Alison Benjamin at Guardian Unlimited, Friday December 14 2007

Britain's biggest housebuilder is to build England's first eco-village, the housing and planning minister, Yvette Cooper, announced today.

Barratt has won the bid to create a new community at the site of the former Hanham Hall hospital near Bristol, which has been commissioned by the government's national regeneration agency, English Partnerships.

The village is expected to be built in three years' time, ahead of the government's 2016 target, when it wants all new homes to be zero carbon. The onsite biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plant will deliver energy to all 200 homes.

Read more at the link above.

Springhill is a simple concept, inspired by co-housing in Denmark. It's basically a pedestrianised estate where cars are parked on the periphery. The result is a sociable space - you can just walk out on the street and see people, and you can put deckchairs on the verge because there are no traffic fumes. As well having as our own homes, we all share a large common house, with a dining room, kitchen, workshop, play area and a lounge for dancing, showing films - even for weddings. People eat there about four times a week.