Kevin McCloud hails active homes
Thursday, 8 September 2011 12:37 PM
Two families will get the chance to live rent-free for a year in zero carbon homes at the Grand Design Live exhibition in Birmingham next month.
Building materials company Velux is running a competition to find two local families to live in two fully furnished zero carbon homes it has built in Rothwell, Northamptonshire. This is part of the firm’s Model Home 2020 initiative under which six experimental buildings will be constructed across Europe to Active House principles that stress emotion and quality of life as well as ecological principles.
Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud says the homes are very important. “I wish they weren’t special – I wish that every developer were doing them,” he explained.
“I wish that developers and builders didn’t just see carbon reduction initiative and sustainability initiatives as simply boxes to tick. I think the whole house and the whole community approach that involves good design from intelligent people is rare,
“The other reason why I think it is a very important project is that the government has set all these targets and boxes, so developers and builders tick these boxes and then move people in whilst the developers disappear to somewhere else.
“Nobody ever bothers to find out whether the houses actually do what they say on the tin and what they are like to live in as actually, you can have the most beautifully and perfectly designed ecological home but then put people in there that turn all the heating up and open all the windows in November, and bingo, it is no longer an eco-home,” McCloud added.
Keith Riddle, managing director of Velux, said: “An ‘active home’ will feel brighter, larger and full of ‘clean air.’ These homes prioritise home ambiance and promote a healthy indoor climate as well as protect the environment.”
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