’s first true zero carbon community during 2016. The scheme will be a net provider of energy, creating more energy than it uses.

Read more about NW Bicester here

View a short video about NW Bicester below