Feb 8 2007
The house-building industry has been challenged to speed up its response to climate change by creating a number of zero and near zero carbon developments in a new government-backed initiative announced today by Communities Secretary, Ruth Kelly.
The Carbon Challenge, to be run by national regeneration agency English Partnerships, will fast track a number of new communities that combine exceptional environmental performance with quality buildings and high standards of design. As a minimum, developments will have to meet the second highest specification (Level 5) of the government’s recently published Code for Sustainable Homes as well as meet the conditions of its latest Planning Policy Statement on Climate Change
Trevor Beattie, the Director at English Partnerships responsible for delivering the Challenge, said, “Climate change is with us now – so now is the time to act. English Partnerships is already working with developers to accelerate the move towards zero carbon development and this challenge will redouble our efforts.
“The built environment is one of the most significant contributors to global warming, which means our work can have a massive impact on leading the way in cutting domestic carbon emissions.”
The Carbon Challenge is a successor to the highly successful Design for Manufacture (DfM) competition (also run by English Partnerships) that focussed on cutting construction costs and minimising waste generated through building processes. The Challenge also links with the wider package of green measures announced by government in December 2006 aimed at tackling global warming and reducing carbon emissions, including a proposal that all new homes will be zero carbon by 2016.
The Carbon Challenge will bring forward several thousand homes across a wide range of sites and each development is likely to contain a minimum of 200 homes. This will ensure a critical mass allowing the installation of shared energy systems and other features that will contribute to a zero or near zero carbon foot print for each settlement.
English Partnerships has put forward two initial development sites Hanham Hall near Bristol and Glebe Road in Peterborough with the intention of attracting bids from private sector house builders and housing associations to deliver the new communities. It is expected that in the first year of the Challenge a total of five major public and private sector sites will be identified.
As part of the Challenge, local authorities, RDAs (Regional Development Agencies) private developers and housing associations will be asked to nominate their own sites.
Each site will have a tailored design brief to reduce carbon emissions, incorporate features to reduce water usage and energy consumption as well as minimise waste. A key feature will be to increase biodiversity and include greenery, which is known to significantly reduce overheating and improve air quality.
Under European Union (EU) rules a PIN (Prior Information Notice) has been published by English Partnerships in the EU’s official procurement journal, inviting expressions of interest from across member states.
Work will begin on the first sites by summer 2008 with the first completions in spring 2009. Lessons learnt through the building programme, including the supply chain of materials, will be analysed and collated and used to inform future wide-scale carbon neutral development.