EcoBuild 2011 - 1-3rd March

This year EcoBuild is between 1-3rd March. This is a major sustainable building exhibition in London - well worth a visit if you are a small heating business, builder or home owner just interested in the latest Eco-tech for your House.

http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/attractions.html

First 'Passivhaus' developed in UK

Wimbish, Essex - a UK first for rural sustainability

A Hastoe Housing Association development in Wimbish, Essex is on target to be the first rural affordable Passivhaus development in the UK. The aim is to complete the scheme this Spring, then receive accreditation from the Passivhaus Institut (Germany) by early Summer 2012.

The scheme has received investment from the HCA via a grant of £830,000 from the National Affordable Housing Programme. The scheme is being built on a rural exception site, with the 14 shared ownership and social rented homes being reserved for those people with strong local connections to the community.

The homes will require little or no energy use for heating or cooling. They will have excellent thermal comfort and ventilation and low primary energy use, meaning reduced living costs for residents. The buildings will also achieve high quality construction standards and reach Level Four of the Code for Sustainable Homes meaning that they will be super energy efficient.

The team visited Germany, the birthplace of Passivhaus, last year to find out more about the concept. They viewed Passivhaus homes where the technology has been tried, tested and proven to be successful in European climate conditions.

More details at HCA

Housing Associations to invest in PV Solar power

Housing Association's trade body the National Housing Federation has called for expressions of interest from housing associations to set up a retrofit loan fund that could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
It is working with the European Investment Bank to set up a vehicle that could finance retrofit across the UK social housing sector.

The EIB could commit a minimum of £75 million to the fund. However, it is understood to prefer larger scale loans in the order of £200 million, with which it would lend 50 per cent of the costs, meaning that the fund could be worth much more than this. The fund is intended to act as a green loan facility for associations to borrow through the Housing Finance Corporation at very low rates over a period of at least 25 years.

Around 25 housing associations would need to participate in order to make the fund work successfully.
Improvement work would focus on installing photovoltaic panels and renewables to take advantage of the government’s feed-in tariff scheme. (from Inside Housing read more here)

If you are Housing Association tenant or leaseholder why not ask your landlord what are they doing ?

Protect Kent concern over 'New Homes Bonus'

Protect Kent - the county branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England - Has expressed concerns over impact on local communities of the Coalition Government's 'New Homes Bonus'

(From Kent News:) The fears have been voiced by Protect Kent following the announcement of the proposed New Homes Bonus, which could see local authorities and communities that build new houses receiving substantial extra funding to spend how they wish.

The scheme looks to ease the house building decline, which is at its lowest level since 1924 with 4.5 million people across the country on council house waiting lists.

But while the New Homes Bonus is being greeted with delight by town hall chiefs, Protect Kent – the county branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England – is remaining wary.

Chairman Richard Knox-Johnston said although he welcomes the move to give local people more power, cash incentives to councils could cause problems.

"Firstly, we’re pleased with the decision to discard the centrally imposed housing figures for the area," he said.

"We also welcome the decision to give local councils and local people the control to make decisions about how many houses are built instead of using these centrally-imposed figures.

"The concern, however, is that cash-strapped councils needing money may be encouraged to promote housing schemes that will damage the environment.

"Even if there is opposition from local people, a council will be the one to make the final decision. If it decides the opposition is not strong enough, the development could still go ahead." read more at Kent News