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Work has started on the first housing scheme awarded by the Homes and Communities Agency’s (HCA) Delivery Partner Panel which has been set up to fast-track the development of new housing on public land. The green development for City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council will create 45 houses for social rent which will be the city’s first zero carbon homes – and the city’s first new council housing for 30 years.
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The project will include 12 properties built to Level 6, the highest level of the Code for Sustainable Homes, the Government’s system for assessing the environmental performance of new housing. Zero carbon properties produce no carbon emissions by maximising their use of energy efficiency and sustainable technology. The development has been half funded by the Government's Homes and Communities Agency Local Authority New Build programme and half from prudential borrowing.
The Bradford zero carbon homes will be completed in March 2011 – five years in advance of 2016, the deadline set by the Government after which all new housing must be zero carbon.
The Level 6 properties will feature photovoltaic panels, which convert solar radiation into electricity, and a communal biomass boiler. The other 33 homes at the development will achieve Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, making them 44 per cent more energy efficient than the standards set by current Building Regulations. Sustainable technology incorporated into the Level 4 homes includes solar heating and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems. Each property will also have a rainwater harvesting system.
Through its commitment to providing jobs and training opportunities in the communities where it works, housing provider Lovell, which won the contract to build the homes, is taking on two construction apprentices, a trainee bricklayer and a joiner, to work on the scheme, and hopes to provide further apprenticeships in the future.
Councillor the Rev Paul Flowers, Executive Member for Culture, Planning and Housing, says: "This is a hugely important scheme for Bradford in many ways and is a significant step in creating affordable housing for families on a low income. It also enters new territory in terms of eco-friendly building which at the same time will cut down fuel and water costs for residents. The apprenticeships are a welcome addition which will give young people a step up into the construction industry."
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