Saturday 28 December 2019

Green light for net zero neighbourhood in Wales

Sero Homes is proposing to build the 35 homes on a scrubland site, offering residents no energy bills if they are within their forecast levels of usage.

The developer says Parc Hadau will be the first scheme to go to the full extent of the UK Green Building Council’s definition of net zero by tracking real-time ‘in-use’ carbon emissions when the homes are running.

Intelligent controls will track carbon emissions from the National Grid to ensure any imported  emissions are more than balanced by those avoided from electricity generated on the site and exported from the homes.

The new homes will use very low energy building design to reduce the energy demands of the homes. This will be combined with a mix of renewable energy technologies, including thermal and electrical storage, significant on-site photovoltaic (solar) panels and ground source heat pumps, together with ventilation systems that keep the warmth inside whilst ensuring fresh, filtered air.

The scheme is backed by more than £2m from the Welsh Government’s Innovative Housing Programme.

Sero Homes’ managing director, James Williams, said: “The principles underpinning our vision for housing are simple, people’s homes should minimise the harm done to our planet and they shouldn’t cost the earth to run.”

Work on the homes will get underway in spring next year, with residents expected to move in during the summer of 2021.