The Crown Estate is launching two pilot housing projects to explore different approaches to building net zero homes.
The pilot projects are at Wootton, in Bedford, where it has planning permission for around 50 homes – 30% of which will be affordable – on 15 acres of land and at Knutsford, in Cheshire, where it has outline consent for up to 60 homes, 30% of which will be affordable.
The Crown Estate is seeking partners for the pilot projects and will look to test different models for project delivery. The aim of the project is to examine how new homes can be delivered using less than 300kg/m2 of embodied carbon alongside meeting ambitious energy efficiency targets.
The Crown Estate said it would look to apply lessons learned from the pilot projects to its larger scale developments and any information gleamed would be made publicly available to inform best practice within the wider industry.
Rob Chesworth, head of regional residential at The Crown Estate, said: “Tackling housing supply and climate change are critical issues facing the UK. At The Crown Estate, we want to see how best we can be part of the solution by looking at the way we address these challenges through our regional portfolio.
“By being bold and pushing existing industry standards through these pilot projects and sharing our learning, we hope to demonstrate that high quality, net zero carbon homes are deliverable at scale and can form the cornerstone of vibrant, sustainable communities.
“We want to work with aligned SMEs and entrepreneurs who are putting innovation and sustainability at the forefront of housebuilding and community-focused development to raise industry standards and galvanise momentum to meet the sector’s decarbonisation challenge.”
