Get a whole year of cutting-edge eco-building news for just £24.00 pa.
Built upon 30 years of experience, this fabulous new medium will feature inspiring and in-depth articles on eco-building projects from across the spectrum and from all over the UK, most of which are written by the very people that designed or built them. Perfect for architects, builders, developers, self builders and anyone interested in keeping right up-to-date with green building trends and friends.
For subscription options:
please go here
|
|
|
Coventry eco estate officially opened |
|
 
|
|
|
|
16 May 2011, 11:22 AM
|
A new "green" housing estate of prefabricated homes has officially been opened in Coventry. The company behind the scheme, Passivhaus, says it is the largest eco home development it has built in the UK so far. Housing Association, Orbit Heart of England, in conjunction with Orbit Homes, has spent £2.8m to build the 23 homes in Sampson Close, in the Bell Green area of the city. The official opening, at 0900 BST, was conducted by Gregory Barker MP, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change.
|
The new homes are designed to be very energy efficient, with low carbon footprints and lower fuel bills for tenants. Orbit will be working with research agencies including Coventry University to monitor the effectiveness of the homes. The homes will be available for people through an affordable housing scheme.
Orbit has a policy of implementing renewable energy and low carbon living. To ensure this is delivered a ‘Sustainable Investment Team’ has been formed. This specialist team has adopted a proactive approach to deliver community focused programmes of work and is involved in several high profile carbon reduction projects, such as the installation of ground source heat pumps and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in Tysoe village. This project involves working closely with the local authority to extend the scheme to private households.
The Sustainable Investment Team is also involved in retro fit projects to its properties. These properties will be improved by upgrading the building fabric with high levels of insulation and high performance windows & doors, not only to prevent air leaks or drafts, which allow warm air to escape, but also to keep the house warm in winter and cool in summer.
Over the next few years the Sustainable Investment Team anticipates being involved in various energy efficiency projects in pursuance of its aim to improve environmental efficiency to its homes. Other projects include:
* Replacement of G rated boilers.
* External and internal wall insulation.
* Loft insulation.
* Regeneration projects, in key priority areas that have been indentified as offering poor or non-decent housing.
* A target approach to improving homes within lower super output areas.
Projects will often involve third party funding, such as European Development Fund, Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) and Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) to support low income, vulnerable households by working in conjunction with leading energy providers.
The team is working in partnership with the Coventry & Warwick Low Carbon Social Enterprise. Through our work programme we can influence the local economic agenda, by identifying local supplier base and educational establishments we can develop the necessary skills and supply to develop the localism agenda and in the future perhaps pursuant to the Green Deal which the Government is proposing.
|
|
|
|
