Buildings- 'the key to sustainable growth'

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An innovative sustainable housing scheme developing energy-efficient homes across Europe has been praised in Parliament.

On Wednesday evening parliamentarians and representatives from the housing and sustainability sectors gathered to hear about the CarbonLight Homes scheme, part of VELUX's Model Home 2020 project.

As part of the project, the first CarbonLight homes in the UK have been built: two semi-detached homes in Kettering, Northamptonshire.

These homes are designed to achieve a 70 per cent reduction in carbon emissions, with the further 30 per cent offset.

Speaking at the reception, hosted by Conservative MP Heather Wheeler, was Lone Feifer, strategic project director for the Model Home 2020 initiative.

Feifer argued that, in a month when the UN Convention on Climate Change in Durban and the eurozone financial crisis have been the top political news stories, sustainable housing was in a unique position to provide solutions to both environmental and economic issues.

Feifer said: "Recently the dwindling resource of fossil fuels and the consequences of global warming on the one hand, and the financial crisis on the other, have been competing for a place at the top of the political agenda."

"Solving the one set of problems does not necessarily exclude the solution for the other," she continued. "Buildings can be the key to this sustainable growth. Energy-efficient homes assist in the creation of green growth and, therefore, the creation of jobs."

For the last three years the VELUX group has developed and tested six buildings in five European countries, with the aim of producing "sustainable buildings which are attractive places to live in".

The first two houses, opened in Denmark in 2009, included a single family house called Home for Life and the first public, carbon-neutral building in Denmark: the Green Lighthouse.

Feifer outlined how the project had expanded to the UK with the homes in Kettering. She said: "In the UK our two carbon-neutral houses have addressed the holistic approach on how to balance energy, indoor climate and environment to the optimal health and comfort of the inhabitants."

"All houses are open to the public for six months, then occupied by test families for the first year and monitored by professional research teams. These are not just experiments for display; they are real homes for real people."

Following Feifer's speech, the reception's attendees watched a video about the project featuring VELUX's managing director, Keith Riddle, and Ben Derbyshire, managing director of HTA Architects, who designed the UK homes.

Noting that VELUX had the vision of replicating the current CarbonLight homes across housing estates and neighbourhoods, so that they become "real houses for ultimately thousands of British families", Riddle outlined the advantages of the project.

"People find the space attractive. It will add value to their life, their health and their wellbeing."

And Derbyshire argued that the impact of the houses on psychological wellbeing would be "incredibly powerful".

He said: "We are trying to find a domestic aesthetic which is welcoming, attracts purchasers and where people can feel comfortable."