A new green home in Denby Dale, Yorkshire, will be one of Britain’s most energy efficient homes with estimated heating bills of just £70 a year. And the firm behind the construction has won the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. Green Building Store, which has 30 employees, won its Queen’s Award in the category for sustainable development. The award recognises the role played by the firm in developing the market for sustainable building products in the UK and its “pioneering approach to sustainability”.

Directors received the award at the firm’s offices and workshops at Bolster Moor, Golcar. Later, guests including Kirklees Mayor Clr Julie Stewart-Turner and Colne Valley MP Kali Mountford, visited the housing project undertaken by the Store’s construction division for private clients in Denby Dale.

The development, using the Passivhaus construction system, will save up to 90% in heating bills for its occupants – with most of the warmth generated from the sun through windows, the occupants’ own body heat, cooking and showering.

The three-bed detached house is being built to a tight budget of £140,000 and aims to be an exemplar of how Passivhaus construction can be achieved by a small, skilled construction team. Passivhaus design, first developed in Germany about 20 years ago is popular in continental Europe, but still largely unknown in the UK.

A Passivhaus relies on a simple “tea cosy” effect of super insulation combined with stringent airtightness. By combining this with solar heating, orienting the house to catch the maximum sunlight, and mechanical ventilation and heat recovery systems, Passivhaus design can create healthy and comfortable buildings that require minimal heating.

The new owner, Geoff Tunstall, a retired art and design teacher, was amazed when he saw the energy-saving houses on a trip to Germany.

He said: “We were so impressed. They are ordinary, modest homes, nothing flash. It was minus two degrees outside but the house was warm and comfortable to live in.They’re also very cost-effective to run, which is important to us because this is a house we are retiring into.”

Geoff, 62, and wife Kate, 58, had researched the idea of building a green home that they could retire into at a reasonable cost.

“We were very passionate about living in a house like this for our retirement but we also want to educate people that they can afford to do something like this. Programmes like Grand Designs build fabulous houses that are not affordable but our budget is £140,000 pounds, which people can identify with. Lots of people talk the green talk but don’t walk the walk.

“The Government should be doing things like this but at least people themselves may now realise that they can do it themselves.”

In addition to its new Passivhaus range, the company has pioneered sustainable practices in window manufacture with its Ecoplus range of timber windows and doors – made at its Heath House Mill workshops. It is also a leading provider of water-saving products.

Project manager Bill Butcher said: “You can buy a Passivhaus flat pack from Germany, but the materials are completely different. They use a solid wall and stick polystyrene insulation on the outside of the house. They don’t fit into the local streetscape here; builders aren’t familiar with them and planning can be an issue.

“This Passivhaus is the first to be built using British construction methods with blockwork, a cavity wall and stone cladding. Everything has to be monitored from beginning to end to make sure there are no gaps.