Bill Clinton: Elephant and Castle is eco star
London Mayor Boris Johnson says former US President is to visit Southwark after describing the area as a 'very exciting' glimpse of the future
19 May 2009
FORMER US President Bill Clinton is to visit Elephant and Castle, after praising the area’s upcoming eco-friendly revamp as an example to the world.
Mayor Boris Johnson announced the visit, telling his followers on Twitter: "Have persuaded Clinton to visit Elephant & Castle with me, which is now at the cutting edge of combating climate change."
Speaking at an international climate change summit in Seoul, South Korea, Clinton praised the south London area, describing it, and 15 other sites worldwide, as the "very exciting" future of green urban planning.
Clinton said: "I've seen the future and I think all these carbon-positive buildings are it.
"If you can do a carbon-positive development that big, then no one in the world will have any reason not to do it."
He added that green redevelopments should be profitable for developers as well as kind to the environment, saying: "You can do it in most cases for the same or even less money because if you use recycled and composite materials very often they are lighter, putting less drain on the energy system - there's no reason not to do this."
The £1.5bn revamp is to include thousands of new homes, as well as a new market square, green spaces and a pedestrianised town centre, replacing its current shopping centre and tower blocks. Southwark Council hopes that it will become a "thriving urban centre".
Clinton mentioned the project at the C40 climate change conference in Seoul, where leaders of the world's largest cities are meeting.
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