The first scheme of Low Energy “GreenGauge” Affordable Housing by Ipswich Architects Barefoot & Gilles has won the coveted ‘Best Social or Affordable Housing’ Award at the 2009 LABC East Anglia Building Excellence Awards. The project beat off five other housing schemes to scoop the award at a black tie dinner in Cambridge on Friday.
The 15 sustainable houses at Lingwood in Norfolk are unique: the first of an ongoing series of GreenGauge projects – real homes designed to beat current energy standards whilst delivering low cost in use to tenants and the operating housing associations.
The University of East Anglia is monitoring tenants’ energy use and evaluating the success of a range of technologies at Lingwood, including ground source heat pumps, solar collectors and PVs, Sunspaces and Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery.
Martin Aust, business growth director at Flagship Housing Group who developed the homes with Broadland District Council explained,
“Working closely with our partners, our commitment to use eco-technology has proved both cost-effective to build and to manage. The right technology can also give tenants a reduction in their energy bills.
“Vital lessons have been learned from this project, and Flagship Housing’s future building programme will continually innovate to promote best practice in sustainable development.”
Roger Gilles, Senior Partner at Barefoot & Gilles Architects said,
“We are delighted that the project has been recognised as an example of good design and construction practice. The results of the work at Lingwood are already informing future developments of affordable housing so that they not only meet the requirements of the Code for Sustainable Homes but also cost less to run.”
Robert Bilbie of Robert Bilbie Consultancy who assessed the projects energy rating added:
“When Lingwood was built the energy standard required was EcoHomes Very Good and the project was only the second in Norfolk to receive an Excellent Rating. After the Code for Sustainable Homes was introduced the project was reassessed and found to achieve CSH level 4, three years before this became compulsory for HCA Funded housing.”
Alan Osborne of CNC Building Control endorsed the project saying,
“I’m sure we will be hearing a lot more from this development in the future and the data collected will undoubtedly go towards shaping energy efficient building of the future. There is no reason why social housing can not lead the field in energy efficient buildings.”
The scheme at Lingwood is a Constructing Excellence Demonstration Project and in 2008 received an award from CPRE Norfolk for demonstrating that new rural housing can be environmentally friendly. A second scheme of 8 GreenGauge Homes, designed to exceed Code 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes and developed with the benefit of lessons learned at Lingwood, is now under construction at Horstead.
About GreenGauge Homes
The GreenGauge Homes approach aims to provide Affordable Housing which not only meets or exceeds the current standards of sustainability, but also provides Low Cost-In Use. This is achieved through the use of experienced practitioners, tried and tested technologies and significantly, monitoring and review of energy use, user experience and management issues.
The houses (eleven for rent and four shared ownership) were developed by Flagship Housing Group for with architects Barefoot & Gilles and agents Oxbury & Co. The contractors were Youngs Homes of Norwich. The houses were built to EcoHomes Excellent Standard but after the Code for Sustainable Homes came in were also reassessed and met Level 4 of the code which will be compulsory for all HCA grant funded housing in 2010.
Lingwood is the first scheme of GreenGauge Homes and is monitored by the University of East Anglia’s CSERGE Unit. Tenants have been living in the homes since February 2008 and a range of data collected has been used to improve both the management of this scheme and also the development of future homes. The 8 GreenGauge Homes to be built at Horstead, developed with the benefit of lessons learned at Lingwood are under construction and use Ground Source Heat Pumps and Solar water pre-heat. It is envisaged that several GreenGauge schemes will be in development at any one time, each one learning from the last.
The GreenGauge Homes approach was developed by Barefoot & Gilles Architects in association with Flagship Housing Group and Oxbury & Co.
Participants in GreenGauge Homes at Lingwood:
Developer: Flagship Housing Group
Architects: Barefoot & Gilles
Quantity Surveyors: Oxbury & Co
Structural Engineers: Scott Wilson
Landscape Designer: The Landscape Partnership
Main Contractor: Youngs Homes Limited
Environmental & Social Monitoring: University of East Anglia, Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE)
Ecohomes Assessors: Robert Bilbie Consultancy
Building Control: CNC Building Control
Owner: Victory Housing Trust
Joint Development Partner: Broadland District Council
About the LABC Awards
The LABC awards recognise the best quality construction in the East Anglia region, in particular good working partnerships throughout a project from design to construction.
Image:Peter Wells of Barefoot & Gilles and Kevin Love of CNC Building Control accepting the award from BBC Journalist Wendy Hurrell
Photographs by Jerry Harper
