Located in the centre of a 330 acre site with 5m sq ft approx of mixed-use development, the District Centre site, for Frontier Estate/Thistle Land comprises medical centre, a 115 place nursery, a Sanctuary Housing Association nursing home, 35,500 sq ft of bar, restaurant and retail space, a 120 bed hotel, a public house and a purpose built bus interchange. There are also 156 affordable housing units built for Circle 33 Housing Group.
Equinox, the residential element will generate its own heat and electricity and is set to play a major part in the regeneration of Hatfield.
The technology used will be Combined Heat and Power (CHP) provided by Utilicom, whereby an engine is installed to produce the majority of the electricity for the development, with the waste heat from this unit fed into the heating/hot water network. This approach overcomes the enormous wastage normally associated with large, inefficient power stations and the huge losses that occur in the National Grid.
The CHP unit is backed up by conventional boilers and the grid, to give a high security of supply, and will provide more than 65% of the energy required by the Equinox development.
Construction was undertaken by Barratt North London.
