Dragon Eco Homes has secured planning permission for what it claims is the first housing scheme in the UK to deliver a net zero carbon rating without any carbon offset payment for both operational and construction carbon.
The Liverpool-based developer is utilising its ‘unique’ Dragon Intelligent Panel system (DIPs), combined with a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) system and rooftop solar panels to ensure air-tight buildings with constant temperatures and their own energy source, at the £3.3m, 15 two-bedroom apartment scheme on Newhall Lane, in Upton, Chester.
It claims the infrastructure of the buildings should provide residents with free electricity night and day – excluding an annual standing charge payment to the grid supplier – and these claims have been verified by consultants from the Liverpool office of Base Energy, who conducted an independent study of the developer’s designs.
The consultants confirmed the energy produced by the building outweighed that consumed in its construction and materials manufacture, as well as its on-going energy use, negating the need for any carbon offset payments.
Greg Barton, Dragon Eco Homes director, said: “Our DIPs are incredibly strong and durable with tremendous insulation properties. If you get a building’s external envelope right, everything else is just a case of bolting-on best-in-class kit. Each apartment will have its own MVHR system to ensure fresh air and to reinforce its thermal qualities, whilst roughly 270% of the building’s energy needs will be generated by our rooftop solar panels. This will give us the ability to store power on site for night-time use and to sell excess production back to the grid.”
Construction of the scheme, which was designed by Dragon Eco Homes’ in-house team, will commence on 1 February with a 12-month build time. The structural engineers for the project are ADS Structural. NWM Design were the planning consultants.
