Green’s the new grey!
Solar panels, heat pumps, bat boxes — residents are now part of the eco revolution
IT’S not just home- owners who are making their properties more environ-mentally friendly - retire-ment developments are do-ing their bit for the planet, too.
Solar panels, electric vehicle- charging points, triple-glazed windows, motion — sensor lights and even living walls are being installed.
‘Sustainability has been at the very core of what we do for a long time,’ says Nick Sanderson, Audley Group CEO. ‘We’re using the latest construction technologies to build and operate a fully net-zero village in the years to come.’
At one of their newest sites, Audley Headley Court in Epsom, Surrey, the buildings are south facing so solar panels get maximum light and are wider, to allow high- specification thermal insulation.
Audley also provides electric vehicle charging points, as does Binswood village in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. And it means resident Dick Turpin, 87, who is still involved with his engineering firm, can drive to work in his electric car. ‘There are six charging points and seven to eight people use them, although many don’t have cars as we are so close to the town centre,’ he says. One and two-bedroom flats start at £340,000 ( audleyvillages.co.uk).
Inspired Villages, with eight sites in England, last year opened the UK’s first net- zero carbon retirement development Millfield Green in Bedfordshire. This will form the blueprint for a further 25 sustainable communities set to be completed by 2034.
At Millfield Green, all homes will have ground-source heat pumps, solar panels, clean energy, electric car- charging plus high- quality insulation, ventilation and triple-glazed windows. One and two-bedroom flats cost from £341,000. ( inspiredvillages.co.uk).
All Beechcroft’s retirement communities have electric car-charging points and solar bollards for exterior lighting. ‘We are already achieving a 10 per cent net biodi-versity gain on our new sites with landscaping designed to attract insect life,’ says Angela South, sales and marketing director.
Derek Connelly, who lives in Maryland Place, St. Albans in Hertfordshire, is impressed by the heating. ‘The whole apartment is so well insulated I don’t often have to turn it on. My heating bills are much lower than in my previous home,’ he says. The development is sold out, but in nearby Redclyffe Place, Harpenden, a two-bedroom house is for sale for £1,095,000 and a three- bedroom duplex for £1,475,000. ( beechcroft.co.uk)
McCarthy Stone has linked with Wildlife Trust Consultancies to improve the natural environment. Future developments will have wildlife-friendly features like bee bricks plus swift and bat boxes.
There will also be a green roof at its Oakwood scheme in Barnet, North London, and a living wall at Walter House, Chelmsford, Essex.
The firm has switched to 100 per cent renewable energy at all sites. At its Moreton-in-Marsh develop-ment in Gloucestershire, replac-ing hallway lights with motion sensors and an energy- saving monthly newsletter for homeown-ers saw a 58 per cent drop in electricity usage over a month.
One and two-bedroom flats at Chelmsford start from £299,000 and one-bedroom flats at More-ton-in-Marsh start at £199,995 ( mccarthyandstone.co.uk).
Even small things can make a difference. At Castle View in Windsor, Berkshire, which has an electric vehicle charging point in the underground car park and a garden/ food waste composter, even old egg boxes are sent to Windsor Foodshare to fill with eggs for families in need. A resident col-lects old newspapers for local charity, Swan Lifeline for use as nesting. One and two-bedroom apartments start at £ 375,000 ( castleviewwindsor.co.uk).