Lingwood in Norfolk is a scheme involving 15 green affordable homes
The GreenGauge Homes project in Lingwood, Norfolk, has picked up a prize at the CPRE Norfolk Awards.
Martin Walton, chairman of the Judges, said that CPRE Norfolk is keen to encourage the provision of social housing in rural settings, where a need has been demonstrated.
He added: "This is a pioneering scheme which proves that social housing and ecological design can work in harmony.”
This scheme of 15 eco-friendly affordable homes incorporates the latest construction and energy technologies to provide housing at just 5% above the price of Housing Corporation standard homes and offer significant savings in running costs for tenants.
The homes are being monitored by the University of East Anglia.
Martin Aust, business growth director at Flagship Housing Group, said: "Flagship is committed to environmental sustainability, reducing the carbon ‘footprint’ new homes leave on our environment. This project is utilising different types of renewable energy technologies which makes this an exciting project to monitor."
The Lingwood scheme has already become a community and this impressed the CPRE Judges.
Roger Gilles, Architects Barefoot & Gilles, said: "We have designed these homes to be like a home any of us would be familiar with, but with the benefits of the latest technologies. The houses are energy efficient, cheap to run and, I hope, a pleasure to live in."
The National Housing Federation in partnership with CPRE released figures this year exposing the scale of the rural housing crisis.
Over the last five years, the number of people waiting for an affordable home in country areas has soared by 37%, up from 507,757 in 2003 to 695,735 last year.
There are other schemes in the pipline with GreenGauge homes being planned in the Norfolk village of Horstead.
Postscript
For more information visit the GreenGuage Homes.
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