Jun 22 2007
Communities and Local Government Minister Angela Smith today visited Hockney Green, Testway Housing’s innovative environmentally sustainable housing development in Andover.
The development is not only green, but also affordable. Of the seventeen homes on site, thirteen are for social rent and four for shared ownership. During her visit, Angela Smith was shown internal and external eco-features of the development, from eco-paint and recycled furniture to roof-top solar panels and wind cowls.
Three of the houses will be monitored throughout the year for their carbon consumption and electricity output. One of the houses will be fitted with both solar panels and a wind turbine to create electricity and hopes to gain a six star Code level rating in the Code for Sustainable Homes - if it does so it will be the first home in the country to be rated zero carbon. A second house has been fitted with the electricity making solar panels and should be virtually zero carbon - broadly the standard for a five star rating in the Code. All homes on the site have a range of energy saving features to reduce the amount of energy they consume.
Angela Smith said:
“We need to build new homes for the next generation but we also need to make sure that they are eco-friendly and affordable too. This is why we have announced a new timetable and strategy to make all new homes zero carbon by 2016.
“It’s great that Testway has taken the opportunity to show that green homes can be affordable homes. By integrating green technology into their affordable housing, along with high design standards, they have demonstrated that practical, cost effective environmentally sustainable developments are accessible to all.”
One of the new eco-home residents at Hockney Green, 60-year-old Mrs Chris Windebank, said:
“Living here is a real joy. There is so much light and space. It’s also good to know, as a pensioner, the fuel bills are going to be low too.
“It’s just perfect.”