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Brighton Eco Homes open for second weekend |
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26 Oct 2014, 1:47 PM
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MPs have praised green homeowners in Brighton and Hove as hundreds of visitors flocked to the town's Eco Open Houses on the second weekend of this annual event.
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Hundreds of people have visited some of Brighton and Hove’s most energy efficient homes over the last two weekends as part of the city’s Eco Open Houses. Seven new-build eco buildings and 12 retrofits in total have been available for anyone interested to view.
Eco Open Houses 2014 is run as part of the ECOBEE Project and has been selected within the scope of the INTERREG IV A France (Channel): England cross-border European cooperation programme and is financed by the ERDF.
Visitors included Hove and Portslade MP Mike Weatherly, who took a guided tour of the award-winning 15 Lloyd Close in Hove. Mike Weatherley said: “Once again, the Eco Open Houses programme has gone from strength to strength. I’m delighted to be visiting 15 Lloyd Close, which is already one of my favourite eco buildings in the city. Eco Open Houses means different things to different people. To me, it is about sharing best practice in a fun way.”
Ahead of his visit to an eco home in Rottingdean this weekend, Simon Kirby, MP for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven, said: “These homes provide fantastic examples of modifications that can be made to make homes more eco-friendly and help owners to save money on energy bills. I am very grateful to the owners of these eco homes for opening them up to the general public to give everyone the chance to see what can be done to help make our homes more energy efficient.”
Brighton and Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas, ahead of her visit to an eco flat on Ditchling Rise, said: "Despite the Government's attempts to water down the Code for Sustainable Homes and its lacklustre Green Deal, Brighton and Hove residents are leading the way in showing us all that energy efficient homes are the only future for housing in this country. Through their pioneering spirit, determination and enthusiasm they are helping change our perception of green homes from nice-to-haves to must-haves, and I congratulate them on all their hard work."
The annual event, which sees owners of some of the greenest buildings in Sussex open their doors to the public for free, showcases the most innovative green technologies and materials currently available to make homes and buildings warmer, less costly to heat, and more comfortable to live and work in.
Open for the second weekend on the 25-26 October, the event is of interest to anyone who wants to improve their homes, offices and community buildings – from homeowners and tenants to builders and architects. Owners and architects will be on hand during guided tours of 19 properties across the city to offer practical advice, and insight and tips on how to go about making your home more efficient.
Buildings range from seven snazzy new-builds to 12 lower cost refurbishments, demonstrating that you don’t have to have pots of money to make your home an eco home.
This year’s highlights include:
• The office that used to be a toilet block, featuring ground floor insulation, food growing, rainwater collection and recycled furniture, including an old gym horse converted to a table.
• The community centre made out of old car tyres: visitors to Eco Open Houses can have a tour of Earthship Brighton, which is made from rammed earth inside car tyres. It generates its own solar energy for heat and power, and treats sewage on site.
• The university building constructed from waste: the internationally renowned Waste House, made almost entirely out of “waste”, including old denim and thousands of toothbrushes, will be open to the public throughout the event.
• The natural home: a house that’s been refurbished using natural, recycled and reused building materials wherever possible.
It pays to be green, too. Homes that take part in Eco Open Houses achieve an average reduction in energy use of 69 per cent. Also, they typically have lower water bills and smaller carbon footprints than the average UK home. They are generally warmer and more comfortable to live in, and are better adapted to changing weather patterns, too.
There is also a seminar programme, which features talks on how to build and renovate using strawbales, and low-energy Passivhaus construction, featuring case studies in Totnes and Normandy.
Mischa Hewitt, director of the Low Carbon Trust and one of the founders of Eco Open Houses, said: “This year’s event is our biggest ever and we are really excited by some of the new homes we have on the trail. With fuel bills rising and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, Eco Open Houses is an invaluable way for people to see first-hand how to make their homes and offices more efficient and less costly to run, as well as better able to cope with future changes to the climate.”
Full details of Brighton & Hove Eco Open Houses, including how to book tours of the eco homes, open house visiting times and the seminar programme, can be found in the 2014 brochure, which can be downloaded for free at www.ecoopenhouses.org.
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