Page 267 - Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

Urban Circular Economy: The New Frontier Chapter j 12 241

With a very interesting project of urban regeneration, using an estimated
budget of £1.5 billion, London’s Southwark Council has redeveloped 70 acres
of city property in its Elephant and Castle and Aylesbury neighborhoods. By
creating a decentralized energy system that will bring heat, hot water, com-
2
munications, and infrastructure to 9700 residential units and 38,000 m of
commercial space, the council aims to create a mixed-use site that is at the
“forefront of sustainability.” The regeneration is about more than new homes,
community facilities, and improved open spaces. The partnership is committed
to ensuring that local people experience the social and economic benefits of
regeneration, such as employment, education and training, and improvements
in health and well-being. Construction of the new homes has started in 2016,
and the entire regeneration project is expected to finish in 2032. To finance
plans for the massive overhaul of the area’s energy system, the council con-
tracted an MUSCo to “plan, design, contract, finance and operate the plan and
infrastructure required to deliver low carbon energy.” Composed of three
partners, including Thameswey Energy Ltd, the London ESCo Veolia Water
Outsourcing Ltd. & BskyB, as well as the private company Dalkia & Three
Valleys Water, and partially supported by the Clinton Climate Initiative, the
MUSCo is expected to absorb 100% of the commercial risk to the council
while providing a long-term vehicle for private investment in the area.
The lesson we can take from examples like these is that great benefits to
European circular economy in cities can come from PPP, particularly

l Creating vehicles for long-term investment;
l Reducing public expenditure and raising additional capital;
l Encouraging local and bottom-up participation;
l Enhancing technological innovation and incorporate expertise;
l Promoting knowledge sharing;
l Handing over commercial risk.
An interesting exercise of PPP is the interest in city regeneration and in-
vestments by big private companies, as quality of life and circular economy
business models are now in the top of the big groups’ list of priorities. In this
way, a private actor can support cities in their choices of circular economy
models, offering indicators first, then advising on possible solutions, and lastly
offering financial partnership and business cooperation.
Siemens, one of the leading actors in European urban regeneration,
engaged in several levels of research on cities to start its involvement in PPP. A
“Green City Index” was first developed by Siemens in collaboration with the
Economist Intelligence Unit. The Index analyzes more than 130 cities for best
practices, ranks their environmental performance over several infrastructure
areas, and shares the results with the public to contribute to the debate on
sustainable cities.
As a second step, Siemens built in London “The Crystal,” a big exhibition
on the future of cities and a state-of-the-art meeting place for city decision