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Green homes for Northamptonshire

Posted: 14/01/2008

Northamptonshire is to see a small step forward in the supply of green homes. Nine 3-bedroom houses have been awarded an Ecohomes Excellent rating by BRE, and are available at the Peaselands development in Desborough. All the properties have hardwood double glazing and a rainwater harvesting system, which is used for flushing toilets, and are fitted either with air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps or solar panels, and feature low energy lighting throughout.

Using the latest off-site timber frame construction technology, the houses also include insulated wall panels by Kingspan TEK, providing good thermal and sound insulation levels.

The five south facing houses on the development also have a ground floor ‘sun space’ which encloses the front door of the property and acts as both a porch and draught lobby. This creates a separate naturally lit sitting area that can be used for leisure and/or study activities and it is separated from the lounge by means of a glass partition affording a degree of privacy to the users whilst not isolating them from other family members.

With its large window area, the sun space acts as a heat reservoir which will help heat the remainder of the house, in a similar way to that of a conservatory, while solar shading is used to prevent excessive solar gain through the lounge window to ensure a comfortable environment.

Bill Knight, Senior Contracts Manager at developer ISG Jackson Special Projects said: “This has been an interesting project for us as we’ve had to look at each property individually to determine which renewable energy source would be most appropriate, depending upon, for instance, ground and light conditions.

"The result is that the development uses a combination of modern technologies, each designed to be fuel efficient and as kind to the environment as possible and resulting in an excellent EcoHomes rating for the development.”

Marketing Manager, Karen Coleman added: “The developer has done a fantastic job in sourcing environmentally friendly solutions that will ensure these properties offer a really modern way of living that will offer lower fuel bills for residents as well as helping to protect the environment from harmful CO2 emissions.

"This development shows that you can have affordable homes that use the most modern methods of sustainable construction and we are anticipating a lot of interest in the development.”

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