The just-completed housing development by Hab Oakus - the partnership between Kevin McCloud's company Hab and housing group GreenSquare - is the focus of a new Channel 4 documentary series that begins this week.
The Triangle, a high-quality sustainable 42-home development in Swindon, features in the two-part series 'Kevin's Grand Design' as part of the Great British Property Scandal season.
During the programmes McCloud, fed up with the poor quality of Britain's identikit new houses, aims to prove that it shouldn't cost any more to build better designed places that are a nicer to live in and can help residents live happier, more sociable lives.
Kevin McCloud said: “We've almost completed the project now and overall I'm quietly very pleased. The public areas are now pretty well complete and I'm looking forward to seeing the wild flowers emerge next summer.
"I'm also looking forward to seeing how productive the polytunnels, veg beds and edible hedgerows are. Soon we'll have our Shimmy home information systems up and running and be able to talk to residents about how they take ownership of the scheme forward.
“What's great for us at Hab is that our partner, GreenSquare, is there for the long haul as community manager, offering support for what is going to be an interesting ride for us all. We've laid down some pretty fertile ground for a community to flourish and I really hope it does.”
GreenSquare chief executive David Ashmore said: “We're delighted to have completed our first Hab Oakus development and wish the residents at The Triangle a happy and comfortable future in their new homes. It's been great learning with, and from, Kevin and his team and the new residents.
“There is a massive challenge to provide the homes that millions of households in this country urgently require. We will work with Government and other partners to find yet more creative ways to improve the supply of high quality sustainable homes.
“GreenSquare has demonstrated its ability to deliver and to innovate and, importantly, to go way beyond beyond bricks and mortar – improving people’s lives and wellbeing through, for example, training and employment initiatives and all kinds of community activities.”
The award-winning designs for The Triangle are by Glenn Howells Architects with landscape architects Studio Engleback. Other key members of the project delivery team included build contractors Willmott Dixon Housing, environmental engineers Max Fordham, engineers Curtins, cost consultants DBK, GOCO CAR, Carnego Systems, and Lime Technology.
Homes at The Triangle are designed to be super insulated – naturally warm in winter and cool in summer – and have a range of features that do make them different from more ‘traditional’ homes including: air sourced heat pump; rain water harvesting and low water usage bathroom fittings; stack effect ventilation with chimney-style ventilation cowls; sheep’s wool loft insulation; triple glazed windows; bicycle storage built in to the front canopy of each house; and walls built from a hemp and lime wall thermal walling system that absorbs CO2 in its manufacture.
The development was supported with an investment of around £2.5 million from the Homes and Communities Agency and backed by £840,000 investment from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Low Carbon Investment Fund because of its use of environmentally-sustainable materials.
Channel 4's Great British Property Scandal season investigates some of the issues that have contributed to the current housing crisis and speaks to a broad range of the people affected by it.
The season highlights that while almost two million British families are currently on the waiting lists for social housing, one million properties lie empty across the UK, even though many cost huge amounts to keep secure.
- 24dash
The Triangle, a high-quality sustainable 42-home development in Swindon, features in the two-part series 'Kevin's Grand Design' as part of the Great British Property Scandal season.
During the programmes McCloud, fed up with the poor quality of Britain's identikit new houses, aims to prove that it shouldn't cost any more to build better designed places that are a nicer to live in and can help residents live happier, more sociable lives.
Kevin McCloud said: “We've almost completed the project now and overall I'm quietly very pleased. The public areas are now pretty well complete and I'm looking forward to seeing the wild flowers emerge next summer.
"I'm also looking forward to seeing how productive the polytunnels, veg beds and edible hedgerows are. Soon we'll have our Shimmy home information systems up and running and be able to talk to residents about how they take ownership of the scheme forward.
“What's great for us at Hab is that our partner, GreenSquare, is there for the long haul as community manager, offering support for what is going to be an interesting ride for us all. We've laid down some pretty fertile ground for a community to flourish and I really hope it does.”
GreenSquare chief executive David Ashmore said: “We're delighted to have completed our first Hab Oakus development and wish the residents at The Triangle a happy and comfortable future in their new homes. It's been great learning with, and from, Kevin and his team and the new residents.
“There is a massive challenge to provide the homes that millions of households in this country urgently require. We will work with Government and other partners to find yet more creative ways to improve the supply of high quality sustainable homes.
“GreenSquare has demonstrated its ability to deliver and to innovate and, importantly, to go way beyond beyond bricks and mortar – improving people’s lives and wellbeing through, for example, training and employment initiatives and all kinds of community activities.”
The award-winning designs for The Triangle are by Glenn Howells Architects with landscape architects Studio Engleback. Other key members of the project delivery team included build contractors Willmott Dixon Housing, environmental engineers Max Fordham, engineers Curtins, cost consultants DBK, GOCO CAR, Carnego Systems, and Lime Technology.
Homes at The Triangle are designed to be super insulated – naturally warm in winter and cool in summer – and have a range of features that do make them different from more ‘traditional’ homes including: air sourced heat pump; rain water harvesting and low water usage bathroom fittings; stack effect ventilation with chimney-style ventilation cowls; sheep’s wool loft insulation; triple glazed windows; bicycle storage built in to the front canopy of each house; and walls built from a hemp and lime wall thermal walling system that absorbs CO2 in its manufacture.
The development was supported with an investment of around £2.5 million from the Homes and Communities Agency and backed by £840,000 investment from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Low Carbon Investment Fund because of its use of environmentally-sustainable materials.
Channel 4's Great British Property Scandal season investigates some of the issues that have contributed to the current housing crisis and speaks to a broad range of the people affected by it.
The season highlights that while almost two million British families are currently on the waiting lists for social housing, one million properties lie empty across the UK, even though many cost huge amounts to keep secure.
- 24dash
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