A competition to find the best new designs for affordable green houses has been launched by the Welsh Assembly Government. The competition to design a two bedroom starter home and a three bedroom family home is open to any architectural practice. Launched by the Welsh Assembly Government and Blaenau Gwent Council in association with the Building Research Establishment (BRE), the winning designs will be built at The Works:Ebbw Vale by United Welsh Housing Association. Green building is at the heart of The Works, a major regeneration project which is transforming the 200 acre steelworks site into a £350 million mixed use development. it is hoped that once built the sustainable homes will serve as a showcase for energy saving building techniques and technologies and a model of how highly energy efficient homes can be built at no additional cost.

Construction of the two houses will be paid for by the Assembly Government’s Heads of the Valleys strategic regeneration programme. The buildings will form the nucleus of a new demonstration centre for sustainable development and construction at The Works where a wide range of products and materials will be used in a variety of showhomes and buildings.

The competition could present a unique opportunity for the design and construction industry to create the Welsh Passive House – combining the principles of the highly efficient PassivHaus low carbon building standards, pioneered in Germany with the higher levels of the Code for Sustainable Homes in Wales(CSH).

PassivHaus homes rely on extremely high standards of insulation and require minimal energy for space heating and hot water.

The winning designs must satisfy the CSH level 5 standard – aspiring towards level 6, use local sustainable materials, find innovative solutions for electricity reductions, and construction costs – excluding land costs - should be comparable with more traditional methods of building.

Leighton Andrews Deputy Minister for Regeneration, said targets set by the Welsh Assembly Government had already placed Wales at the forefront of sustainable construction in the UK. “The design competition is an exciting challenge for architectural practices to come up with some innovative highly sustainable designs that will be examples of best practice that can be replicated elsewhere in Wales. A particularly important aspect of the competition will be to demonstrate to the construction industry that highly energy efficient homes need cost no more than standard homes to build.

"The winning designs will be models for developers as well an important education resource demonstrating new techniques and technologies.”

Nick Tune, Director BRE Wales, said the competition would provide the winning architectural practice with a superb opportunity to illustrate their creative and innovative ideas “But the most important aspect of this competition will be to demonstrate to developers that incorporating and designing high levels of energy efficiency into homes is not only affordable but need cost no more than the construction of a standard home.”

Credits:: The steelworks site as it was in 1969