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A Level 6 housing solution with zero carbon potential?

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Posted on May 11, 2011 by ecoadmin 

Mendip Road

Six houses and four flats in Mendip Place, Chelmsford, are a  £1.6m said to achieve Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. This makes it six years in advance of the government’s target to make all new housing zero carbon by 2016.

The project is a collaboration between the Chelmer Housing Partnership (CHP), affordable housing provider Flagship, architects Ingleton Wood, contractors McCann Homes, project managers Oxbury & Company, Kingspan Potton and renewable energy provider SolarTech.

CHP commissioned the Green Space project in Mendip Place as part of its land bank programme.  As the development was hidden from the road, there were no planning constraints, allowing architects to use contemporary designs, new methods of construction and innovative technology, making it an ideal site.

Key to its success was the fully integrated renewable energy strategy, developed and delivered by SolarTech, which combined both solar and biomass energy in order to meet the total electricity, heating, lighting and hot water requirements for all of the homes.

“The challenge was to devise an multi-technology solution, which would not only meet the requirements of Code 6, but which would also take into consideration whole life energy costs, efficiency, measurability of the energy used and ease of operation for the tenants,” said Shaun Taylor, Managing Director of SolarTech Ltd.

The bespoke system was designed so that each property had its own dedicated photovoltaic system, (generating 4kWp/house and 2.5kWp/flat), using a number of leading PV brands in order to make maximum use of almost all of the available south facing roof areas.

This leading edge solution has ensured that the energy output and consumption from each PV array can be measured, via a site-wide monitoring system, so that the data can potentially be used to obtain payments under the Government’s ‘Feed-in-Tarrif’.

In fact, under this scheme, it is estimated that Mendip Place could make savings of approximately £12,000 in the first year, with a 25 year ‘whole life’ benefit of £390,000, making it potentially one of the most cost efficient systems of its kind.

In addition, two communal biomass boilers, located in a central plant room, are able to meet the development’s entire heating and hot water requirements via an underground pre-insulated pipework distribution system, which leads to each of the homes, with heat exchange boxes fitted with smart meters, so that tenants are only billed for the energy they actually use.

More information: www.solartech.oprg.uk

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One Response to “A Level 6 housing solution with zero carbon potential?”

  1. ecoadmin says:

    May 11th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
     

    There will be many more Code Level 6 homes before 2016 and Mendip Place will be one of many providing a firm guideline.

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